HOW TO - 'Vert door pillar removal

Post by **110octane** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 5:58 am

Just did my door conversion yesterday! Thank you so much for this thread as it was my guide for the whole project. The car looks so much better minus the pillars.

A much recommended mod!

Oh yeah, took me about 4.5 hrs including a trip to Lowes for more 4.5" cutting wheels. Buy 10 of these before you start the project as i went through 8.

Thanks again AZhitman!

Post by **Eikon** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 6:06 am

110octane wrote:The car looks so much better minus the pillars.A much recommended mod!

Let's see some pics!!!!! Come on, quit holding out on us!

Post by **Danrc30** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 6:21 am

I have an extra set of doors to swap out when I do the conversion... My biggest worry is the seatbelt mod... Can you post some detailed pics of your seatbelt mod?

Post by **Danrc30** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 7:10 am

Oh, I also have an extra set of black doors available from a coupe if anyone else in the NE area wants to do the conversion...

---Dan

Post by **wmdavis007** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 11:29 pm

Started on my pillar removal today. One side down...one side to go. Wanted to comment on the belt guide at the top of the rear seats for the relocation of the seatbelts that some said they may have to drill out cause they couldn't find the bolt that held it in. It's not a bolt..its a nut...and its behind a plastic guard that you can see from inside the cabin if you move the belt over...you have to peel back the vinyl that the top rests in when down. On the back were the seatbelt guild is it has a Phillips screw on each back holding a cover that hides the nut that holds the rear seat belt guild in place. Remove this screw and the plastic cover should fall away showing the nut that holds the guide in place. My screws were too rusted to take out cause of a leaky rear window...so I grinded them off. I will try to take some some pictures of the next side so you can see. Cutting away the pillar and extra metal was no easy task so if you have little or no shop skills with a "cutoff wheel" or grinder I would say just get coupe doors and get the car re-painted. This mod to the doors will take you around 4+ hours not including relocating the seatbelts. I also found it is a lot easier to use a reciprocating saw for the bulk of the work rather then a grinder....lot less grinding dust. Hope this helps! William

Post by **wmdavis007** » Wed Apr 12, 2006 8:34 pm

Woot!! Got my door pillar removal done and it looks oh so good!! Got the coupe door panels installed with ease. Soon as I find my digi camara cable I will post pics. Working on the seat beat relocation now...should be able to do it tomorrow night if I get time. Thanks to this uber thread I was able to do these mods without much trouble. Thanks!!!

Post by **KA-Te** » Wed Apr 19, 2006 8:34 am

Danrc30 wrote:Oh, I also have an extra set of black doors available from a coupe if anyone else in the NE area wants to do the conversion...

---Dan

Do you still have the panels?

Manual or power locks/windows?

Thanks,kate

Post by **Danrc30** » Wed Apr 19, 2006 10:21 am

I still have the doors. They have power windows and locks, but I need to remove those parts to put into the white doors that I'm putting on my vert. (My vert is white and I want matching doors :-)) So, you'll have to remove the parts from your door and put them in the black doors. Or if you act quickly, you can remove the parts from your vert doors and give them to me and I'll leave the black doors loaded with the parts. Get my drift?

Post by **KA-Te** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 4:12 am

Thanks for the reply, Danrc30, but I actually just found red doors last night, so I'm hoping they are the same color red and will actually match my car!

Post by **KA-Te** » Mon May 01, 2006 3:21 am

Has anybody successfully removed the hump that sticks up on the rear panels? Is it possible at all? You'd probably just need to fabricate your own custom rear panels or something? Just wanted to know if anyone out there did it.

For those that don't know what I mean:

Post by **AZhitman** » Mon May 01, 2006 6:13 am

Kate -

That's my next big project.

he worst part will be figuring out how to fabricate a new interior panel that incorporates the rubber trim near the quarter window AND follows the contours of the interior.

I'm thinking it's going to have to be fiberglass...

Post by **KA-Te** » Mon May 01, 2006 6:39 am

Cool, that would be awesome if you could figure something out...

I was trying to figure out how you would go about making a door panel and it was painful to even think about!

I was also thinking how awesome it would be to try to make a boot cover and sell them since there's such a high demand for em', and they're so damn expensive, but then I got a headache!

Post by **Danrc30** » Mon May 29, 2006 1:50 pm

Well, I finally took the doors off the black coupe and pulled the power locks, windows, and harness from them and put it all in the white doors I have. Not too bad of a job, just a PITA figuring it all out in the beginning.

Anywho, if you want to do this door conversion on your vert, I have a set of extra door shells here. They are black, and in good/ok shape. No rust, just a few dings and such. Make me an offer, and come pick them up (central NJ location). Lowballers welcome.

Next thing to do is mount the seatbelts in the car. Then I can enjoy swapping the doors. Fun fun fun!!!

Post by **onosqv** » Tue Jun 06, 2006 8:59 am

AZhitman wrote:Kate -

That's my next big project.

he worst part will be figuring out how to fabricate a new interior panel that incorporates the rubber trim near the quarter window AND follows the contours of the interior.

I'm thinking it's going to have to be fiberglass...

This may help give you an idea (only pic I could find, sorry):

Post by **JSvert240sx** » Tue Jun 20, 2006 5:04 am

After mounting my new coupe passenger side door the otehr day I've decided just to cut all the bracing outta the driver's side rather than swap that door. Besides the fact that I don't wanna mess with the LoJack wiring in my door.

I have coupe door panels, but I don't have the switches. I haven't looked too carefully at them yet but will I need to get new switches too for the coupe doors for this to work?

Post by **ca18datsun510** » Tue Jun 20, 2006 3:00 pm

JSvert240sx wrote:After mounting my new coupe passenger side door the otehr day I've decided just to cut all the bracing outta the driver's side rather than swap that door. Besides the fact that I don't wanna mess with the LoJack wiring in my door.

I have coupe door panels, but I don't have the switches. I haven't looked too carefully at them yet but will I need to get new switches too for the coupe doors for this to work?

im 99% sure they are the same window switches.

Post by **slownslurious** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 7:03 am

The switches are the same.The retractors aren't power, they have to be level for it to retract etc. I thought the same... I think when you plug them in if they are sideways it can retract them but they will retract fine if you just get them level with the thing unplugged... so. yeah.

and I removed my "humps" with a cut off wheel and I'm just going to weld in steel plates in place of them. I don't use interior trim though.

Post by **afracer** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 7:29 am

Just wanted to throw my .02 in on the pillar removal. I did the driver's side back in March, it took about 8hrs start to finish cutting with a die grinder and installing the seatbelts. I found that using the rear seatbelts of the 240 didn't really work like I want it to, it was a temporary set up and worked alright, but I just picked up a set of rear seatbelts from a newer (~94) Maxima at the junkyar and they work MUCH better than the 240 rear seatbelts! Also, has anyone tried to use the front seats from a Maxima in the 240SX? They look like the same bolt pattern on the floor but might be raised up a little too high. I was thinking of giving it a try cause it had nice front seats in it.

Anyways, I say go for a set of rear seatbelts from a Maxima and leave your stock rear seatbelts alone. Oh yeah, you don't need the receiver end of the Maxima seatbelts either, they click right into the 240's...I love Nissan!

Post by **AZhitman** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 7:42 am

[off-topic] afracer, got any pics of your SportWagon? I had a 68 GS and miss it terribly!

Post by **afracer** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 11:10 pm

As requested:

Thinking about buying a Skylark and swapping everything over...you CAN'T get parts for Sport Wagons...

Post by **Danrc30** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 1:43 am

Interesting car... never seen one before...

I like how the front plate is blacked out on the bottom pic and not the top one...

Post by **afracer** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 8:30 am

You like that? Just adds to the car's 'aura'

You should see when I cruise around in it. When I pull into the local hang out spot, exhaust leaks and all, people just look at me like W T F?!!!!

It's a solid 13 second car though, so when I walk people it's just great

Post by **AZhitman** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 8:34 am

BAD AS HELL!!

You ever hear of Mike Tomaszewski (sp)?

Wheelstanding naturally-aspirated 350-cid SportWagon, ran in the 11's.

Used to run T/A Performance, made the manifold and cams for my '68.

afra, the largest Buick junkyard in the US is 20 miles from my house - Speedway Automotive. They have a TON of SportWagons.

Post by **AZhitman** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 8:36 am

pics for fun...

Post by **AZhitman** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 8:37 am

...and the good stuff...

Post by **Danrc30** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 8:49 am

wow... it doesn't get any more off-topic than this...

Post by **wirelessalpha** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 3:34 pm

DAN - Alpha here. Hey, you still got those black coupe shells? I would like to take them off you, if you don't mind. Please email me [email protected] or [email protected] or call me at 347 277 2184.

I am in the midst of doing a door swap or just door panel conversion too. IF I can score a set of black doors in the next week or so, then I will do the swap instead. I already have the panels...

Post by **afracer** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 5:10 am

You don't really need the doors as long as you have the hardtop door panels you can go ahead and start the project of cutting and moving the seatbelts. I totally forgot that I hadn't done the passenger's side until yesterday when I had some free time, so I dug in and finally finshed complete removal of that stupid door pillar. It is SOO much nicer without it, no more blind spots especially with the top down, more shoulder/side room, and much cleaner looking. Do it now!

Post by **wirelessalpha** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 6:44 am

oh yeah I know. If I can score door shells too, then I will just swap out doors. If I can't, then I'll just do the chop conversion with my coupe panels.

Post by **Danrc30** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 3:09 pm

That's what I'm doing... Not only is it a bit easier, but then you san still keep your stock doors and sell them to someone that may need one.

HOW TO - 'Vert door pillar removal

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