Pillars are gone!!!!!

[sil_eighty86]

Well I finished up my passenger side door. I will do the drivers side on my next day off. Let me know what ya think.

[ishkabibble]

Nice work. What did you use to cut and how did it go?

I'm going to do the mod as soon as it's a bit warmer... I can borrow a neighbor's sawzall or buy a cheap angle grinder. Never used either before. :/

[sil_eighty86]

I used a dremmel but it took forever. I plan on borrowing an angel grinder for the drivers side.

[Loki]

Very nice work...quite envious myself, but I just can't bring myself to hurt my poor lil pillars.

[VeloceDrift]

Very nice work...quite envious myself, but I just can't bring myself to hurt my poor lil pillars.

My god the door is built like a tank though! Save a lot of weight once you do it.

[DeXteR]

i haven't done this yet, nor do i plan to - i'd rather just do a door swap - but if i were to do this, i'd use an angle grinder. dremel is way too small and a sawzall is harder to control and heavy. angle grinder seems the best to me because it's efficient and easy to control.

[off_topic]sil_eighty86, i like your sig. [/off_topic]

[wmdavis007]

I used both...an angle grinder and a sawzall. I used the saw to cut all the big parts off. And used the grinder to clean up. The grinder would have taken hours...the saw cuts like its butter. Get a lot of blades...at least 5 or so per door, you can always return what you don't use. If you have never used a sawzall you can really muck the blades up fast. Oh yeah...and with the saw you don't have all that damn grinding dust like you do with the grinder. In all it took me about two hours to do both doors...but that was with both doors already striped of the panals and seatbelts. Good luck with the mod.

[ishkabibble]

Thanks for the tips. I'll buy a cheap 4.5" angle grinder from Harbor Freight and buy some blades for the neighbor's sawzall. He's been a mechanic for a long time, so hopefully he can help me out a bit.

[AZhitman]

NICE WORK!!!

Pillarless verts FTMFW!

I used an angle grinder, prob took 2 years off my life with all that dust.

[DeXteR]

ok, angle grinder might be a bad idea.

points taken.

maybe a rebar saw...

[sil_eighty86]

What I did was drill out where it looked like it was stamped together and the used the dremmel on the welds.

[wmdavis007]

Yeah you can go to your local parts store and get a spot weld removal tool if you just used a dremel tool. The spot weld removal tool really is nothing but a fancy drill bit...you get what you pay for...I've used cheap ones that I wish I would have just tossed the money out the window on the way to get it. But the nicer ones work very good. But if you don't do alot of fab and restore work on cars it's not worth the price. You can alway look up your nearest rental store and see if they have a heavy duty sawzall for rent...but check your local Lowe's/Home Depot too...you may just want to buy one. AZ your right...that grinding dust is horrible...plus if it gets on or in your car..then your car gets wet you'll have little rust spots every damn where. I was just going to buy coupe/HB doors but couldn't find any for a reasonable price around this area.

[ishkabibble]

It seems to me that swapping doors is more work than cutting. Wiring, alignment, painting, acquiring and getting rid of doors...

I'm lucky to live by 4 of the cheapest junkyards in the country, but I don't have anywhere to store parts. Otherwise, I'd pick up lots of stuff for fellow vert owners.

[Schnorchel]

I would never to that to my vert It like them original!! But don´t hurt me

[94_240sx]

I would never to that to my vert It like them original!! But don´t hurt me

Same here!!! I love original stuff. I may do it only if I break door panels or something. I get a lot of attention because of door pillars. Many people don't know what they are. I wonder what other cars have door pillars. I know old Chevy Cavalier has them... What else?

[wmdavis007]

I've heard lots of people say they wanted to get rid of them because they cause a blind spot while driving. Of course I have no clue cause I did this mod before I ever drove my car (the motor was blown and I was rebuilding it). Also if it was there I think I could see over it me being 6'5", I just really didn't like the design of the seatbelt/doors.

[94_240sx]

I rest my head on it when I'm at stop light. On the other hand, it's not going to be pretty if I get hit on the driver's side. I don't think I can do that once I go 5-speed cuz I have to pull my seat to the front to reach clutch pedal...

[sil_eighty86]

I've heard lots of people say they wanted to get rid of them because they cause a blind spot while driving. Of course I have no clue cause I did this mod before I ever drove my car (the motor was blown and I was rebuilding it). Also if it was there I think I could see over it me being 6'5", I just really didn't like the design of the seatbelt/doors.

Thats why I did it.I loved the way they look but, Im only 5'6" and they are a major blind spot. Also both of my door panels were broken.

[4cedkoop]

I just did mine today, it was def a pain. I was going to use my sawzall, but it was in my dad's work truck, so that wasn't an option. So, I used my grinder. I'll post up some pics soon. Here's a teaser...

[wmdavis007]

WOOT! Another NC vert. We are growing in number everyday . **cough**cough**grinding dust sucks . Hope it turned out ok.

[DeXteR]

SWEET PIC!

nice wheels too.

nice weather... i hate you. it's single digits outside right now.

[sigh] i need a new vert [/sigh]

[sil_eighty86]

done with the drivers side

[4cedkoop]

Here's some more pictures from my install.... well.... un-install, lol.

[kona240]

did u reuse ur vert door panels? looks really good, cant wait till i get home and start woking on my vert.

[4cedkoop]

did u reuse ur vert door panels? looks really good, cant wait till i get home and start woking on my vert.

No I just got some panels off of another coupe. They were manual doors which i'm sure you see, lol. And I just cut out the door handle holes to fit the automatic window controls.