[Thruan]

Hi all.

Been trying to find a sierra to do a ground up restore/build on. Managed to find a hard top for a great price.

Problem is we really want a soft top.

How hard would it be to cut the roof off the hardtop? Obviously I will add in a rollover bar and things like that.

Also is it legal?

I did search but couldn't find anything.

Thanks

[4x4xzook]

have u purchased the tin top already?

[2stroker]

Dont even consider it,way too hard to do properly, would cost more than buying a soft top tub and converting it

[Scrawny]

2stroker wrote:

Dont even consider it,way too hard to do properly, would cost more than buying a soft top tub and converting it

X388,476,723!!!! There's not enough strength in a hard top body once you cut half of it off. And hard tops are too hard to come by anyway

[4x4xzook]

2stroker wrote:

Dont even consider it,way too hard to do properly, would cost more than buying a soft top tub and converting it

that was going to be my next point. haha

just keep looking around. You are bound to come accross a nice soft top in ur price range. ebay always has a few on the go.

[want33s]

Do a search on "Islandvitara" .

[abclarke]

Im sure there would be enough people who would pay enough money for the hardtop for you to get a soft top anyway

[peter1321]

hey fellas, on the topic i have a sierra soft top and would love to convert it to a tin top. is this possible? pros and cons?

[atari4x4]

want33s wrote:

Do a search on "Islandvitara" .

= ignore sound advice & end up with a ruined unfinished project

[just_cruizin]

Could just buy it and swap the entire body

[sideways]

Chopping down a hard top is one of the Suzuki sins, it's like putting a 3.8 or 4k motor in, building a SWB ute or putting Sierra diffs under an LJ.

In short, if you cut the roof off that hard top, we will find you and we will kill you.

[Thruan]

Haha fair enough. Thanks for the help guys. The search continues

[KEENSY85]

sideways wrote:

Chopping down a hard top is one of the Suzuki sins, it's like putting a 3.8 or 4k motor in, building a SWB ute or putting Sierra diffs under an LJ.

In short, if you cut the roof off that hard top, we will find you and we will kill you.

But iv always wanted a 3.8 but iv always wanted to burn a Coily so I guess I'm square LOL.

[Tyron]

Check gumtree for someone wrecking one.
Just buy the body off them. and put that on it.

[Highway-Star]

Thruan wrote:

Problem is we really want a soft top.

peter1321 wrote:

hey fellas, on the topic i have a sierra soft top and would love to convert it to a tin top. is this possible? pros and cons?

You guys should swap bodies!!!!

[KEENSY85]

Highway-Star wrote:

Thruan wrote:

Problem is we really want a soft top.

peter1321 wrote:

hey fellas, on the topic i have a sierra soft top and would love to convert it to a tin top. is this possible? pros and cons?

You guys should swap bodies!!!!

X2

[edubravia]

hello just bought a suzuki sierra 1987, I want to convert it to a convertible complete with a roll cage and canvas top...am new to the forum any advice or dos and donts?

[Joe]

edubravia wrote:

hello just bought a suzuki sierra 1987, I want to convert it to a convertible complete with a roll cage and canvas top...am new to the forum any advice or dos and donts?

Welcome to the forum

Scrawn wrote:

2stroker wrote:

Dont even consider it,way too hard to do properly, would cost more than buying a soft top tub and converting it

X388,476,723!!!! There's not enough strength in a hard top body once you cut half of it off. And hard tops are too hard to come by anyway

[Gwagensteve]

Don't.

[Gwagensteve]

^That's the short answer.

The long answer is anything is possible, but you'd have to have a VERY good reason, and be quite skilled, to cut up a hard to top to make something suzuki already built.

How much experience with fabrication, roll cage construction, and part design do you have?
Do you want the completed car to be legal for road use?
What is your intended use?

The hardtop body looses all its strength once the roof is cut off. You need to add sufficient bracing to make the body rigid once the cutting has been done. this means you have to be able to fabricate and weld at a reasonably high level.

The windscreen frame is much weaker in the hardtop and will need some form of support. Also consider that a light roll or flop will damage the now weakened windscreen frame.

Here is a car that was been (successfully) cut into a soft top. The owner did it because the hardtop body was damaged from multiple rolls, and there was lots of work in the wheel arches, transmission tunnel etc, so swapping to a soft top body was more work than the chop. It's very well executed but it's an offroad only car, and would not be legal for road use without engineering approval as the seat belt mounts and roll cage intrusion would be issues. This car also has no provision for weather protection.



Note that both sides of the windscreen are protected.

[edubravia]

thanks joe. gwansteve some mechanic just shared his thoughts on the same and it boils down to 'bad idea'...problem is I want it soo bad am all over the interner looking up for success stories in regard to converting a suzuki sierra into a sporty ride:-(

[Gwagensteve]

Buy a soft top they're common enough. It's pointless to go through the cost and time of conversion to end up with something likely inferior to what Suzuki already made.

[Dan`]

would probably cost you somewhere in the region of $5k-$10k to do it even remotely properly...... its not like you can just lob the top off a tin top and stitch a canvas top back on...

[greavesyzook]

Sell tintop and by soft top

[Scrawny]

greavesyzook wrote:

Sell tintop and by soft top

Good advice

Bye