[Guest]

I am about to tear into my '91 LX Hatch 5.0. In this rebuild, I do not want this car to be 'just another mustang'. I plan to do some unique things that I have not found in any magazines etc. One of those is to retrofit doors from a convertable on a hatchback. Has anyone seen this done? Is it possible?

By doing so, I would eliminate the window frame on the coupe/hatchback doors and have better looking mirrors (in my opinion). My concern, of course, is weatherstripping and sealing out the water! If anyone has seen this done or has any advice, I'm all ears!

 

[LoneRangerXLT]

Plumebuster, that is a unique idea. I have not seen or heard of it being done, and I think I know why. In doing so, you would lose the structural integrity of the door pillar. You would probably get a lot of shake, rattle and roll if you cut it out. The convertibles are strengthened some to prevent this. However, if you added strength to body pan, with subframe connectors, it would certainly be a unique vehicle. It would have the look of the "hardtops" of the 50's and 60's. If you go ahead with it, we will require pictures!

 

[Guest]

Good point. However, I don't anticipate any changes to the structure itself. What I was referring to was the "frame" that goes around the door windows. You can see the difference if you look at the hatchback/coupe doors and see that metal frame above the actual door, whereas the convertible doors don't have that. They just have the door.

Maybe that metal frame does add something to structural rigidity, but I don't know. Hmm...You've brought up a very good issue I will have to deal with first. If this is solve-able with subframe connecters, those are in the works anyway!

plumebuster

 

[dinomite]

subframes

I doubt that the door frames add very much structually, but subframes aren't that expensive, I think everyone should have em.