Converting To A Convertible

[tizre]

Hi have an 87 2.0GT celica.....mint car..I want to turn in into a convetible...does anyone know of a good coachworks com. who could do this ?

[TheNissanMan]

cost an arm and a leg as you'll really need to strengthen the chassis, i had a gen4 conv for a while and the chassis felt very week and that was an original, on a conversion you won't have the extra strengthening as standard...

[daktari]

Sell the car you've got and buy a Gen5 convertible. Much stronger than a Gen4.

As rhaines pointed out it`d cost more than the car was worth to get it converted and more than likely no guarantees that it would drive well.

[Cubic Incubi]

Hmmm, nice idea, but in all eventuality it would costs a great deal of money and i'm not too sure the end result would be appealing, firstly you would need a saloon coupe, not a fastback hatch like you have got.

if you are lucky, you might pick up a decent gen 4 convertible for around £1500 - £2000 as a starting point. then harness 212 BHP 160MPH without superchargers/turbos or N20.

If you dont mind bodywork, you can pick up a scrapper for £200, bearing in mind body panels are rare and hoodwork is expensive and parts are costly to replace. there are a couple of gen 4 convertibles on autotrader right now which have been there for a few months - dealers - one has guarenteed genuine mileage 38K and is up for £2750 i think, reckon as he's been selling it for a while £2500 would be a steal

and ok, you could spend £3-5K on a gen 5 import - but surely you want a 'RARE' celica convertible.

I had the only Gen 4 convertible at JAE, in fact ive never seen another. a few exist out there on uk roads and i think they look better than the gen 5 convertible.

Im stripping mine out this winter for a full rebuild, replacing the rear seats with ICE, replacing front seats with buckets, stripping out sound deadening, respray burnt cosmic metallic orange, aearoform USA bodykit, 18" alloys, brake upgrades, port and polish, shaved bits and bobs with better whiz bits?? chromed engine, bling bling !Removed! pimptastic 200BHP+ with 75hp nitrous. reckon i'll get her up to late 13's early 14's 1/4 mile running nos.

project begins October 2004, reckon Shell be back on the road in april 2005, fingers crossed.

hope that gives you inspiration

the whole project should costs around £4500 with £1500 left to the side incase.

[blackcat]

Ive seen an attempted gen 4 convertible conversion a few years ago & it was all wrong,looked crap.The hatchback/tailgate glass was cut out making a very small booted hinge which interfered with the homemade roof.There was no strenghtening of the sills/structure so I imagine it would be quite unsafe.The booted Celica(not seen one in UK) is usually the model that has the ragtop.

I bought my gen4 very cheap,so if you look around you may be lucky.

I have both the gen4 and gen5 convertibles and I can say the gen 5 is deffo the better looking B)

I'd save up & buy a gen5 as theres nothing more posey than an opening electric hood in traffic B)