31 replies to this topic

[Steve-O]

My cage builder used a plasma cutter and the result was like the edge of a saw blade. I used a 4.5 inch angle grinder w/ a cutting wheel then buffed up w/ something courser. Worked like a charm and easy to control w/ one hand. Finished up the doors by splitting some vacuum line and glueing in place (someone else's idea here).

[Keith Novak]

Finished up the doors by splitting some vacuum line and glueing in place

I did the same thing with some drip line for garden sprinkler systems. Worked well but vacuum line would be much easier to split.

[Colby Scott]

I tried practically every possible way mentioned when cutting out my doors. The cut off wheel took way to long, I didn't feel like paying someone to plasma cut it, o/a cutting would be tricky, and a dremel tool is frustrating. I finally ended up using a cordless saw-zall with a fine toothed metal blade. It was fast, clean, and hassle free. Initially I tried an electric makita saw but it was too powerful and jumped all over the place. I found the slower speed of the cordless made it easier to handle and was much better on my wrist.

[ChrisA]

Anybody tried electric or pneumatic metal shears/nibblers? I used an electric one on some flat sheet metal and it was fast, maneuverable and produced a clean cut. Not sure how it would do on the door with it's various contours, but it looks like it might work. Cuts up to 18ga steel.

[Tom Hampton]

some of the thinner parts are 18ga, but there are the top part of the window sill is definately thicker than that...and there are multiple layers. It took me 2 hours to do both doors with the cutoff wheel, including cleanup, and smoothing the freshly cut edges with a file. If that's what you call too long....okay.

-tch

[ChrisA]

some of the thinner parts are 18ga, but there are the top part of the window sill is definately thicker than that...and there are multiple layers. It took me 2 hours to do both doors with the cutoff wheel, including cleanup, and smoothing the freshly cut edges with a file. If that's what you call too long....okay.

-tch

You could leave the top part at the sill as it provides some structural rigidity to the door.

[Tom Hampton]

I left a little. But, that is the heaviest part---there's several pounds of steel there, per door. My doors don't feel compromised in any way.

[dstevens]

The inner panels don't do much for protection in a race application. That's what the door bars are for. I've still got the skins out in the scrap barrel. If I get a chance today I'll weigh one but I already scrapped to the door innards and glass so it won't be indicative of the true weight savings. Some of the veterans of the class had some posts on the other site that had what the weight savings are.

[ChrisA]

The inner panels don't do much for protection in a race application. That's what the door bars are for. I've still got the skins out in the scrap barrel. If I get a chance today I'll weigh one but I already scrapped to the door innards and glass so it won't be indicative of the true weight savings. Some of the veterans of the class had some posts on the other site that had what the weight savings are.

I didn't presume that it provided impact protection, just some rigidity to the door. Taking out that whole sill would probably only save roughly 3-lbs total (both doors), the mass of the weight savings is in the window tracks, motors, etc. My car is under weight anyway, so going back to trim that just isn't worth it for me.

[Keith Novak]

Some people leave enough that they can attach the stock bit of door liner that has a pad right by your shoulder.

[Tom Hampton]

I didn't presume that it provided impact protection, just some rigidity to the door. Taking out that whole sill would probably only save roughly 3-lbs total (both doors), the mass of the weight savings is in the window tracks, motors, etc. My car is under weight anyway, so going back to trim that just isn't worth it for me.

:-)

Difference between a '99 and a 1.6L. I'm looking for every pound I can find (yes, I'm looking at the monkey behind the wheel, too). There aren't many 10+ pound items in the car to remove, so all those 1-3 pounders eventually have to add up.

I'd really like to find another 20 lbs...but, I'm running out of places to look.

[Alberto]

Well, I took a stab at removing some door material today. Spent about an hour on the driver door while doing laundry. I was able to do loose a little over 2.5lbs in less than an hour using nothing but a drill bit, a screw driver and a dremel. No plasma cutter or air powered cutting tools required.

Check out the pics on my blog here:
http://blog.miatarac...eight-loss.html
Sorry but I'm too lazy to re-type the info on the blog post.

Hope that helps someone.