LETZ RUN

Anyone have any idea how to remove the door crash bar? They do it pretty easy in the 4th gens, but it seems kinda hard on the 3rd. Has anyone sucessfully done it? What is the weight difference on a manual door vs power?

These doors just seem sooooo heavy.

jay92,85,79

iTrader: (1)

If u are going to drive your car on the street i would leave the doors alone.. But if u wanted them out drill the spot welds out. And pry them out.. Going to mess up the door.

groundrat

iTrader: (3)

It would probably cause the door skin to warp or buckle. Thats the only thing keeping that body line there. Wouldnt be too safe unless you welded in an aluminum bar or something.

Stevo

iTrader: (45)

Hmm life or not even .1 of a second on the 1/4? thats a tuff choice. Hey you know the frames are pretty heavy on these cars maybe you can just put some fiberglass or sheet metal on there instead. Seatbelts weight quite a few pounds with the retractor and all, consider losing those too.

You bought a third gen deal with the heavy *** door...deal with it. Is taking that bar out really a practical thing to do?

jay92,85,79

iTrader: (1)

The guy is just asking. Don't have to jump all over him.... I'm not for sure but on some year 3rd gens they had door with smaller crash bars in them. Not sure what years but i have seen them.

86t/a owner

if it is a race car that only see's the track why not. we used to do it in the g bodys all the time, took out about 12 pounders per side. but for a race only car why not put on fiberglass doors.
Nathan

LETZ RUN

yeah it is a race car. thanks for those offered advice. for the bashers, i asked a technical question. i didnt ask for feedback from the peanut gallery.

TZFBird

I can't remember which issue it was in, but the bar in the door is actually part of the frame. Since it's a Uni-body, they utilize the doors as part of the frame, that is the reason for them being so heavy and the hinges going out on them. I'll look through my CHP magazines and see if I can find the article about it.
It's in the March 2006 on P.24
http://www.andyz28.com/3rdGen/article/BodyIntegrity.htm

DIGGLER

iTrader: (1)

b.s. its a side impact bar.
how is the door going to have any kind of structural support for the body of the car?!? one end of the door is a latch which can slide back and forth,up/down, or however it wants. the other end of the door is a friggin' hinge.
its not adding anything to the body. its in there for the same reason the 4th gen cars have them. side impact.

84FirebirdChick

its what going to save your a$$ though when someone tbones you....wouldn't be a pretty site. i would vote go with fiberglass doors or equally reinforce them with aluminum or other lighter metal...i wouldn't risk TOO much safety over weight...

good luck!

and p.s. no idea how to remove the supports...never looked at mine...

theboilermaker

so if the front and back of the doors are "fixed" how would that not keep the body straighter. seems to me that it would help alot with body flex. it si a 3foot long peace of the car that when closed adds a horizontal "bar" about 1.5 ft above the frame of the car. so when the car wants to twist from a hard launch lets say it will resist the flex of the frame.

hmmmmm

GMan 3MT

iTrader: (4)

What do the rules say? Dunno what type of racing you plan on doing, but SCCA and NASA say you can gut the doors if you put in NASCAR style door bars. That being said, I opted for two diagonal bars and kept my door beam. My thinking that should something happen that I might get lucky and only have to replace the door and not have to do repairs to the cage. With just the skin, the cage is certainly going to be impacted.

Some of the door skins I've seen gutted are just pinned on. I don't see a point of wasting money on fiberglass doors, cause just the skin doesn't weigh jack.

As far as getting the beam off, my roommate and I used a cutoff wheel on his Monza to get the beam out of the rally car.

Zed'er

That is correct, not just with third-gen f-bodies either.

Bull

iTrader: (5)

I've never fully understood the quest to rid cars of every extra ounce for insignificantly lower quarter mile times.

Seems like it'd be more sensible to build a more potent engine or swap in a lower rear gear than to remove structural pieces.

Or, go on a diet and shed 5, 10, even 20 lbs. That's more weight than will be removed if the door bars are taken out.

And I'm not bashing or joking about the diet, it is a valid way to remove weight from the car.

LETZ RUN

You probably dont understand it because you are not a racer.

Tru2Chevy

Many people who are serious about going fast believe in the "Every ounce counts" theory. Maybe the door bars are only a few pounds. Those brackets that the lower portions of the rear seat attach to are only a pound. The rear seat belts are only a few pounds each. The sound deadening behind the carpet is only 10 pounds. But add all that stuff up, and you've made a more significant dent in the weight of the car.

To some people it's not worth it, to others it is.....

- Justin

GMan 3MT

iTrader: (4)

What cracks me up is the people that want to get rid of every bit of extra 'weight', but want to keep streetability and their 10" subs.

LETZ RUN

not me.

Bull

iTrader: (5)

Maybe. But that is a supposition.

Remember the Swiss Cheese Catalinas from the 60's? They had numerous circular holes cut in the frames to eliminate weight. Cars ended up being weaker than desireable, so the practice was scrapped.

The link above has some important info regarding the function that the doors on our cars serve in strengthening the entire chassis. I read that a few weeks ago when researching the door hinge kits that are out there.

At any rate, good luck with whatever path you choose, and whatever race you enter.

Tru2Chevy

Heh...that just proves that they aren't dedicated enough.

- Justin

TTOP350

iTrader: (8)

Take Door bars out, install rollcage dump all the weight you can The door bars do help in a front crash also.... they help keep the pass compartment from collapsing(sp) thats the reason you use a cage..
I cut my mine out in 3 or 4 pieces to get them out

DEATH TO THE SAFETY ***** !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ralf Nader can eat a D*ck

DIGGLER

iTrader: (1)

this is obviusly not intended for a street car... lol

the bar is for side impacts, and offers very little "structural integrity" to the body. i would say almost none.
that being said, if your working on a drag car (like i am), what do you need those bars for? they will just make the door heavier and wear out the hinges sooner....

also, i gotta add this. i have cruised around the 4th gen sites for the past 7 years and only frequent this site on occasion the past 3 years or so. what i have noticed is a majority of the 3rd gen guys are WAAY more cautious and afraid to try new things. which puts most of the people on here in the dark!
not only with this door bar issue, but many other things. im not trying to down the people on this site, i just think people on here should live a little and stop being so afraid to try new things. stuff that dads mechanic told you 15 years ago might not be such a big deal afterall.

dr1

stripped out drag cars never impress me to begin with, I dont care how fast you can go if you stripped out all comforts...... let alone integral safety features like a crash bar... jeex.

build your own ****ing car if you want less weight... literally.. and go faster then 13 secs, cos its getting old considering we've been at the 4 second mark for awhile ;p

now that im done bashing this thread i know there are at least 2 different kinds of door bars, because mine has one of each, one is stamped steel and one is just a tube.. id guess the tube would be easier to cut out and remove, but at the same time theres probably less weight savings to be had in the first place

DIGGLER

iTrader: (1)

this car is not stripped out. it has carpet and interior panels.
its almost in the 10's with a cam'd LT1, and i hope it will be the fastest stock shortblock LT1 car in the country soon.

purpose built rail cars dont interest me much either. who cares about bracket racing?

OutLaw305

ha, because glass doors cost bout $200 a skin and removing that bar costs about $2 for the drill bit.