quick convertable question

[cvcc_wagon]

ok, my buddy and I are planning on getting an old super beetle and making a convertible out of it. we don't intend on spending a lot of money on it but i am stickler for quality so it's not going to be a shit hole. it will be used as a Sunday driver so we're not worried about making a canvas top or anything. well my question is for those who have been around a bit and has an eye for structure, i would like to know whether the factory convertible has the same chassis as the regular hard top? i realize that it is a unibody car so cutting off the roof will weaken the structure considerably so what did VW do solve this problem?

any help would be appreciated
thanks,
Andrew

[boschmann]

Convertible bodies have stiffening rails that run front to back under the rocker panels. Cutting the roof off a regular beetle weakens it significantly. I speak from experience. We chopped the roof of an old junker & were driving it around. We hit a bump & the body flexed so much the doors sprang open.

[cvcc_wagon]

so is it a completely different chassis or is it the same one with added rails? if the rails are added i could always fab something up

[boschmann]

The pans are the same, the bodies are different, convertibles have stiffening rails.

[cvcc_wagon]

thanks for the help