92 shadow convert door conversion??

[shadowdragon]

hi all , i have a 92 shadow vert, the doors aren't in the best of shape, and the windows won't roll up or down, while i could have this fixed, the passenger side window has been replaced with a very cheap piece of plexi, it is almost impossible to find vert doors here in ala, due to the divided windows, my thoughts were leaning toward getting normal shadow doors and having a shop remove the upper portion of the door ie like the convertable doors are....the only diff would be that the window would be a normal window in 1 piece not devided .... any thoughts on the feasability of this??

[BleedDodge]

That's hard. My cousin has one of these cars and they're next to impossible to find parts for. They didn't make many of them.

[SikEnCide]

i personally think the convertable shadows are ugly no offence to you or n e thing... but i guess it could work id say check a junk yard for the parts u need

[KManiac]

I would vote "No" to trying to convert coupe doors for a convertible and trying to use full length windows.

I own a 1991 Shadow ES Turbo convertible. I have owned it for 12 years. I have, on several occasions, disassembled the doors and repaired the power windows in both doors.

When these coupes were made into convertibles, the top and rear portions of the window frame were removed. The full length door glass gets its stability from the full height, rear window channel. Once this is removed for the convertible conversion, they had to find an alternate means of stabilizing the glass. That is why they added the full height, front window channel. And to add this channel, they had to split the window and add the fixed front glass panel. Also, the full height front window channel gives added structural stability to the remaining portion of the window frame.

My suggestion, if the outer door skins are badly dented or rusted, is to get some used coupe doors. Then find a good body shop that can convert these replacement doors into convertible doors using the existing door hardware from the convert doors. Thats the way they did it in the factory. Any unique parts not salvagable can be bought from the dealer. Be sure the parts guy refers to the "Body 27" sections of the Shadow parts book for convertible parts. For those of you not familiar, "27" was the VIN designation for a two door convertible in Mopar's built between 1965 and 1971.

Sticky door windows is an inherent problem for the Shadow convertible. The convert door glass is equipped with a plastic film slide strip along the front edge, with four plastic guide tabs that hold the window in the full height channel. My passenger door suffered from a window that had to be pulled up by hand along with the motor. It was like this for almost ten years. I replaced the regulator and the motor with no solution to this problem. I finally disassembled the door and removed the door glass. It was then that I discovered the plastic slide strip was ripped and bunched in several places. This caused a lot of friction. I ordered a new strip from the dealer for $20. Once installed, the window has performed like new ever since.

When you take the door apart, you will notice the window regulators are held in with one Torquex-head machine screw and four pop-rivots from the factory. I replaced the pop-rivots with bolts, nuts and washers in my car to ease servicing. These doors are easy to disassemble and reassemble once you get rid of the pop-rivots.

Good luck with your convertible and let us know what you find and do.