300c with suicide doors, conversion ongoing

[guru]

Good day all,

we have recently undertaken a suicide door conversion for a customer’s 300c. Considering the global interest in this conversion we decided to post some pictures. Of all the vehicles we have put suicide doors on in the past, the 300 proved to be the most difficult. To add to the complexity of the conversion, the rear doors needed to be open to no less than 90 degrees to the body as per the customer’s request.

As with all of our conversions the vehicle needs to remain suitable for everyday use, meaning water tight, wind noise free and also the doors must open and close like they did originally and must NOT sag over time, additionally the doors must not appear "flimsily"(Must be a word) attached to the vehicle. The doors required complete reinforcing from within as did the quarter panel. Owing unto the additional reinforcement, the doors are bounce free and close and line-up like they did from the factory. Bare in mind in these pictures we are only halfway to completion. Meaning none of the sheet metal has been put back in place, there has been no finishing of any kind, not actuators installed etc....still very raw. When we are done the vehicle will appear as though it came from the factory with suicide doors...which in our opinion it really should have. Will post more as we progress. Enjoy

CP

Link

Video + Pictures of the Doors.

http://www.putfile.com/cpracing

[guru]

Update….she is done!

The 90 degree suicide door conversion is now complete. We have managed to achieve the 90 degrees we wanted for the rear doors and re-designed the front door hinges of the car also to open to near 90 degrees in an attempt to balance the visual appeal of the vehicle. The rear doorstops allow the doors to open up to within 3mm of the quarter panel without hitting. All the reinforcement in the doors and behind the quarter worked perfectly. The doors do not twist, flex or sag in the least. Leaning, slamming and general abuse have had no effect on the doors operation so everyone is very please.



We have opted to shave the door handles on the car and have made provisions for hidden hydraulic actuators to open and close the doors. The front and rear doors have remained full power-locks and power windows. Additionally, the weather seals are still in place and function as they should. Behind the hinge is also sealed (not shown) to keep the elements from entering the quarter panel while driving.

The car is now ready for the body shop phase, all the welds will be ground smooth and the car will be stripped even further and prepped for paint. Someone did mention a 3 inch chop for the roof…so we are considering it.

CP

view all our pictures here….

http://ca.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/far...bum?.dir=/ed79