Oh, as far as "pillarless dorrs", what I meant was "frameless windows".
It was a little flexed with the jackstands, those front ones were probably within a foot of the cars center of gravity, you could just lift the back end up by the rear bumper. In fact I gave myself a hernia doing just that...
ain:
The car is off the stands and has been for weeks. Those pics are from quite a bit earlier. Its fine with the weenie "connectors." I will probably stack a senond layer of signposts to tie it up more. You can just feel it wiggle over bumps, the steering wheel just barely ocsillates noticibly around in reference to your butt. You can feel it if you look for it, but not otherwise, and only over bumps. It would be good as factory if only we had a non-rusty car, and just spent the $50 on proper sized rec tube to connect it right, and tied the front subframe to the rockers.
also, the car is a rusty pile. the lower quarters are pretty much gone (left one IS gone), the rear rockers are rotted out, rear floor is "soft" at best..... Its a 200,000+ mile indiana body... if anything, it will be patched with fiberglass, great stuff foam ,and bondo. Then painted with rustoleum, just for practice working filler and shooting paint more than anything else.
as with anything, if you do it one, you have tons of advise for a second run. My advise is:
1) get a solid full framed car. this pretty much leaves you with full-size fords. chryslers have been units for decades (can be ok, if solid) and gm frames are mostly thin n' weak. lincoln mark series (and platform mates) have full length boxed rails, if im not mistaken. that would be my #1 choice.
2) make sure it has all the parts you want. ours didnt come with a bumper. ever see a 79 cordoba in a junkyard? niether have we..... hence the welded stack of pipes on there now..... a $500 common car your are just lopping the roof off of is not worth spending few hundred bucks chasing parts down for.
3) remove the windshield when cutting, else you will risk cracking it. that whole a-pillar assembly willl jump a lot while sawing.
4) mark your cut lines with masking tape, and check and recheck by looking from different angles, so the car looks good when you are done. leave a extra 1/4 inch to spare, you can always go over it with a grinder to get it just right. your not gonna put it back if you take off too much.....