I'm looking at removing the door bars. I will have a full cage in the car.

I've cut the inside skin out. I've read a few places that the door bar is spot welded in a couple areas. I have the door completely sanded to the metal (repaint), but only see 1 or two welds around where the door bar would be.

Anyone have experience cutting the door bar out? I don't mind drilling a few holes. I'll fill and paint over.

 

Like you mean cut into the door so your cage can go through it? That's how my caged FB is set. We just took a cut-off wheel to it and got rid of the inner part of the door and left the outside on. The outside keeps the body of the car but isn't much more functional than that.

 

Thanks for the reply, but I don't know if we are talking about the same thing.
The bar I'm talking about is the almost flat bar that sits inside the door, behind the normal inner shell.

Some people suggest not removing this, for safety reasons, but I'm getting a fully cage welded in, so I'm hoping to get rid of it to save a few pounds. hahah.

 

I attached a picture. Looks like my current plan will be to cut the middle part out, and then see about drilling the welds on the edges, and pull out what's left.

When I do the second door, I'll take better pictures.

Thanks guys!

 

OH! That part! Thanks for the photo.
That helps the door structurally and helps prevent it from shaking while traveling at speed as well. It's one of those things that I've seen that hasn't gotten in the way for most people. Does your cage go out that far? Would you be able to pull it in a little?
I would advise to not cut it out unless you're planning on welding the door shut just because it'll make it rattle to no end. If you want to save weight on it, you can drill holes into it like the top portion or an aircraft to remove weight and keeping it mostly intact.
Worst case, if you find your door rattling too much, weld or weld a lengthy piece of metal back in.

 

Thanks w0ppe for the advice!

I didn't know it would rattle a lot, but if it does, i'll just weld it shut.

I am removing it purely for weight. Some of the parts I am removing from the door play into it's structural integrity, but I am going to be welding a smaller steel bar between the hinges to provide more strength.

My original plan was to weld it shut, and climb through the window. But, I'm going to try and make this work, and, worst case, pull the welder out.

When I do the second door, I'll take more pictures and show exactly what I mean.

 

You have to think that every element of the car that isn't a permanent attachment has the potential deploy. Because of the potential to deploy, it will make the effort to do so (Why do sport cars and fast cars have fairly heavy doors?). Weight removal is a fun process though, it really shows how innovative some people are

No worries, you know where to find us.

 

Hey! Got it cut out, and the welds drilled out, so the door bar is completely out. Man, that thing is heavier than I thought!

My wife is grabbing a luggage weighing thing. I'm going to do a door weight before and after.

I still have the passenger side door completely together.

When I cut the passenger door apart, I'll do a bunch of pictures showing where the welds are, and where I cut.

The two doors are significantly different in weight now though. I can't wait to see what the actual weight difference is.

 

Got the weights.

Door with skin + bar + wiring + whatever else is in there stock = 56.4 lbs
Door with pretty much just the outer skin = 24.4 lbs.

~32 lbs per door savings. ~64 lbs all together.

I don't know overall how this will improve anything... but, shaving weight where I can.

I'll post pictures of the overall process next week.

 

Hey, that's how racecars get innovative and engineered! It's not much, but it is percentage wise. It's not often you'll find everything or anything as significant as the hood or the glass on the car but it's the little things that give you the extra edge.