just a thought. didn't know if it could be done.

 

Why not just get a convertible?

 

yea, but theres a very large difference in doing it, and doing it as in-depth as Mazda already did.

 

You would have to plan on doing a lot of bracing to the chassis. Look at a vert chassis, there is a lot of extra metal bracing added and the floor and rocker panel steel is easily twice as thick.

Its not just a matter of hacking to roof off.

 

I've only seen such a conversion done on cars that were never available as verts from the factory- specifically in my case, a Datsun 240Z.
Car looked nice but the dash/doors/myriad other things creaked like a sumbitch when driving.

The roof is a major structural component of a unibody car and deleting it requires substantial reinforcement to compensate for the loss- that's why the factory convertible is the heaviest of all models. You could study a stocker and see the bracing that was deemed necessary by the Mazda engineers and such an inspection would probably put you right off the idea.

Since it's possible to actually buy a properly designed/engineered RX convertible-i.e., the factory version- I can't imagine why you'd want to undertake such a project yourself.

 

If you have to ask, then no, it can't be done.

Anything can be done with money and a welder. You can strip the interior, run temporary braces to keep the body inline, then go at it with the Sawzall. Now you need to finish off the rough edges by turning the metal over and welding. Underneath at the very least you'll need an X brace to tie all for corners of the car together as the roof was an important part of the structure.

Then there's the little things like totally fabbing a new hatch cover, finishing off the top of the doors, making a windshield frame, making custom interior trim...

Probably 1000 hours worth of work to do it right.