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Willys

Just a thought, off the wall...

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Hi guys and gals.....I am now the happy new owner of a 450 diesel pulse.....I'm an old Jeeper and biker .....and concider this vehicle almost as a toy instead of my daily driver, which it is also. When driving my old flat fender jeeps, one of the thrills was to drive it top off, open doors etc, sitting almost out in the wind. I had this crazy thought......what if you could take the doors off the Smart Car and drive without it's doors...? In just the good dry weather obviously.   The doors are massive and would give you the same out in the wind feeling I'm sure also if removed.   Has there been another nutcase who has done this yet? I can't be the only one crazy enough to think about it...can I...????   lol.  If so, how difficult do you think it is to remove the doors? I haven't done any serious research on it yet, tomorrow I will be looking at the hinges etc to see if it is possible to get some sort of quicker release  so you could quickly remove them, similar to a Jeep etc.   IF you must remove half the body work then it becomes not worth the troubles to get them off just for a day or two of open air driving...imho.

So, am I the only lunatic here...or not...?

 

Am I CRAZY...or just a bit looney...lol

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What would it look like if you removed the inner and outer door panels?  

 

Nigel

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It'd probably create havoc to remove the doors - the interior lights would stay on, maybe some codes would be generated.  A convertible is the way to go!

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If you ever got caught in the rain the moisture in the car could ruin the sam and the Ebox, besides pooling in the battery footwell and causing all kinds of electrical gremlins!!!!  DON'T DO IT!!!! You will open yourself to a world of hurt!!!

Get that thought out of your head!! Maybe import a crossblade which was designed to withstand moisture and I would be leary of that.

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Not arguing with anyone at all, simply thinking out loud as usual.....but.....do the convertables have better protected sams and electronics, or do they hope you are smart enough not to forget to leave the roof down etc etc?   If so that would answer the water issues, somewhat? Also back in the day we simply made drain holes etc in the floor pans to allow water to drain out.....but I agree a jeep is better designed for water issues.....having their electronics placed higher up.  I personally think the water issues can be solved with some waterproofing of the electonics items.    You simply have to know what and which and how to waterproof them correctly. The door switches can easily be turned off manually, a simple bypass switch for the days you drive without the doors etc.   

Now you know why I require sleeping meds to stop my brain from thinking all night...!!!! Augh....!!!!!!    It never stops thinking of crazy stuff to do....

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crossblade would be the way to go, typical prices are 15,000 Euros.  They have a flexible plastic tray on the entire floor that isolates the electronics from water.  They all have ZEE units and not SAMs.

 

Cabriolets are not better weatherproofed.  I suppose that means the manufacturer expects the owner to have some common sense.

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Yes the crossblade would be the better way to go, IF you had the 15,000 ero's to spend...lol.   But being a redhead with white, seriously white skin, having no roof isn't the best either...lol.  I can get burnt to a crisp through a dress shirt! My summertime attire that is, keep the UV's off me as much as possible...lol.  Done the white to blister thing many times and have finally learned that it isn't the way to go....lol.

I'm a sick modder, I can't leave anything alone that I have. I always look for ways to make things better.....better is in the eye of the beholder right, just like beauty...lol.  It's what I do for entertainment. I do not drink, go to bars or clubs, can't chase the women's anymore , married, don't play sports or gamble.....so i have to do something...I modify my toys or vehicles......
If i were to do this I would be waterproofing all electronics completely just as you would on any water damaged vehicle, boats, bikes etc etc....it's not hard to do just very very time consuming. You also can't apply too much waterproofing or the circuitboards you are trying to protect will overheat due to the waterproofing agent.  But it can be done, imho. anything can be done if you put your mind to it. Yes i know the purists won't like modifying the orginal smartcar from stock so to speak, but hey, it's not a bike engine transplant now is it...lol?  Don't tyhink i haven't looked into that also but I'm too old to be screaming around ripping the rear tires off the thing....lol....I get enough silly looks from the wife when I have done some things as it is....lol.

Like I said I just thought it would be a neet/interesting thing to do for those sunny days during the summer...I'll keep thinking and seeing if it can be done without too much of a headache. 

 

I have read that there is some issues with windshields leaking etc and trays leaking so there is a water issue already....so why not take care of it all at the same time.  Driving around in a potential weak link vehicle isn't my idea of a good time...I'm neurotic I suppose....too many years riding bikes long distances in the far north, I guess. To places where you do not want to have any type of mechanical breakdown, so you make it almost impossible for it to happen in the firstplace by over engineering it.

Sorry to go on......but the idea of having nothing besides you is very tempting..lol.

 

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There is actually a guy that goes by the handle "baldgeek" that has removed the doors from his 451 cabrio. He has done some other mods as I remember.  You can find him on Insta Gram.

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Hmmm.....I'm not a fan of the door bars or the flat blades at the rear....I'd like it better if they removed the door bars and also those blades and instead of the blades installed a proper rollcage, imho would look far better.....it's got to be the perfect dry weather machine, no..?

 

 

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The door bars will be helpful when that nasty SUV t-bones the car ;)

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2 hours ago, Willys said:

Hmmm.....I'm not a fan of the door bars or the flat blades at the rear....I'd like it better if they removed the door bars and also those blades and instead of the blades installed a proper rollcage, imho would look far better.....it's got to be the perfect dry weather machine, no..?

 

 

Having the bars (and hinges and door latches) will help avoid the "door ajar" warnings, and will also make ingress and egress much easier.

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The only issue would be having a switch to bypass the door adjar warning lamp  to stay off..imho....if nothings there you simply slide in and over to ingree and egress, new words...lol

 

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But you were talking about a proper roll cage. The bars would give you some degree of safety over no doors at all, and easier entry and exit vs. a full cage.

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I was simply looking at a single roll bar behind your head attached to the steel that makes up what the car already has, thoise pillars must be of some strength or they would fold up like paper in a roll over and I can't see that being the case when we are talking this car seeing as it's complete cage in the non convertable models.
The bars I can't see being much use other than to hold you in and that takes away from the open concept of taking the doors off in the firstplace, no?  
I'll experiment when the warmer weather gets here as to how easy or difficult it may be to do this, It may just be too much trouble to make a quick hinge set up and I'll simply drive it as is.....which is fine.

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The passenger cell of the smart is almost all high-strength steel. It takes a LOT to crush one. They tend to bounce in roll-overs.

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youll have to find a way to attach mirrors

 

the doors mirrors are considered original safety equipment and if the car was sold with 2 side mirrors they have to be there for road use

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Hmmm...? Didn't think of that, but that isn't difficult to make up two mirrors and attach them to the door hinge bolt hole area.just for the trip so to speak or even get suction cup mirrors if there are such animals......My biggest hurdle was the hinge attachment issuesd....the rest is easy.

Still way too cold to even think about sitting next to it seeing if it's doable...lol. just waiting for block heater to warm her up  before going out today....augh...lol

 

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