need help: side impact bar removal
Tom,
Glad that you figured it out some...some other posts were also good advice.
Hows the house? I haven't seen you in eons!
The mod does take some time and is frustrating at times though the weight removed really makes the door much lighter feeling ~7.5 is about right w/bolts. It makes opening a door on an uphill MUCH better feeling.
Take a 1/4" socket, grind it down so it just graps the bolt (as mentioned previously). Use a SOCKET CAP on the shortened socket, then use a standard open end wrench on the socket cap end. It comes right out...it takes a bunch of turns, though it will come right out.
Next, two ways of removing the bars:
1) Cut a ~1" hole at the end of the door, bar will slip out...then just use a plastic cap and cover the hole up. It will look like a drain hole or like a stock part...very easy to perform.
2) cut the bars in sections with an angle grinder and take each piece out until the whole bar is out....I tend to like to create clean installs so this is my preferred way... though #1 is very good and looks perfect after all is said and done.
This mod is definitly only a hardcore mod and not for the street user by any means.
Hope this helps,
Steve
Pres.
Glad that you figured it out some...some other posts were also good advice.
Hows the house? I haven't seen you in eons!
The mod does take some time and is frustrating at times though the weight removed really makes the door much lighter feeling ~7.5 is about right w/bolts. It makes opening a door on an uphill MUCH better feeling.
Take a 1/4" socket, grind it down so it just graps the bolt (as mentioned previously). Use a SOCKET CAP on the shortened socket, then use a standard open end wrench on the socket cap end. It comes right out...it takes a bunch of turns, though it will come right out.
Next, two ways of removing the bars:
1) Cut a ~1" hole at the end of the door, bar will slip out...then just use a plastic cap and cover the hole up. It will look like a drain hole or like a stock part...very easy to perform.
2) cut the bars in sections with an angle grinder and take each piece out until the whole bar is out....I tend to like to create clean installs so this is my preferred way... though #1 is very good and looks perfect after all is said and done.
This mod is definitly only a hardcore mod and not for the street user by any means.
Hope this helps,
Steve
Pres.
Originally Posted by steve10
Tom,
Glad that you figured it out some...some other posts were also good advice.
Hows the house? I haven't seen you in eons!
The mod does take some time and is frustrating at times though the weight removed really makes the door much lighter feeling ~7.5 is about right w/bolts. It makes opening a door on an uphill MUCH better feeling.
Take a 1/4" socket, grind it down so it just graps the bolt (as mentioned previously). Use a SOCKET CAP on the shortened socket, then use a standard open end wrench on the socket cap end. It comes right out...it takes a bunch of turns, though it will come right out.
Next, two ways of removing the bars:
1) Cut a ~1" hole at the end of the door, bar will slip out...then just use a plastic cap and cover the hole up. It will look like a drain hole or like a stock part...very easy to perform.
2) cut the bars in sections with an angle grinder and take each piece out until the whole bar is out....I tend to like to create clean installs so this is my preferred way... though #1 is very good and looks perfect after all is said and done.
This mod is definitly only a hardcore mod and not for the street user by any means.
Hope this helps,
Steve
Pres.
Glad that you figured it out some...some other posts were also good advice.
Hows the house? I haven't seen you in eons!
The mod does take some time and is frustrating at times though the weight removed really makes the door much lighter feeling ~7.5 is about right w/bolts. It makes opening a door on an uphill MUCH better feeling.
Take a 1/4" socket, grind it down so it just graps the bolt (as mentioned previously). Use a SOCKET CAP on the shortened socket, then use a standard open end wrench on the socket cap end. It comes right out...it takes a bunch of turns, though it will come right out.
Next, two ways of removing the bars:
1) Cut a ~1" hole at the end of the door, bar will slip out...then just use a plastic cap and cover the hole up. It will look like a drain hole or like a stock part...very easy to perform.
2) cut the bars in sections with an angle grinder and take each piece out until the whole bar is out....I tend to like to create clean installs so this is my preferred way... though #1 is very good and looks perfect after all is said and done.
This mod is definitly only a hardcore mod and not for the street user by any means.
Hope this helps,
Steve
Pres.
Steve, good to hear from you. When are you bringing the car to Pittsburgh Raceway Park? Are you going to THUNDER in the BURGH? 330' racing on the street with tree, track prep and all. It's a promotional event. July 21 and Aug.1
What is a SOCKET CAP? Is it one of those adapters that slip into the socket so you can use it in a drill? If it is that's what I call "one of those things" lol or a "gizmo"
Good idea. I still have one more bar to go 
Stop out to the track sometime
It's not a screw extracting tool, it replaces a ratchet. It is a small adapter that attaches into a socket and you use a wrench instead...really works well in tight places where you don't have room for a thick ratchet plus socket.
Wright tools have some real nice skinny ratchets:
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache...+ratchet&hl=en
they are about half the head thickness and width of sears stuff btw.
I don't have the part number of the ones I use, though sears carry them...here's the link for sears socket caps:
http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...00030000100085
I've been so busy, I've put off our car and been working on everything else. I am going to try to make it to the promo.
Steve
Wright tools have some real nice skinny ratchets:
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache...+ratchet&hl=en
they are about half the head thickness and width of sears stuff btw.
I don't have the part number of the ones I use, though sears carry them...here's the link for sears socket caps:
http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...00030000100085
I've been so busy, I've put off our car and been working on everything else. I am going to try to make it to the promo.
Steve
Last edited by steve10; Jul 19, 2004 at 10:09 AM.
I guess I got really lucky, cause the sockets that I have fit right on and I got the three nuts right off! I used a holesaw on my drill and put a hole in the back of each door - then used some rubber hole plugs that were left over from my rollbar install (came from the trunk area above the gas tank). It is very clean and looks factory. Mine took out 15lbs total.
