to those of you good with fibreglas ...

[Topless]

One cause for concern. The solid engine cover is a firewall. Having experienced two engine fires in previous cars I really like having a wall between me and um... fire.

You?

[Lobo1186]

personally Im not very concerned about that.

I would probably however just pout a clear engine cover on instead that would be more modern

[Cloudsurfer]

The lighter weight and better engine cooling would be fantastic, especially on my 3.8 car, but the sound would be ear shattering. Just try driving around with that cover removed and let me know what you think.

As to the firewall, that is a concern, which will vary from person to person.

[The Radium King]

a more accessible engine might let you at a fire faster, before it became fully engaged? and the front firewall would remain in place, just the top would be gone.

never thought about 'too loud', but 911 engines are open?

for those that just want the roof delete without the exposed engine, precision chassis works makes a bracket that allows you to re-attach your tonneau panel with the roof deleted. a bit of carpet to trim the interior and you are done. still need the speedster top, however (or a tonneau cover or similar).

[Topless]

Yep, car fires give me the willies. I love barbecue just as long as I am not the main course. I don't worry nearly as much about saving the car as I do about getting my butt out whole. Here is Bryan Sellers in Utah when a fuel line parted this year:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXxwWBR1-4k

[vijen6]

I'm tinkering with a carbon fiber replacement for the big metal part that goes up and down behind the driver before the actual top lifts out ( sorry I don't know the official name for this ) .. but I am not sure if that's the part you are talking about.

Are you talking about ram air vents like behind the new 918 ?

[The Radium King]

yeah, i'm calling that part the tonneau; i've also heard it called the clamshell. if you remove that part, along with the soft top, motors and engine cover, you lose a LOT of weight (= better performance) as well as let more air at the engine for cooling, improve engine tone and make access for maintenance easier.

you can't drive around with all that open, however, so you would need to fabricate a panel that replaced the clamshell panel as well as extended forward and terminated just behind the rollbar (have the front of it roll down and seal against the engine bulkhead). it could be held in place by the spinlocks, and be vented to let the engine breathe.

it would certainly have a 550 spyder look. further, you could add speed bumps if you liked. you would also need a speedster style roof similar to the one on the new spyder.

regarding the hard top, once you hand the rear panel fabricated you could bond a hardtop to it with a vertical rear window to get this look:

linky ...