Can you cut a massive hole in the roof of a 2000 cherokee, or two smaller ones, and have it still be structurally sound? I want to put like a canvas roof or whatever it is, in its place. Do they make things like that even?
Cutting any significant portion out of the roof without reinforcement would be a mistake. The uni-body design uses the entire body for structural support. If you double walled the roof around the hole it may help. My suggestion is to install a roll cage before cutting into a roof. Also, I have never heard of anyone making a canvas roof for a Cherokee. Likely an upholstery shop could build a custom one.
that would be awesome if you reinforced your jeep enough to cut out a big rectangle in the roof. then get some heavy duty canvas and secure it with snaps all the way around.
Tony's was done as a feature in JP Magazine, IIRC. Tony's main complaint was the heat of the sun beating down on you with a completely open roof was nearly unbearable, but he was mainly chasing for desert race teams (and still is) at 100°+ temps. I think he also had some complaints about losing some rigidity due to removing the cross braces in the roof. In order to do it right I would think you would need to reinforce the areas around the holes similar to factory sunroofs in other vehicles. if you just wanted to make a couple big holes without cutting out the cross braces though I can't see how it would affect the strength of the unibody :dunno:
If you have a cage why Are you worried abiout that flimsy ass roof panel not being structurally sound? You are good to go now that its caged, as long as its tied in to the unibody.
