just curious if this will have any effect on the car

Yes ****
It has to be done correctly....
If You just cut a hole in the roof without any steel reinforcing
I'd hate to think what Your roof might do....

You would have to reinforce the roof First, before the hole was cut....

Best to find an old Beetle shell 1st and cut a large hole in it and see what happens....

Cabriolets - both Karmann & Karmann Ghias both have substantial reinforcing under the chassis.... otherwise You would never be able to shut the doors....
and the doors would rattle once they were shut.... as the chassis flexed....

Lee

Heaps! The strongest structural part of a VW body is the roof.
My ex had a '76 that had been converted and it scared me. Maybe it had a lot to do with her driving ;-)

if it's a factory sunroof...none. sardine/chop tops good luck! :duh

I seen a chop top convertable bug non genuine and if you stood on the back bumper the door gaps opened up 2cm very scary

im talking about a ragtop ppl, im not hackin off my entire roof, i hate hack gob verts, ont trying 2 offend those who own 1, but they just dont look right

whole roof is off on my sardine, with engineers report, no flex whatsover in the body when jacked up, doors are fine to use.

as long as you leave a reasonable amount of metal at the sides (about 10 cms I think) it seems good.

mine is chopped all the way back as well - no rear window. If you think about it you can drive a beetle without the body on, so it's gotta be pretty strong.

your could always weld some top hat re-inforcement into the pan or stick a roll cage in if you're worried about flex!

will dig out some pix...

back end - you can see the line where the roof is cut

side view

front view

she's undergoing a rebuild at the moment cos of the one problem I've found with this type of conversion -THEY LEAK!!! and then the pan rusts into a heap of crap. - probably to do with the roof stretching and the seams pulling as it's under a fair bit of tension

lots of rust proffing and paint on the pan - and maybe a drain hole or two - no carpets this time round either.

doesn't leak while driving tho, just when stood around in torrential sydney rain.

I reckon it's worth the hassle - great with the top off, and makes it into a very useable hatchback - I can get a drum kit, 2 guitars, amp and 2 people into this, no worries!!

you have to get an engineers report for rego though