Well, heres yet another post on chopping your car. We've never done a chop before, but we read a book.. It was a ribald story about a girl on a train and had nothing to do with chopping a car, so this chop is from a beginners perspective. The subject is a 1934 Dodge Brothers truck cab. Heres a pic of the thing mocked up First we marked off the area to be removed with masking tape. That way we got good parallel lines to work with. This is a 3 1/2 inch chop. Then out came the sawzall. Make the top cut first. that way theres something to hold up the pillars when you make the second cut on them. After making the second cut, place the top back on and check for fit... Sure enough, not a goddam thing matches!!! Hey, if it was easy, the girl scouts would chop cars instead of sellin' cookies. Tack the rear door jamb in place and go to the front pillars. The top of the pillar will have to move out, and the bottom will have to move in. Grab the sawzall again and make pie shaped cuts at the top and bottom corners so you can bend them till they align.. In our case there were also a few vertical cuts we had to make and spread open so bodylines on the pillar would match. Now weld and grind until its just right. This sounds easy, but it aint... Especially if you weld like me- in which case its weld, blow big holes in the bastard, re-weld, grind, re-weld, and grind. Perseverance is the key to this step. Chop the doors with the sawzall and fit them in the openings. Once again you'll need to make pie cuts in the corners till it fits. TAKE YOUR TIME HERE !! If you dont get an exact fit, you'll hate yourself . The door can be out of alignment in all four directions- Front , back, in, and out.. patience, grasshopper. After the door is tacked in position, pull it out, set it on some sawhorses and finish welding grinding and blowing more holes. Now this was our first chop, and I dont think it came out too bad. It took 3 of us 7 hours.. A lot of that was spent scratching our heads (and balls) But it can be done.
i kinda wish my brother and i had someone there to take pics of the chop we did on my tudor.it's cool to see the progress pics,but we were in a big hurry to get it back on the road.i always wait till the last minute to try ,and do something to my car ,and it's bit me on the ass a few times. what motor are you going to run it your truck?
Looks good! Keep us posted on the progress on the rest of the truck. Looks like it's gonna be a cool ride.
I believe you could have saved yourself some trouble by chopping the doors and tacking the door tops to door bottoms before lowering the lid of the roof. This is by far the easiest way to get the gap even again-- you just lower the top down evenly over the door and make adjustments wherever necessary as you go. Once you have the gaps all nice and even, the doors tacked together, and the cab top tacked down, that's when you start to hammerweld it all back together. I personally would go ahead and make a few stiches on the doors to keep the door tops stabilized, and then I'd start going after the cab top. I would also periodically double-check the fit of the door gaps as I went. I guess what I'm suggesting is two things really: 1) make sure you have a nice door gap before tacking the top. Do this first by "constructing" the door, and then lowering the cab top down over it. 2) don't finish-weld anything up without checking the gaps everywhere as you go, or you'll get into trouble at some point. If you need to have things more stabil than simply tacking, but aren't yet ready for a finish weld and need it to be temporarily tacked still, then don't be afraid to tack some angle iron to it in strategic spots. Another good idea is to brace everything BEFORE cutting the top in the first place.
[ QUOTE ] We've never done a chop before.. so this chop is from a beginners perspective. [/ QUOTE ] You have my respect! How 'bout more progress pics?
Thanks for the ideas. We did weld bracing into the car before we chopped it. I forgot to mention that. I am wondering if it isnt easier to make the doors fit the chop rather than making the chop fit the doors? Do the rest of you do the doors first before setting the top? I'm thinking that the doors are easier to move and change than the lid, But I might be full o' shit cause I'm new to chopping. Seems with your way the top might be uneven if the doors arent exactly the same. My way guarantees both sides are alike. Lets hear some more...... I wanna learn !
[ QUOTE ] Well, heres yet another post on chopping your car. We've never done a chop before, but we read a book.. It was a ribald story about a girl on a train and had nothing to do with chopping a car, so this chop is from a beginners perspective. [/ QUOTE ] That is fuckin hilarious, I cant stop laughing L
now that's slick as shit, a sawzall with duct tape holdin' the fuckin' thang togetha !!! imagine that, that shit works on anything don't it? cool post man, looks good. mike
I disagree, we take the door tops off, chop the car, then make the tops fit the hole. But I am not here to argue, lots of ways to skin a cat. And the intro post made Carla and I laugh as well! Nice chop man.
looking good....i liked the look unchopped and i like it chopped too ...cant wait to see more progress pics
The only thing I'd do different would be the bottom cut on the A-piller. should be low enough not to bend the windshield opening. looks good! nice job
Never fear Denise, We did tis chop 3 yrs ago, someone brought back an old thread. Steve still has the truck and I am not sure how much more he has done to it, besides cleaning up the chop a bit.
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