Bullshit!! I was doing 60 in a bone stocker on the freeway yesterday. Thats with 40hp. Give me a warmed up banger and she'll do 75 all day long. Just cause you need the "safety" of a more modern engine doesn't mean I do.
He can probably line up a chop, cut a straight line, layout wiring and brake lines, and weld better with one eye, than I will ever be able to do with both my eyes! Hoping it heals quickly. Shaved head, a day's worth of stubble, and now a patch over one eye. This is not a guy I would argue with. Cheers, Stewart.
Earlier, someone asked about the details of slicing and dicing the a-pillars for fitment. Obviously, once you cut the top off, cut out the amount you wanna chop the car, and then set the top back on, you are left with a top that is a hair wider than the bottom. This is most notable at the a-pillars. If you just rough it together and call it a day, then your doors won't gap nicely and you'll be lucky if the windshield frame sits flush with the opening. In other words, the a-pillars have to be square on two planes... Here's what Keith did on the door side of that equation... In this shot, you can clearly see that the top of the a-pillar sits proud of the bottom: So, Keith made cuts along the pillar and then pried the remaining "flaps" to get them flush: Some pry work along with some body hammer work leaves you with a good straight line. Weld it all up and you are left with this: Pretty good, right? Repeat on the windshield side of the deal and then do the same damn thing on the other a-pillar and you are good to go...
Gorgeous! I might have to drop by soon and watch this thing come together. Modelo Especial, right? Whaddabout Mr. Tardel?
But what about the ass end of the operation? Typically, you see guys make four or five vertical cuts along the crown of the top - giving them the play that they need to weld everything back together again flush. However, at Baileigh last summer @cornfieldcustoms taught me a little trick. According to him, if you make a spring out of the crown of the top (by cutting a curly-q shape), you get the play that you need to fit everything back together again without losing the smooth factory crown. Essentially, it shrinks the area just enough to make it all work. Anyway, I told Keith about this and he decided to give it a try: It worked beautifully and Keith is now welding it all back up... I'll post some pics when done.
So the "curly-q" method ended up being more work than expected... but on the plus side, it created a perfect crown. Almost done...
When I chopped my first A... I noticed the A pillar problem too. I did some measuring, and the problem is that the top is wider that the bottom. So, it's like cutting 3" out of an upside down triangle... The solution was to narrow the header 5/8". If you look at most A pillars on chopped A's... they have a kink on one, or both sides.
Hey look, a door! Biggest update of the day? Y'all can now shut the hell up about the crate motor. 327 inbound...
Thank heavens. This thread was coming of the tracks rather quickly with everyones' opinions concerning the whole "crate motor" possibility. Now, back to your regularly scheduled program. And thanks for showing details on the chop!
Look up Saburo Sakai and see what he did with one eye. And how he lost it. The car looks great. Never heard of the curly cue trick. You would think all the good ways to chop coupe would be common knowledge by now.
"Y'all can now shut the hell up about the crate motor. 327 inbound..." That's great news, Ryan! With all that talk about a crate motor, I was afraid someone would remove your thread.
The Jalopy Journal
