Technical 1931 Two door sedan Bad 5" Chop

Hello All Great site,

I'm new to the site, Learning my way around here.

Well, I picked up a 2 door sedan sometime back that has a bad 5" chop.
The front A pillars are the worst, windshield doesn't sit flush & the windows in the doors don't ride up correctly, but had to have it price was right. (shame on me)
The car has a great stance.

I'm interested in building a full fender driver.
I have had the chassis work done. I put a 4" drop axle with front disc brakes, along with a 1" raised cross member, Chevy rear with 3.73 gearing drum brakes & Moser axles, 4 link setup with coil overs, Vega box, have a Chevy 355 with 700R4 trans 2800 stall.
The only problem I have is the 5" chop work is very poorly executed.
Interested in someone in the area if possible to correct it, even if that means I have to chop one more inch off? (I did pick up used A pillars) Also, would like to widen the rear fenders 3 more inches & bob them without loosing the factory look.



Thank you for checking out my post....

 

Hi OSW.
Welcome to the Hamb. Congrats on the Model A even if it needs some fine-tuning.
Couple of things.
If you've been "learning your way around here", you may have seen that we have a handful of rules.
It's customary to post an introduction of yourself on the thread designated for that. Also, the Hamb is focused on traditional-style hot rodding...cars, parts and modifications you'd see no later than 1963. So "Pro-street" isn't something that's done or even talked about here...right up there with the term "rat rod". No offense...just giving you a heads-up. Stay within some basic parameters, and you won't get tarred and feathered...lol.
Good luck.

 

I widened these rear fenders by slicing them down the middle and welding in a piece of 2" flat stock.

 

WoW!
Now that's very nice, great looking ride..

Thanks

 

Cool ride! Welcome to to the HAMB. +1 regarding Rickybop's advice about what gets posted.
Nice fender work, Choffman41!

 

Yes understood, corrected my post's.

Thank you for the heads up, fenders do look very good.

 

Hey OSW, can you post some close up pics of the area of your chop that needs fixing.

Do you have any welding equipment (torches, mig or tig welder)? Sawzall? Compressor and or a cut off wheel? Or are you looking for a shop to drop off your car and pick it up with the chop corrected?

Good you have picked up some extra pillars...gives some options for the correction...6" chop is pretty big (though others might say never enough! ;o).

Oh yeah, and welcome to the HAMB.

 

I have all that equipment, but would rather give it to someone with experience chopping tops.

 

"Also, would like to widen the rear fenders 3 more inches & bob them without loosing the factory look."

While someone's hacking around the body, why not move the fender wells in 3 inches (along with the frame rails) and narrow the rear end? It'll keep the running boards and fenders "factory" looking.

 

I'm too far away to provide real help...but when I started playing in this hobby a way long time ago...and wanted to chop my '31 model A coupe and was petrified that I might screw it up. I invited a body shop owner friend of mine over for steak and a few beers and he offered me this advice..." you can't screw anything up so bad that it can't be undone, it's only steel". I never looked back and have gained much experience and satisfaction along the way.

The only difference between you and someone with experience chopping a top is they've done it before. You already know where the problem areas are on your car...if you have the equipment, I suggest rolling up your sleeves, and get intimate with your new hotrod and sawzall. It will make for a great story when you're telling people all about your car in the future. And we're here for moral support and perhaps a HAMBER nearby might drop by for some beer and to help out ;o).

 

I did that already, shortened the rear used Moser axles & Mac inner wells, only looking to widen the bottom inner part of the fenders that needs to match up to the body.

 

There is some guys around here from jersey you might get lucky. By the pics your car doesnt look terrible if you cant find a hamber to lend a hand I’m sure there is a body shop that should be able to straighten it out.

 

looks good as a full fender. Nice to see some still being built that way.

 

The chop is done
I like the look
I agree it needs work
How are your welding skills?

 

Thanks guys for the support,
I can get by with my welding..nervous

 

Pick up some 18 gauge and practice
There is a ton of info here
And several YouTube videos out there
Moving the inner wheelhouses in sounds better that widening the fenders that far.

 

^^^^^ My coupe has two inches extra added to the rear fenders. I wonder if three won't be too much. I will NOT be keeping the purple and yellow. It's a rescued 90s street rod.

 

I already changed the inner wells, I have 30x12x15 tires on it.

 

Coupe looks good, I'm only looking to widen the bottom inner part of the fender to match up to the body.

 

The door posts don't look that bad. Just a bit of slicing and dicing.

 

Yeah, there not that bad, its the A pillars & back corners.
The windshield frame doesn't sit flush, big gaps on both sides. I do have another set of A pillars, but not to confident, not my forte.

 

Not rocket surgery. You can do it!

 

Welcome OSW! Remember to brace things up, then start repairing it. Once you start, you maybe surprised at how well you can do this. When I did my first attempt to repair a rusty spot on a old Chevy truck about 20 years ago, the worst part was the anxiety!!! After I got into it, I really began enjoying the work. Slow and true is the key. Don't grind off to much, and everything will turn out fine. Once you do this, the world is your Oyster!

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

LOVE that its a full fender sedan!
Chop looks more like 3-4 than 5 to me.
Wouldn't be the worst to fix, but yes it does need some work.
If you were closer to Denver I'd be happy to help.
Its a great looking car

 

A 5" chop nets about 9-1/4" in the side windows.

 

Ok....I can see where the orig. chopper lost his way... front was overchopped a bit... pulled the a pillars down to fit and the deflection in the hinges show that along with he took the wrong area i would normally take out on the a pillar.

So to correct easily, the door backs are easy to fix, you have to cut off the window channel and add in some metal to set it back straight, or cut out of of the metal on the lower part to bring it in line. I think the lower relief cut vertically will align the window channel pretty decent. Windsheild frame side on a pillars could be skinned with some 18 gauge to get it straight in line.

Worst case, the car gets choppped another 1/2" to get most of the issues fixed correctly, or buy another set of doors and find another cowl and re do things the right way.

Its only metal, when welding on these old gals, make sure you are running .025 wire with shielding argon gas 75/25 mix... NO FLUX CORE BS...

I think you are on to a good cool build car man.

 

Sent you a conversation.

 

Just a suggestion, but instead of bobbing the rear fenders, can we interest you in a using a '32 Gas tank and rear frame rails instead?

Here is a thread on it on a Model A.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/fenders-on-model-a.1105966/#post-12555658

 

Wow, that looks Great.
I was wondering where I was going to put the fuel tank.
I'm going to look for a tank add rails, I really like that look. I also picked up wire wheels for it, just using what's on it now for mock up.

Thank you for the input.

 

Hello again Gents,

just wanted you guys to know I work long hours during the day, takes me sometime to reply, but thank you all for your help and input.

Thank you again, great bunch here..
Willy