Sectioned my 1949 Dodge and now a chop

I've been wanting to do something with this car for a long time, so the other day, took out some tape, measured, planeed and cut. Took 2" out the middle, started welding it back up. Did this all myself, was a little worried, had bracing holding it as I cut. After I finish the majority of the welds, I plan on a 3" chop. Kind of think I should have cut more, but didn't want to ruin it, don't want to look squished. Did it more just to say I did it. I had started a new firewall last year, had to cut it, its recessed for the mopar big block. I have a good 383, scattershield and 4 speed, but just picked up a running 440 and 727 trans. I put in a Dodge Dakota front stub 2 years ago, at the time it was cheaper than buying the dropped spindles, disk brakes. Don't know how fast I can get the sheetmetal done, but then its on to a C-notch, and traingulated 4 link setup. Flops thread on the HAMB was what really got me wanting to do this, hope I can do this half as nice.

 

It looks great, if it keeps coming along the way it's going then you will have and awesome car.

 

That is no small task my friend. Make sure you measure and remeasure everything 3 to 4 times and then cut. We did a pie section cut on my 49 Sedanette which started off at 4 inch's in the rear and tapered down to about 2 1/4 in the front. Lots of work. We did the pie cut for a true taildragger effect. Good luck with your project. I have some pictures of the section on my user page. Check em out.

James

 

Just took another look. You're well beyond the planning stage. Car looks great! It will definately stand out in the crowd.

 

I would consider chopping the front just a little more than the rear.Looking good so far.Keep us updated.

 

Plan on moving the rear window up some when I chop the top. Didn't take a pic of the inside of the drivers door, but I peeled the skin, sectioned the center, re welded, and hammered the skin back on. Right now, without the chop, the 2" in the door doesn't look like much compared to the other.

 

looks great i got a similar project coming up if you got time can u post more picts thanks

 

I like it man,2 thumbs up.As said no small task,one thing i like the 383/4speed,seems everyone has a 440,i used to race 440,s till i fell in love with the 400,the 383,s bro.They can make all the power you need.Good luck,keep us updated,love to see her grow up.................................YG

 

I like it, I wouldn't want to get trapped in the "not enough cut" hole. A mild section and a mild chop are going to look great, gives the car the kind of look that perplexes everyone because they can't figure out what's been done to make it look so right.

I also like your idea of moving the rear window forward, these cars have a nice canted B-pillar but when the roof comes down the rear quarter windows are huge, so if you can eliminate some of that in the chop it should look just right.

 

Very cool! Looking forward to the end results and more progress pictures...

 

Good luck with this! Your work looks top notch.

 

Started on a front fender, they were a reason I didn't want to take too much out, still wanted some metal between the wheel arch and top of the fender. Will be able to see more when its welded and mounted, but you can see how I did it. Had to cut it anyway to get rid of the seam.

 

How did you section the doors? Did you trim it off the bottom?

 

Very nice, I would like to see alot more of this!!!!

 

cool project! keep the pic's coming and good luck!

 

I always love seeing other Mopar projects. Definitely few and far between. Keep up the updates.

 

Any photo's of the Dakota sub frame.

 

Thats gonna be one kool ride. I like what you have done. It should make people look and try to figure out what you did. Thats the key, to make them look twice.

 

Looks good . I think you took out just the right amount. Should be kool when its done. Good luck

 

Looks like you are on the right track. Your works looks good.

 

I like it man. thanks for the inspiration didn't get to say i really like how you did that splice so that the dakota's crosmember is retained and the stock 50's body mounts are there too.. plus lots of room on that frame for welding a very strong joint. next week I'm goin down to the junkyard to play with my new cutting torch to lop off the front clip off a dakota lol.

 

cut the Dakota frame as far back as you can, I did it right behind the cab. If you look at the pics, the body mount you see is the second set of mounts, you have to cut the first mount off the stock frame and move it, not a big deal. Having the clip this far back allows you to cut the inside of the boxed frame, and the dakota slides into it, then is welded up. Not hard, just make sure you do a ton of measuring. I have to remove the Dakota crossmember, won't work for a BB Mopar.

 

how come? wrong location?

 

and if i ever get my beast on the road we gotta meet up and race

 

the big block needed to be recessed into the firewall, so engines further back and crossmember wont work with an a833 trans.

 

you cut off the bottom so the door keeps the right curves and doesnt warp

 

I took four out of mine...

 

Nice job on the Dodge!! See ya at work............

 

not to sidetrack this thread but here goes lol you can indeed use the stock crossmember for a dakota frame with a big block guys with dakotas do it all the time schumaker industries aka engineswaps.com i think (doing this from phone not computer so cant check) they make kits for dakota guys to go to bigblocks and not have to modify firewalls..im planning using this kit for my 39 as i have a complete dakota frame for mine... love the project keeps me motivated to wanna work on mine 39 plymouth sedan and 48 business coupe dodge keep us updated...

rob

 

Started welding the front fender and thru it on real quick to see how it looked. The fender was why I didn't want to take too much out, wanted some metal between the top of the arch and the top of the fender. Welding wasn't bad, need to do some grinding and get to use my new Dagger hammer and dolly set.