Projects here we go, another chopped 54 chevy thread!!!

ok,. so heres what i did over the past hrs on it. now i know it doesnt look like much but when you are working with sheetmetal you dont want to rush anything. i know i jump around a lot. i have a really bad case of ADHD so my way of working with it is i get one section done then jump to something else. so i can keep my focus straight on the task at hand.

first i started with the sheetmetal on the roof skin. i am working from the front to back. tacked it every 3" then worked front to back welding it in 1/2" incriments. welding, grinding both sides then hammering after each 1/2" weld.













then the same thing on the other side.

 

now's where i was talking about jumping around. figured it would be a good idea to jump to the door tops. now all the structure on the body is welded up so doing the door tops is fine. welded up the structure first then the outside. doing the same method. 1/2" incriments then grinding and cooling. then welding again.

 

now i cut the roof and door tops with the garnish mouldings in place. so while i have the welder there, might as well do those.











now the reason behind my locations for my cuts was so i could still run the breezy's. or whatever they are called. i love the look of these things





now is when i noticed this. this crap always upsets me. now i have to break them off so i can fill them correctly.



someone tried to shave the trim holes. by the way, if you havent notice there are two different doors on this thing. registered as a bel-air, but the only holes on the whole car for the trim package are on the pass doors that are painted a different color. strange.

 

Damn nice! thanks for posting all the good pictures and keeping up with the updates. Your work is super slick, can't wait to see all the metal/finish work you're awesome at.... btw, congrats on the new shop, best of luck.

 

thanks buddy.

 

Less is more .... Rad .

Any plans for the front wheel arch ? Always been an unfinished area in my eyes , needs perfecting . Maybe just some round bar , to give a pronounced lip ...

The sliding pillar trick was a new one for me , Thankyou .

 

very cool!!!

 

absolutely way cool .... i always felt fordors were boring family cars

Ive seen the light ! should be more of them ... its hard to get a chop right to compliment the rest of the body , youve done it ,,, and with minimal repairs areas.. good one

 

thanks everyone.

ive been looking at them and not sure what im going to do there. thinking the regular 54 ford route, but not sure. i might want to fade them in and back out. ive got ideas, but too many of them. im actually trying to think of a grill surround right now too. already made a floating grill, just need to come up with surround. ill take pics of the bar tomorrow and post them.

 

awesome work!

 

great job, just don't get so into it that you forget to take pics , I'd like to follow this out to the end. Thanks for sharing.

 

Nicely done on a 4 door.

 

funny you should say that. just broke the screen on my camera. hopefully i can still take decent pics. thanks everyone.

 

was working on my buddies 52 buick yesterday so this is as far as i got last night. just got the pass front door and garnish moulding all welded up. same procedure as the drivers. started a little on the roof but only went like 6". ill get back on it tonight and get some more pics.





***my pics didnt turn out too bad for not being able to see what i was doing

 

oh yeah, and heres the sneak preview of my floater bar. anyone got a guess of what its made from?

 

^^^^ good looking grille,misc.pieces found in the barn

 

bar looks like bumperettes cut down and the center bar from a 53 with no teeth?

 

^^^^ good call. center bar is kaiser.

 

damn. almost had it.

 

Nice job bro! Thanks for sharing ur pics. Luv them 4 doors....You got skillsz! Hey,maybe you can chop my 48 cadi. I'm only about an hour north.Thanks again...

 

Lookin gooooood!!!

 

Looks great! Keep us posted.

 

so my camera is completely broken now. working on grabbing a new one. buddy was in town and didnt understand my idea on my front end. so i did a lot of it. will post pics soon. also like said, doing this car as advertisement for my shop. so you want anything done,pm me....

 

lookin' real good.... i think 2.5" inches out of the top was just right

 

so each pic is a pain in the ass to get to the computer from my phone so it doesnt really show the way that this was done.

so as you saw, i already had the floater bar made. so i took the front bumper off and stared at this front end (i know, ill finish that headlight soon, i promise).



took the center bar off leaving the latch, top bar and splash pan intack. then cut the top bar 1"from the edge of the hood and swapped it side to side to give it flowing sides. temp mounted the grill using 1x1" tubing.

now the bumper is made from the front and rear bumper. the center is the original front. outside corners are from the rear, and the ends are from the original front. i wish i could have taken more "in progress pics" but this cell phone sucks.





now the sheetmetal sides are just to give me an idea of what its going to look like. im bringing that original edge on the front of the bumpers to follow the new surround and mold the whole grill surround in. hope you guys enjoy.

 

Nice work!!

 

got the rear doors and garnish moldings buttoned up tonight. no camera and the cell phone was dead so i kind of suck at pics right now. might have to hold off on more work on this. might have a 41 ford tudor coming in for a chop. will have a thread on that too.

 

lookin good,grille came out cool

 

Its so interesting to see how different chops are tackled on these cars. I have to say that yours (especially being a 4dr) was very well thought out and I give you credit for having the ballz to split the rear qrts and take off the cat walk as you did. Great flow and good to see the wrapped window was kept...I have always dug them...but im a bit bias too! Ill be watching the rest of this man...keep the pics coming

 

well, taking a month off of this. been working on inner structure, welding on the roof skin, and trunk structure.41 tudor came in today, started looking at the chop tonight. it will be a good one.