How to question on chopping a 32 sedan.

When chopping a '32 sedan roughly 4 or 5 I inches, I see where the B pillars, rear quarters, and rear window openings will line up when dropped down, but what about the windshield posts? The slight angle it has, I seem to think would not line up. Do you usually lean the posts towards each other to meet, add material in the roof to move the top forward, or what? I am wanting to chop mine but it being a '32, I want to make sure I do it right. I've chopped a '23T, and a '29 Chevy but they were a virtually fall into place chop.
Thanks, Ken

 

Man, that takes balls. I don't know the answer, but I admire your courage.

 

Find the Eastwood-Barakat post

 

I chopped my 32 Chevy 5 1/2" and it lined up pretty good. It was off just a little and all it took was a slight adjustment.

'32 had a little bit of lean to the windshield but not enough to have to add in the roof. All I did was make a vertical cut on the A, tap it to line up and fill it.

 

I was looking for Tyler Durben's thread on 32 4dr chop and the search was not working. It said invalid user. But I tried to find a few key words to find a thread, and I did. Well, so much for not being able to change a user name anymore... he is Yaril now

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=665079&highlight=chop

 

Just my personal opinion but I like when the a pillars are leaned back and no material is added in the roof. I chopped my 32 sedan 4 1/2" and leaned the posts back. I took the skin off the a pillars and chopped the structure first and then fit the sheet metal back on. I will upload some pics here in a minute.

 

Model A posts and pillars are straight, so a chop is fairly easy as chops go. When chopping the '32, the "A" pillar must be leaned back to meet the chopped stub. If you don't want to do this, then you must, as I did, cut the roof and then add to fill the gap made when the "A" pillars are lined up. The more you chop it, the wider the filler piece will be. A 2" chop is about 1/2" if I remember correctly.

 

It takes a lot of slicin and dicin to make it work. I also cut across the cowl about 8" to 10". The windshield frame closed very nicely.

 

Overall look. 4 1/2" all the way around.

 

^^^^^ thats a good looking sedan,

 

As you stated, you have two choices. I prefer to lean the post back a little and not stretch the top. You have some great metal shops in Spokane where you could get some good advice. The stretched top keeps the A pillar in the stock position and the easiest to do. Drip rails can be fabricated also. Take your time and do a lot of planning prior to cutting.

 

It all depends on the look you want, do you want more of a bonneville chop, like the a pillars leaned back (my favorite) or do you want just a traditional drop the top down. Every chop is different, you can give the same car to a 100 different people and you will get 100 different chops, its all in the eye, the thing to do is just go out the the garage measure, measure, measure, mark, mark, and you might mark once more then start cutting! In the end if you do what you want you will end up with what you want, if you ask us what we want you will not have what you want. Jim

 

Thanks guys!!!! 51farmtruck FREAKIN' THANK YOU!!!!! That is what I "wanted" to do but didn't know if it would turn out right!! It apparehently DOES!!!! That is what I am going to do!! The roof is off and up in the air now and dropping it down now to start welding it together. "About" 5"ish or so in the back and about 5&7/8"ish or so in the front! Kinda started at 5" front and rear and just went till --I-- thought it looked good. Center of windshield is 5-3/8" of viewing pleasure!!! I know you will want pics so will have to get the kids to post some for you all.
F&J,. Thanks for trying. I searched too before I posted and had problems also, so it's not just YOU.

Here I gooooooooo..............

 

Well got piks up, but put them in a new thread titled "chopped the sedan" hope you guys enjoy them,

 

all for Marcy to enjoy

 

Yeah, when she was up here and we talked, she was, and still is SUPER against the chop. It was channelled 8" and no chop, with the flathead and tripower set back about 2 feet into the body. I have it channeled 3" and now add the chop!!!

 

I will be watching this thread closely,I have been a little chicken to start this myself!Chopping an A is peanuts compared to this.....

 

Farting around with that hinge on the post isn't fun.
Not me - but one of the previous owners chopped my Vicky , slant windshield A.
They created such a mess of the hinges because they laid the posts back.

 

Everything you need to know is right here:

http://www.streetrodderweb.com/tech/0712sr_chopping_the_top_on_a_deuce_five_window/viewall.html

 

I did mine following the street rodder article on the rolling bones 5w chop:

http://www.streetrodderweb.com/tech/0712sr_chopping_the_top_on_a_deuce_five_window/index.html

Its a ton of work.... and i cant stress enough.... a TON of work. to get the A pillars right. I have close to 40 hours into my chop and its probably half "finished".

 

Mine is 4" front and back, with 4.25" out of the B pillars to flatten the drip rails out.

 

Did one years ago for a friend. I think I added about 3/4 of an inch, it may have been more. It was a long time ago back in the 70's. It depends how much you chop and the look you are going for. Look at lots of cars. Good luck

 

Those chopped 32's that are fenderless are so cool looking. Good luck on yours.

 

In my opinion for what its worth i would not lean the pillars back on a 4 or 5" chop they will have to go back a bit, on a 32 the grill is pretty vertical same with the hood cowl lines b pillar etc.. with the post leaned back you have only one part of the car that might look out of place. Also leaning just the post back what about the lower edge where the windshield frame rides the fit from Ford wasn't the best there to begin with changing the angle on how the windshield frame seals up might cause a problem.

the reason to chop a car is to help improve the overall look of the car and have it harmonize with the rest of the car. some later cars leaning the post look great and if your doing a mild chop on a 32 or an a a slight lean looks good.

Just my two cents A wedge chop is defiantly the ticket for sedans the just look better that way. My sedan is a 3 4" chop and i keep looking at it wanting to take a little more out of the front a little harder wedge.

 

This isn't my sedan i have a ways to go before it looks this good. but I chopped this one 3 - 4"

 

51farmtruck, what did you do about the angle of the TOP door hinges? Leaning the pillars back and leaning the door posts back, will cause the hinges to bind when the door is opened right? Did you "shim" them out, or cut them out and reweld them in vertically straight?
Thanks, Ken

 

I studied the rolling bones chop that was mentioned before and the one salt flats speed shop did. BUT, didn't follow them really at all. I just tweaked the hinge a little bit. It binds a little bit when opened all the way, but not to bad at all. I will take a picture of how far it opens and post it for you. It opens quite a bit.

 

I can tell you first hand that is what took my Vicky off the road back in the late 70's shortly after it was chopped. It was such a nightmare to fix I can see why the PO just pushed it into the corner.

That binding stresses the post the doors the hinges and the pins, its one hell of a lot too. Those hinges want to be in a straight line if they are moving. They move in towards that every time you open and close it. Just like any other piece of metal bent back and forth a few hundred times stuff starts breaking from fatigue.

My forensics are based on what I found on my car.
The first to go was the threads in the windshield post and the cowl. They needed to be re- tapped and were made larger. The lower hinge hadn't seen as much stress. The new larger bolts heads were custom ground to fit in between the closed hinge but didn't quite make it. The doors were bent on the hinge attaching area and that transferred into the skin as a buckle and oil can, on the inside it made a nice whoop-dedo. The top of the door windows frame area was fatigued, bent and distorted. The doors were showing signs of fatigue cracks at the hinge mounting locations.

If you have to have the look, the best thing is to move the hinge out of the windshield pillar. It will be far less work in the long run and a project without a major fuck-up. The doors could not be aligned and bound so bad they wouldn't open fully or close fully they had found middle ground between were they belong and were they needed to be.

Build what you want, how you want but don't be upset or surprised if it fails.

 

I'm not upset, I'm surprised it is coming together so well! Drivers pillar is together. Just need to finese the metal to get back the minor details in the body lines. I'll start on the passenger side tonight!!!
I'm building a hot rod, so I'm not expecting everything to be perfect, although that would be great, I started with a hacked on, and beat up piece of '80 year Old Henry steel!!!!

 

Exactly! If my hinges break and the doors fall off, I'll let you guys know.