Started 5" chop Friday nite the more I work on it the more I don't like the no roof look, have seen a few done with metal one had a suburban roof look good can't seem to find it now, any ideas on what might work or some pics of a few done. Here's what I started on
Difficult issue with T Coupe and Tudor's to find a roof that works, they are so wide and the edge is not easy to make pretty. I have seen a piece of art done on a model A closed cab pickup but the guy had talent and spent hours and hours on it. I used an orginal wood kit and beefed it up with steel tube but still using the soft covering. I dont have the time to commit to such a project as I want it dont right. Finding a donor roof is one thing, but fitting it and making it work is another.
I have sen some with 80's ford van roofs , they have 1 3/4 wide ribs and have a small arc which seems to work well for the T sedans. They need a rolled edge though, they don't look right when they are just welded to the roof flat.
Using a van roof will work check in on some of the metal working sites pulls some tuck shrinks around the corners or even a small 1" radius edge formmed over a T dolly would work. go top less for the summer make finish the roof the next winter.
I'd go with the stock wood roof. Pretty much everything else looks terrible on T sedans because the contours look wrong.
If you truely want to do the roof right then you will need to get a 1/4 curved section rolled in sheetmetal and start shaping it around the perimeter of your roof edge. Id suggest a little bigger than 1 inch radius so you have a little to play with when you hit the high and low spots around the door, rear corners and the windshield posts. Better still try to get something rolled similar to the wood in the roof kit as per my attached pic below. You will need to put some pie cuts or use a shrinker or maybe both to achieve the curved shape and follow the edge of the body. May also suggest that you get quite a long tail attached to your radius crved sheetmetal edge so it comes in about 3 to 4 inches. It can always be cut off later if no good to you, but it may save your life if you get a roof from a donor vehicle that is a tad narrow. It may so make welding easier as it will get you out of the edge where hammering and supporting etc could be difficult to access. You will also need to get some tube cross over pieces curved to shape which will support the main body of the roof and hold your body sides in shape. Do not weld your roof to these cross overs as you need the roof to be able to move seperate to the supports both whilst constructing it and later when finished. If the roof and cross overs do not quite match up or you has a couple of hollows you will need to use some home made packers to slip between to help form and maintain the shape and smooth curve of the roof sheet. TIG welding would be best but oxy or MIG should work, possibly get an expert welder to weld your donor roof in once you have fitted it and tacked it in. You will need to get the fit near perfect allowing a very small gap between the edge and the roof sheets. This will allow it to pull up when welded and reduce the chance of getting humps and warps from the welding heat. Small short welds move around to various locations and use wet rags sitting around your welding zones. No fun but worth a fortune once finished if it is a good job. That is why I did not attempt mine yet as I dont have the time and not ready for the challenge.
fiftyv8 has some great advice. I've only seen one 26-27 Tudor with a steel roof and I know it cost the owner a bundle, but it looked great.
fiftyv8 thanks for the advice an taking the time like you said alot goe's into this, and springs about here Busy B that look great can you get some closeup of the edges did you have to put any struts on the inside under the roof of any kind
How about grafting on a Model A roof? That way you could lose the hard corners around the back and sides. Would get people scratching their heads too, which is always fun.
I got my T coupe kit from Snyders, but I believe Howell's in TX do them. There is also a company some where in ID that makes them, but I dont recall the name.
not exactley a T roof, but i did base this one on the T shape. i used a valiant station wagon roof skin and rolled the edges over so it wasnt a "sharp" edge
I'm with Rex, you can tuck shrink at the corners and roll the straight runs. Tuck shrinking makes a really nice corner. You could also stretch the hard curves at the perimeter and blend the stretching into the panel. A lot of work, but it could be made to look perfect instead of almost right as sometimes happens with a donor. Or, you could both tuck shrink and stretch, a combination of both methods. If you know how to tuck shrink it would probably be faster unless you have a palm nailer and a portable planishing hammer to do the stretching and smoothing. My videos below show both of these methods. John www.ghiaspecialties.com
I got my roof from Snyder's also. It went together pretty easy. Kinda pricey, but once you figure how long anything else will take to make look decent, it's not too bad.
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