I've just bit the bullet and decided to take the axe to my Morris. Been wanting to chop a top for 25 years, and I nearly left it another day, to have a good think about it overnight, but at the last minute I turned the shop light on, went back in, and took my hacksaw to the roof pillars! Common sense and practicality told me 2", I wanted 4", so 'we' settled for a 3" chop. I'll weld up the rear doors properly as well, but I don't feel brave enough to stretch the front ones like one of the guys did a pic of. Too much chance for me to f*ck it all up. I'll stretch the roof about an inch just at the back of the rear doors, to line the front and back screens up. This is a computer chop that I think it'll look like in height, but it don't show the doors welded up yet. Wish me luck
Good luck and keep us posted. I chopped my A pickup my self, sure its the easiest thing to chop but hey I did it. Yesterday me and a coupla friends started chopping a very nice 48 ford pickup.
If you chop it without the doors on you will be "adjusting" to make them fit anyway. Even if you do brace it inside. The trick is to cut the jambs away at the rear of the rear door so you can butt weld and metal work the seam. Stretching the front door at the rear edge isn't any harder than welding in rust out patch panels at the bottom edge. I think If you aren't going to stretch the doord or find some original two-door doors, you should leave it an operational four door.
Drj, It is all bolted solid to a good strong chassis, and braced in a few places, but I reckon I'll have the doors standing by to check fit occasionally. Thanks for the tip. Paul
Morrisman- can I suggest somethin?bolt on those doors and jig up your door gaps-[leave em on] thru entire top chop process.......
[ QUOTE ] Morrisman- can I suggest somethin?bolt on those doors and jig up your door gaps-[leave em on] thru entire top chop process....... [/ QUOTE ] what he said. THe window frames do black Magick hocus pocus when you're chopping a top. they rarely get cut the same "formula" as the top it'self so they need to be on the line the cuts up to the top cuts.
PLEASE PUT YOUR DOORS ON!! Trust us when you take the roof off the rest of the body WILL move. If you want to make it a tudor use your back doors to fill in there hole.Trim the tops off and use part of it to shape up the quater window. move the B pillar back to where it looks right.Use the part you trimmed off the back door to extened the front.Yeah I know that is REAL EASY to say but it would LOOK KILLER!!!
Well, there you have it folks. 9 out of 10 HAMB-choppers recommend lengthening the front door with pieces of the rear doors. Will Morrisman be brave enough to cut up his 30's Morris? Will it EVER be welded back together? Tune in tomorrow night when Roothawg says......... "Thay's a mighty powerful wobble in the front of the Draggin Fly over 60 Mahls per eare"... C'MON MAN! Make it a PROPER 2 door! You'll regret not being brave enough to try if ya wuss-out...go for it!
Build a really good brace system inside before you cut it. X brace both sides, and side to side. I made mine bolt in so I could take part out if it got in the way. Came in handy. I built the brace with the doors on and fit. Took them off for the entire chop. Cut um down the same amount as the top. They fit perfect after the chop.
You might want to consider fitting the doors, tacking them in place and adding lots of bracing before you cut. Your photo chop has great proportions, I like it! Paul
another tip- so simple most would not think of it. stagger your cuts -maybey just a 1/4" 1/2" say at the front post of door and windshield, and at rear door post and roof. this will allow you the luxury of shutting the welded [but not ground down] door into its opening ,without them colliding at the welds. as to the two door conversion on this body -I think it is unique as it sets and would leave it. It wopuld just look like another "34 ford"copy, if it were a two door.....just my opinion.
For the record, we pull the doors off in the shop when we cut a top. Lots of bracing, never had a prob.
I make some small(1x2) tabs and use them to weld the doors shut, if I'm worried about movement, like on a pickup. Did not add any braces or weld doors on my 49 Merc when I cut it with the doors on. On yours I think bracing well with doors on would be best........OLDBEET
hi paul, keep us posted,not got the balls yet to chop the pop. goin to take long enough to get on the road,without more work!!! chris.
That looks so fucking sweet, leave it a 4 door. If you weld them up and leave the fronts stock it aint going to look right. If you get in to problems or get to nervous about it, drag it down to me and Ill give you a hand Pete
Well, the top is now off, and looking a bit raggedy round the edges. I balanced it back in place to see how it looks, and 3" really looks a bit tame to me. Tomorrow I'll have a better look see and see whether to go another inch. Got to decide whether to stretch the roof, or lay the front screen back now. Paul
Brit Hambchop that sounds good.....i'd make the effort. that car looks the dogs bollox can't wait to see it in the flesh!
Lay the windshield back. When I wacked the roof on my 36 I did it by cutting up pictures first to decide exactly what to do with the windshield. The layed back is so much more slick. It may be a bit more work but the looks just kick ass.
I wouldn't lay the windshield back. It's not a '36 (American Ford?) It has a flowing line that follows the front door cut line and the back edge of the hood and the hood louvers if you are keeping them. If you "bend" the windshield pillar line it will look just that, bent, relative to all the other similarly slanted lines on the body. It's not like there's a lot of metal to work stretching the top with that soft fill hole in it.
Remember when you are figuring how much to cut it, you need to actually get in the car and make sure you don't have to drive with your neck bent sideways.
James, tomorrow morning I'll be bolting my seat in and having a hunker down to see if I can comfortably go any further than the three inches I've cut so far. Think I'll forget raking the screen, and stick with stretching the roof, at the back of the soft hole, as it runs nigh on parallel there. The doors, stock or stretched two door, are still out for discussion Paul
I've got the top off and cut in two, and the rear half has been trimmed and sliced to fit properly, sort of. Looks like the pie-slicing trick is not as easy as I thought
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