We all seem to attack issues in different ways. From the photos I've been able to see. My first thoughts are to adapt your Delivery body to the 4 door body and chassis. That might change if I was standing there looking at everything. I would use the complete firewall, floor, windshield opening and a large section of forward roof skin. I would Not tip back the windshield opening or widen it at the top. I would not tip the door tops in at the top. I would also look into a pair of 2 sedan doors myself and make a Long door Delivery. That's just me dreaming. I would repair the delivery top from front to back and then make a different cut around the perimeter instead of a center cut to adjust for the slightly wider space needed. Now that's just me because I know my skill level. I know the spare tire well for the delivery is gone and the sedan trunk floor won't work as is but depending on where you go with rear suspension that may be a non issue. Also grafting onto the 4 door chassis and front cowel will keep the project movable on it's own power and that alone is priceless for now. I would get the complete Body skin project done on that chassis and once there attack the drive train as a separate project. This way keeps things looking like a much smaller project and gives you a good foundation to work on top of. The Wizzard
Also, I believe the curved back door window is tempered glass so cutting it isn't going to happen. I would not have cut the door window opening at all. I would rebuild the door back to stock window size and deal with it in a different way. Cut below the glass line and above the S.S. trim some and if needed raise the door opening and drip rail accordingly. Your also going to need to build a new drip rail to replace what they Destroyed. That's not overly difficult for me but then again I'm not you. Sure hope you don't just shave the drip rail off. Same over the front doors. There are some character lines that need to stay on the car in my opinion. The Wizzard
PNB, the floors in the 4 door are shot. I have succumbed to the fact that the floor will need to be rebuilt. I like the idea of using as much of the cowl and roof off the 4 door as possible. My original plan was to strip the 4 door/donor out, blow it apart, and set it aside for now. I would then set the delivery body on the 4 door chassis, and being that the only really straight and good part of the floor in the delivery that is left is in the back around the rear door, start back there and reconstruct the floor from back to front, using all new sheet metal from EMS or Chev of the 40's or one of those, with all new floor bracing etc. As I mentioned, the rockers are shot on the delivery, as well as the 4 door, so I would have to start incorporating the 4 door cowl and roof once I got closer to the front. I guess my thinking is start at the bottom, work my way up, and start at the back, and work my way forward. I was thinking the roof and chop could be dealt with after the foundation was laid, and the delivery body/shell was at least anchored to the chassis all the way to doors, and close to being squared up. The way of dealing with the back door that you mentioned is very sound and I will certainly take it into consideration. I really appreciate your input on this project.
This will be a large learning curve, yourll be an expert by the time your done. Here's a later model SD, from Australia for inspiration
Over the years I've been involved in many re construction projects like yours and done way to much Rust repair. The first step for me is to get what I'm working on stable and fit up, often that means a temp inner structure of some kind. I have used some EMS pieces. I think home builders are lucky to have there pieces to work with. My personal opinion is they are only Close. If you think your going to build an as Factory floor out of there parts, think again. I know LowKat pretty well and the owner of Chevs of the 40's. Top cabin people to deal with. I believe they sell EMS. Weather your satisfied with there parts depends on what your expecting. I don't do Band Aids or Patches. I do reconstruction and metal finish. I don't know if I'd strip the 4 door out just yet. I think I'd just get it ready for a Panel Graph. Weather you start at the back on the roof or front you need to see the total finished project before you start cutting to fit. The Wizzard
I have done a couple of old rust buckets years ago. Granted, nothing on this scale, but I totally disassembled and reassembled a 1948 Willys CJ2 complete with the oak wood in the inner frame rails on the body. I had all the C channels made by a local sheet metal shop using 18 ga. paint-grip. Had to sell the car when I blew out my back and had to have surgery back in '97. I would bet that jeep is still around somewhere. She was solid when I got done with her. I bought some floor pans from a company out of Racine WI out of Hemmings so I know the panels wont be an exact replacement, not to mention the body has been cut apart without being braced already. I wont blow the 4 door apart until I am ready to graft the delivery to it. That will probably be a few months down the road. I will concentrate on de-rusting the delivery and prepping it for the new floor and floor braces. The 4 door has some brake issues, probably wheel cylinders, and I can tinker with that between waiting on sheet metal to be obtained.
I'm no bodyman, I'm just a weekend warrior. I like EMS body panels, I think they do a darn fine job, but floors are pretty darn simple to make. It's mostly flat 18ga with some beads rolled in them. Save some bucks and learn some new tricks. When I did my shoebox floors I bought steel from metalsupermarket and had them cut it roughly to size and put some bends in where I couldn't. After that it's just rolling some beads, cutting to fit and installing (which you'll have to to with pre-fab pans anyway). Nice score on the 4-door. Between both vehicles you've got the makings of a cool project.
Well.......I'm usually the first guy to try and save an old P.O.S. car but damn! My 50 delivery was pretty sad when I got it and I saved it but your car is something even I would pass up...it's just too fucked up for me to save. At the very least, a donor top from any 49-53 chevy delivery will work but if you found a good donor top, the rest of that car should be much better than the mess you're starting with. Before I spent one dime or one hour on that delivery, I'd measure to see if the "bodyman" got the top on straight, check if it's chopped the same amount side-to-side and ...........ah, shit. I'd junk it and start with a better body. Cruise the 4 door awhile while shopping. BTW...the 52, 4 door doors will work if you round the backs of the door tops to fit the body...my delivery had 4 door doors on it...and 4 door quarters from the wheel wells back. A good trick is to use the longer 2 door sedan doors on it and shorten up the 1/4 panels....a nice look.
Great input from everyone and it is greatly appreciated! I kinda stepped back after the stars cleared out of my eyes and took a look at the big picture. I really don't have much invested, and I really have always wanted to chop a car. I will take some advice from both sides of the fence. Slowly get the delivery body in shape, and get the donor car all rewired, in good mechanical condition, and have some fun with it.
Rmonty that is likely a good way to go about it.You will find the 52 chassis and engine easy to work on and relatively cheap to buy parts for and you will have a car to drive while you build your SD body.I suggest you read both BIGAs shoebox thread and Finnrodders shoebox thread.You can learn a LOT from them about saving bodies.Listen carefully to anything PNB tells you,he has helped me and many other folks here a great deal.Good luck and good wishes with your project.
PNB, a few questions if you don't mind. I'm not in any way dissing what you are saying, but merely trying to get a clear understanding of what you are suggesting. "I would repair the delivery top from front to back and then make a different cut around the perimeter instead of a center cut to adjust for the slightly wider space needed." By this do you mean try to get the top back to as close to original as possible, and then re-cut the top? In essence, re-chopping the top? " I would Not tip back the windshield opening or widen it at the top. I would not tip the door tops in at the top." I have never chopped a car, but have read and looked at threads, websites, alot of different articles and sources about it. Is there a way to chop this thing without "tipping" the windshield back? By "tipping" do you mean "leaning" the A-pillars back? As far as I can see, the opening hasn't been widened at the top, unless you are referring to the slots cut in the roof. And I am not sure I clearly understand what you mean by the statement "I would not tip the door tops in at the top". I can see where these door tops have been cut down, but not sure what you mean by tipping them in at the top. Maybe I am just not looking at the geometry correctly? Thanks for any and all help!
Wow,thats a project! Like commented above,floors are really simply to fab your own so you'll save some moolah by making your own floorpans.Good luck with the build!
Thanks Finnrodder. I have checked around and can get the metal to make the floors myself, and will probably go that way. I think even with buying a $150-$200 bead roller, I will still be hundreds less than buying all the pre-made pieces by making my own. I have done some sheet metal work in the past, its been awhile, but it isn't something that scares me. I kind of like the idea to be honest. I will probably go with the "store bought" floor braces just because they are a bit more intricate, and will help with alignment when the time comes to set the SD body on the '52 chassis. I have a good "pattern" in the '52 as the floorboards are original as far as I can tell. I can get all the measurements for the floor bracing placement, etc off of the '52, as the SD doesn't have much left in the way of reference points! I've already got a new set of rockers for the SD as well. A 4 x 8 sheet of 18ga. cold rolled runs about $65 here, and can get a 4 x 10 for about $10 more. Not bad for enough metal to make all new floorboards, front to back!
No problem RMONTY; I'll do all I can to explain what I've said. Bare with me, I'm a hunt and Pecker (2 finger) typist and just had another Back surgery yesterday. Still in a Drug Haze. Yes I've chopped many tops, I've sectioned 3 cars and hand built many body panels. I just finished my last Super Gas car I'll ever build last spring. As I'm sure you know race stuff includes Alum. interior panels of many Odd shapes. I've done many of them also. All projects are unique to them self with issues. You just have to see them coming so you don't build yourself into a corner. In other words plan ahead. Wish I knew how to use auto cad I could draw out instead of trying get you to picture what I mean. So in my book when chopping a top I try to make as little reshape of the front and rear glass as possible. You have a drip rail all the way around the doors from the Belt Line. That's a big plus in my book. In my book what I envision your finished project being is Mostly stock lines so lean back or tilt is just wrong. I would not change the profile of any Glass angle. Keep the windshield on it's stock plane. If done my way you will only need to shave the Bottom edge of windshield glass. Nothing off the edges or grind the top outside corners. This is done by keeping your A pillars right exactly where they are top to bottom. This is the advantage of having your #2 car. When cutting an A pillar in the center and joining it back together you must wedge cut them top and bottom to rejoin. Next move is to cut the door tops at the Belt line to realign with the A pillar. Now you have an Issue with the door glass to address. I say just don't do that. It's all about making your basic cuts. So to get where I'm going something has to give. That something is in the radius of the transition from side panel to roof top. Also you will be lengthening the Roof skin above the doors with just one seam across. You will need to build a New drip rail for over both doors. I'll be back. The Wizzard
Wizzard.....take care of that back! I had major spinal surgery back in '97.....so you have my empathy! I am in the process of taking a couple of days off myself from working on the project after spending 6 hours bent over under the SD Saturday night, cutting it loose from the frame it is sitting on. I AM going to use that frame as a sort of "rolling building table" to get the SD body back in shape. A couple of reasons for this: I CAN move it around by myself, ( i am working this project alone) and basically only have a 1 bay shop. The homemade frame seems to be constructed well, and by that I mean it all appears to be square and was built level, etc. I am going to block the SD body up off the frame, and by using the '52 as a guide, rebuild the SD body on the homemade frame.
In regards to cutting the back door window glass: I don't know if would work here, but in the day, I've seen slots cut in bottom of the window frame. The glass was then slid down into this slot after the top was chopped & the glass didn't have to be cut. This method I believe was used more on windshields......
Have you thought about using an 80's gm g body as a donor? you could locate a cheap 80's Malibu or monte carlo and cut everything away except floor and firewall. then after you have straightend up the body and braced it you could trim and adjust the floor and firewall from the donor Malibu /monte and drop the delivery body onto the donor floor like building a giant model car. you could chanel the body over the frame /floor till you got the stance right. the 80's g body platform has just about the same track width, don't know about wheel base stretching or shortening wouldn't be tuff. Plus youd get good suspension brakes and updated rear, with V8 mounts and power steering. I think Dick Dean used to do something like this with Mercs using a gm floor and frame from the 70's
Jason, That is where this all started. The car right now has some sort of 80's subframe under the front. I am not sure who did what, but someone along the way built what looks like a pro-street frame, then it looks like someone else chopped the SD body, and probably that same person tried to set the SD on the pro-street frame/chassis. It looks to me like they just set the body on the frame, took a cutting torch and began hacking away to channel the body over the frame. This is not what I am looking to do. I don't think the same person did both, because the quality of the work on the frame/chassis is not bad in my opinion, the welding, fitting of the subframe to the frame rails, etc. and then the channeling of the body over the frame looks like it was done by someone who should never have had a torch in their hands. They cut the radiator core support to fit around the power steering unit, cut the front mounts off the SD body and just kind of patched them back in, etc. Thanks for your input. I am really trying to go with a more traditional type build here. I bought the donor '52 for a REALLY reasonable price, and it has all the mechanical stuff that will help make this a cool old ride. The old 6 banger engine in the donor runs like a top, the tranny seems to shift out good, and that puts me miles ahead of where I was just a week ago! And I will be able to use a lot of the body parts to get the SD back on track. The power steering, power brakes, more modern suspension is all good, but not necessary for what I am wanting to achieve. From what I understand, the front suspension on these old cars is the same thing they used in Vettes for a lot of years. As far as the brakes go, I might go to a booster set up sometime down the road. Also, there seems to be a lot of good modern suspension kits that utilize the stock frame. Again, thank you for your input!
I got ya. The stock front suspension on these isn't bad. Its still under my 51 that drive almost daily. As for tge brakes when you go to rebuild them I highly recommend Muscle Car Brakes. They sell a very complete kit for the stock front brakes. I used them on my 51 and several other cars for rebuilding front drums. My Chevy stops on a dime with there stuff.
I dont know how used beadrollers are priced in there.But if you decide to buy a harbor freight or other similar cheap-o beadroller,i have to say that they are decent tools for the low price.They are slightly flexible,so you have to beef up the beadrollers frame.But thats not bad job to do at home.
The HF ones here are about $175, and the Eastwood i saw on sale the other day for $139.00. What I save making my own panels will more than pay for one of these, plus the materials for the mod. I saw someone had motorized one of these with a garage door opener....it just so happens....(looking up in the storage area of my shop) ....the one my buddy gave me for my shop door wont work on my 10' door.....soooo.....
When I needed to buy rockers for my 50 delivery, I bought aftermarket outers and made a paper pattern of the bends my rusted original inners had.....went to my local sheet metal shop and have them put 4 bends in a pair of 5 foot long pieces. It cost me $56 for 2 pieces and they made great inner rockers.
Rocky, That is/was exactly my plan. I bought the outers and the inners are pretty basic so I will have the local SMS bend those up for me. The aftermarket outers I bought have "extensions" on them that go all the way back to the rear wheel wells. I cut this off the passenger side....this should give the local SMS a preety good pattern to get the bends correct.
Let's see what I can get down here before they come pump me full of Happy Juice again. I hate that Medicine Head feeling. I was looking at some of these photos and it don't look like they cut the B post top and bottom to change the vertical drop angle. That is very Good. For me it's the one place that must come strait down. The A pillar is #2 for strait down. I would have NEVER cut the side body panel through the center. The Belt line is your friend and a very ridged point. I would have gone there. So for me salvage would start with repair then re do. First I would find my preferred cut point on the Roof Skin. The radius is your friend. I'll be back. The Wizzard
Not cutting, sandblasting. Monument makers and glass etchers have a self adhesive rubber called resist. Put it on both sides of the glass, cut the line where you want it gone, and another line, 1/4" outside of that. Sandblast that area until you are through. Move around a lot, so you don't create too much heat or stress. I suggest making a pattern from heavy paper before you begin, to make sure that you will have a perfect fit.
The Jalopy Journal
