Projects ‘51 Mercury Botched Top Chop Repair

Thanks! Grinding is one of the fun parts. You get to watch the weld seam disappear and become one smooth panel…assuming ya did it right haha

Usual process is. Take most of the weld down with the thin edge of a cut off wheel. 3”-4” variety in an air die grinder.

Then take the remainder of weld down with a 40 grit 3” Roloc disc on a 90° die grinder. Used to use 80 grit but the 40 grit has come into favor lately.

At that point you can start to see the high/low spots that need some hammer/dolly work. Hammer/dolly it and hit again with the 40 grit roloc until it’s all flushed up and the weld is gone. I use a big body file to show the high spots while the hammer/dolly action goes on. Piece of TIG wire, various other flexible rulers and straight edges make sure the profile is correct.

Once it all looks good I hit with an 80 grit disc on the DA sander. Makes it looks nice and the reflection of light off it can show any spots ya may have missed.

 

Awesome save.

 

Wow, that is turning out nice and going through the whole thread again kept me up way past my bedtime.

 

Thank you

 

Where’d we leave off?

Passenger side garnish moldings done! The upper door corner had to get reshaped for the slanted b-pillars. And the interior portion of the b-pillar had to get reshaped as well to fit the new shape of the door. Same thing for the driver side is up next.

 

Driver side garnish moldings done...




Stock vs. cut down





Door handles shaved





Trunk lid shaved





Hood shaved



All the side trim and belt line trim holes filled



Roof was a rusted & pitted mess under the paint



So it was media blasted all nice and clean



A coat of epoxy primer on all the bare metal and this chop top is done!

 

Great save and turned out very nice! Gives me hope that if I screw up the chop on my Merc too bad, hopefully I can recover.

 

Hell of a job

 

TITS!!! Looks excellent.

 

Great job there Dan! Is that a customer's car?

 

Well done for sure. I really like that you went the Extra Mile to keep the drip rails. Ones without just don't get it in my eye. Small pet peeve of mine. They really add to the overall image.

 

It is. Hopefully get to see it all the way through.

 

There’s a few things I won’t budge on. And shaving drip rails is one of them

 

Nice!! My tongue is hanging out and there is a drool puddle at my feet. Too many chops don't button up ALL the details and fall short. You hit 'em all! Hope your customer realizes they hit the chop lottery when they chose you.

 

Amazing. Thank you for sharing so many pictures. This is a nice tutorial for how to troubleshoot and fix a hack job.

 

Wonderful job! What a save.