Chopping the wifes car on a budget

One last tip I learned this the hard way on my first chop .The MiG welder will burn or etch the gl*** so cover any exposed gl*** .Also I used to weld in supports but on truck cabs and coupes I leave the body unsupported it helps me to move panels around I have 5 chops under my belt one section.Good luck it is only metal cut it out start over if necessary.My 2 cents

 

I love it!
Why aren't people doing more old Mopars?

 

Maybe not - though I doubt it would hurt to add some support. The extra work is involved in making window frames for the side gl*** from scratch, and getting it all to work properly and seal up in a factory like way. Probably not a five minute job. You can always do it later on if you want to take it all further.

 

Ok, so what exactly is your question?

If it were me, I'd start stocking the freezer up with steak and chicken, look into renting a portable BBQ and a couple beer kegs, and advertise here on the HAMB for your great chop-a-palooza for the spring of 2009.

Maybe try and time it with some local car show or swap meet... Something like that.

Find a local rock-a-billy band who digs the car scene, and see if they would like to throw out a few tunes in exchange for a steak dinner and the chance to talk cars with some real hot-rodders.

Maybe one of the local hot rod shops or body shops would be willing to let you host the event at their facility.

You could even turn this into a bit of a money maker...
Swing by the local university and talk to the film and movie making department. See if they would be interested in putting together a 1 to 1 1/2 hour production on "Chopping a hot rod in 48 hours". Include interviews with the participants and show off some of their fine iron, and then swing 'em for $5 a copy right here on the HAMB!

Sell a couple hundred copies, and the end result could be a fun weekend where you make life long friends, eat steak and drink beer, and got your car chopped for [practically] free.

Maybe I'm just blowing hot air outa my ***...
I'm not saying it could be done...
I'm not even saying it should be done...
But if it were me, that's how I would do it.

 

Won't cost **** if you just get out there and start cutting! That's what I did. It took over 3 months going at it every weekend and I spent many a night staring at the sky asking God "how the hell do I finish this"? over and over again. Good luck!

 

it might but adding inner support to the car is goging to be 10x easier than relocating the b pillair.

 

have to call ******** on that spencer .
making a car into a hard top is gonna be a whooooooooore!
making window frames for the gl*** making them seal making the back gl*** slide into its new track now. not being able to open the front door if the gl*** is all the way up .making the flippers work so ya dont have to worry about breaking the gl*** if its all the way up in the channel. ohhh and then add you support. and now makin all the area were the door top fits in the roof pretty adding some type of stainless and rubber up there etc etc etc .

nuthin better then a car thats a botched hard top . ya cant take it out in the rain or cold .

i was gonna hardtop my pontiac i was gonna run a piece of square tube in the inner door jamb tied into a brace that ran along the floor and tied to the driveshaft hump.

keep the b pillar much less work

 

Here is a few photochops on my other thread some guys did.
Only problem with slanting the b pillar is the windows will have to be stationary.

 

make it into a roadster....lot's less work...chop the front windshield off and put a cool boat windshield on it...

I think I would leave the B pillar and would it be possilbe to lean the front winshield back far enough not to have to cut it. Especially if you are only taking a inch or so out of the front...

 

Is anyone in the Dallas Fort Worth area planning on chopping a car soon that woudlnt mind free help so I could learn more?

 

never done one but I do have a BFH and a sawzall....

 

James, here is the picture you requested.

 

Do not cut the A-pilar on an angle as in this photo because it will not line up. You have to cut it at a right angle to the post. Also cut around the perimeter of the rear window. Leave two inches on the sides and mabye four on the top.

 

Is that Bill from king of the hill in the back ground?

 

THANK YOU FLOP!!! Making that car into a hardtop would probably result in a disaster especially for a rookie. I don't think the wife is going to appreciate the rain pouring in and winding down the windows every time the door is opened etc. That's the reason that I left the B pillar in when I took a stab at the photoshop seen below.

Where'd you get that idea? The windows do not have to be stationary to slant the B pillars, it's done all the time. It's not hard to relocate the pillars or slant them, just a little time consuming, but much less than trying to hard top it. And, you keep the rigidity that was designed into the car with no worries of trying to reinforce the body.

 

LOL ^^^^ you ***!! this was supposed to be under KCCOS' post...

 

what?

 

Your car should chop very much the same as a Chevy or Pontiac.
Try searching threads. like this one.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=239775&highlight=chop+olds

 

Here you go. I kept it all simple and didn´t cheat by using any kind of distortion tools to make anything fit. Its just cut and moved. I don´t like the slanted B pillar - IMHO it clashes with the A and C pillars, and its easier this way. The roof is slanted back slightly, but not as much as in the first photochop. It looked too extreme from this angle and the roof line isn´t curved enough to get away with it. I cut the rear screen and about eight inches of the roof above it free and just leaned it forward from its lower corners and added a fillet below it, to meet the catwalk. The C pillars come forward to approximately where the rear vent window pillars are. The crown at the rear of the roof will need some attention to flow properly and the gutters will need to be reshaped to meet the back window nicely.



Here is a superimposed view of the stock roof line and the chop. Might be useful.



Hope you like. If you have anything you´d like to try, let me know.
JD

 

gl*** is a very hard find! my wife has a belvedere hardtop and i just paid dearly for a front windshield.

 

JamesD you are photoshop master!!! Nice looking work man, real nice.

Yeah hardtop will be easier if your wife is cool with an unsturdy raining in-and-out of the car type car. Id be cool with that if it was for me and some cheap ****ty car I picked up, but it looks pretty solid there and the ol lady is going to drive it so, make it safe!

Also, not to be a nit picker but to spare you the "wtf" I dont see how any of those cuts made in red and blue would work out at all.

 

Am I the only one that wants to make that door two inches longer?

 

You volunteering to do it?

Looks fine to me.

 

Hey, here's an idea. Since I really like the bigger quarter window version above, where that wierd kickup was moved back, what about cutting it out all together and just making it like a regular curved quarter window like shoebox/Merc/etc? It would kinda take away the iden***y I guess could be an argument, but I think when its moved back to elongate the quarter window that kickup looks like a mistake or poorly crafted window rather than something done on purpose. Whattya think?

 

Good idea but I dont want to take away from the cars iden***y. That is one of the biggest reasons we got it, started seeing way to many shoebox cars around here and that was what she originally wanted.

 

And here is the more extreme slope, which I have to agree with James from the direct side it does look a little weird.

 

I dig, well keep it in mind. I mean the car clearly is what it is, I wouldnt think someone would mistake it for a shoebox. I do hear ya tho, they are like the Wal Mart of customs. Meanwhile I am scanning ebay looking for a cheap one. I do kinda like em!

 

OK but just for giggles, as I think it would look reeeeeally kick***, but I dont know how to photoshop outside basic photo editing, could we keep the more dramatic slope above but take more out of the a pillar? The reason it looks stupid is the severe slope, try keeping the door tops almost level. Then, do the idea with the rear quarter window?

I hate asking people for photoshop help I should just break down and learn, but I never use it for car stuff so it slips my mind. I think the rounded rears of the quarter windows and the lower a pillar would make a fkng kick*** chop.

 

is there anyway to keep the front windshield the same but slanted back...not as much of a slant as the rear window. This way it would be a more 'economical' chop. or would it look really bad.