50 Chevy Chop...not starting out as planned.

Well it turns out that my newly acquired very solid 50 Chevy Deluxe is presenting me with a bit of a challenge prior to the planned on chop. I've just spent the last 2 days grinding a massive amount of bondo off the roof. It appears that a tree fell across it during a hailstom..or that someone tried to repair the tree damage with a ball-peen hammer and all the body filler money could buy. So I gotta figure out what to do next..repair what's there? (the damage is all sheet metal..not structural)..or try to find a solid donor roof. Glad that the weather has been pretty mild for January in New England..but it still sucks to be grinding away at this in 33 degrees..If you think it doesn't look that bad in the pics, try running your hand over the computer screen. NOT GOOD.

 

i would find a donor roof and chop it

 

Ouch. Looks like most of my driver's side.

 

All that bondo dust is gonna kill your grinder!!!

 

Im sure its worse than the pics show but think of it like this, If you can do the chop you can fix the panel. Thats how I try and look at it. God only knows what Im gonna find when I get to cutting mine! You can do it man!

 

Next time use a propane torch and a sharp putty knife... heat and scrape. no dust, no noise...

 

Ouch!

 

Haaaa! Indeed I did kill a grinder today. Does anybody know if a 4 door roof will work as a donor?

 

yep, just little fire blobs on the ground. Works very fast if you have coodination with both hands, heating ahead with one hand, while scraping with the other...somedays I do

 

bondo is your friend.

 

If you opt for the donor solution, ever thought of going different roof all together?
Believe its later than yours...53? but it's one of my fav's

 

A different roof would be an option. Depends what I can find. Necessity being the mother of invention, right?...Don't wanna chop it and just slop bondo all over it again.

 

Ouch man sorry to hear that but it's metal. It can be fixed

 

I could have got you a 2-door sedan roof up through about last October or so, just a few hours down the Thruway. Crushed now. That said, these are still not so hard to find that sooner or later one won't turn up, and if you're going to chop it anyways it's a hell of a lot easier to just slip in a straight roof when you do it. If you want I'll keep an eye open for something, I seem to have good luck finding these things.

My Fleetline has a similar issue - it has a bunch of wrinkles in the top from when the kids busted the windows out of it with rocks, plus a ding in the drip rail. That I think I can clean up, but the top is probably going to need some shrinking done to get it right.

 

That looks like a lot of old cars here on the rez that kids have played and jumped on the tops of for years on end and sometimes more than one generation.

 

Why not use a better roof??? You have to cut it off no matter witch way you look at it.

 

Oh yea and rusty newyorker.Can you get your hands on a hood for a 51 chevy sedan????

 

A donor roof wouldn't be a bad idea at all. But, you could polish your hammer and dolly skills on fixing the roof you have before the chop- when you go to chop it, smoothing everything out would be cake.

 

Thanks RustyNY. Yes, please keep an eye out for a roof, thanks. DeaconJim in Cleveland sent me a pm offering a 52 4 door roof if I want to go that route (and drive to Cleveland)as well. Much appreciated, but not my 1st choice. I'm going to finish getting everything down to bare metal today, and get together with my buddy Jon who's my fabrication mentor..and figure out the next step. It may well be time to get good at hammer and dolly work.

 

a 4 dr roof will work (all pretty much the same above the drip rail)
the rear quarter window section is obviously different,but you can save that piece from your from your roof...

 

Way to bring the snow to New England!

 

Makes you wonder what is under the rest of the paint. Best of luck with it Jim

 

Road trip to Clevland!

 

I agree, and one you have the roof off it should be easier to work.

 

Something to ponder...

Bill Taylor's '49

 

Sent ya a PM... not related or affiliated to the guy, but thought you might be interested.

 

ANYTHING is fixable but the time involved... think I would look for a replacement roof, can't be that hard to find. All that streched metal is going to make welding during the chop tough, that metal is going to run everywhere with the heat.

 

Find a donor and chop it....

 

Finished grinding today. Bare metal looks cool even if a noble Golfball Tree fell on it, which appears to be the case. Think a donor is the best solution. Isettajohn, I just sent you a pm. If you'll sell I'll get a truck and roll!

 

Hey,

I don't think I'd punt for a roof clip on this chop! Depending on how heavy a chop you're gunnin' for, about 1/3 of the rear of that roof will have filler in it anyway. If you cut the cant rails loose to slide the B Posts fowards, probably 1/2 the roof panel will contain filler. On a semi-heavy chop you'll be pullin' in and back the Header Rail, and blending this in with more filler. My point is you won't learn dick 'bout how to work metal by replacing it! A 9'' grinder and a shrinking disc will make this roof panel workable, and given that you've no double panels under that roof panel makes this a big bonus!

" Humpty Dumpty was pushed "