Well for christmas I fabbed & welded my dads subframe in for his 39" dodge p/u, and got the body mounted to the frame for him. We was real happy about it, so today we decided to start chopping it. We braced up the cab, and took some measurements. We decided to try taking out 5", and planned to angle the a-pillars to avoid doing a filler strip across the whole roof. We layed out our lines, out started cutting! After a short time, the roof was sitting on the floor. Now turning back now, cuz it looks fugly as a rpu. We got the cab trimmed up, and did our first test fit. We were happy with the amount taken out, and also happy that the a-pillars were not as misaligned as we feared, they were about 2" off. So we took the roof back off, and pie-cut the lower a-pillar stub to tilt it back. And we did the same to the stub on the roof to tilt it out. We did a few more test fits, and after a few relief cuts its fitting pretty darn good! And best of all, the a-pillars were angled not nearly as much as we were afraid of, they looked streamlined but not too tilted back. So after laughing and smiling like kids for a while, we called it a night. Tomorrow I'll do the final grinding to fit the top on and get the alignment perfect. I hope by tomorrow night to start welding the top back on. My dad was so happy, and it felt nice to see that, since when me & my bro were little he did so much to build cars with us for US to have, even though he didn't have a project of his own. Heres a pre-chop pic, and then some as it sits. I'll post up progress as it comes
Thanks man. They are 1000-15 Firestone cheater slicks from Coker Tire. Heres a link to them: http://cokertire.com/store/customer/product.php?productid=18286&cat=&page=1
That truck looks wicked. Good job on the chop. That is going to be one sweet ride. A family that chops together, stays together
Thanks guys. Hey Tudor, your sedan is looking great by the way! I'm gonna go see if I can get a little more done today
Is that a 1/4 eleptic setup on the back of your dad's truck in those pics? Got any more pics of that rear suspension? Mike
No Mike, its actually a three link, located by a wishbone. This truck had some weird issues to overcome. It is channeled pretty deep, and the rear kick is tall and right behind the cab wall. And a low ride height was wanted. With all this any set-up with longer parellel bars would have them going right thru the middle of the cab. Plus the rear is a 10-bolt with its stupid cast center section, with is difficult to weld to for a locator. This wishbone is something that bagged S10 guys use lots, and they work real well. I had the link bars made up from Suicidedoors.com , real good special-application guys. So we set it up this way. Granted, its not traditional, but it works perfectly for this application. And with the low stance and shorty bed on, only a dead racoon will see it And it will ride nicely Heres some pics if it helps
OK. One last request, ya got a straight on, from the rear, pic of that yoke thing that looks like it bolts on the the gm housing and mounts the top link? You fab it up? Mike
Thanks all. The bracket on my dads truck is a "bought" from suicidedoors. Its made to fit the S10 10-bolt with a 7.5 ring gear, which is what my dads truck has. Its $119 for the bracket, and well worth buying, as they're a****** to make. http://www.suicidedoors.com/S10Bolt-OnDifferentialBracket.php# I am building a bagged model a sedan. I needed a wide rear for it, so I used a 80's chevy van 10-bolt. I fabbed up my own, since none is available for that rear. It is lots of work to make it. Besides the bracket itself, you must make a spacer ring out of 1/4" steel to space the bracket out from the diff cover to bolt the bracket to. This not only makes it strong, but insures the diff cover seals leak free. So its a time consuming process. You could make one, yes, but if you have a 10-bolt rear with a 7.5 or 8" ring gear you'd be way ahead of the game to buy one for $119 and be done with it. Even though I like to fab all my own stuff, there are times when its not worth building something. Heres a pic of my dads "store bought" bracket(the raw steel pics), and a few of my model a fabbed one on my chassis in paint. I could only find one pic of my dads, I can snap more if you need. I know is hard to tell fom the pics, but the bars on my model a are much longer then the truck, as it has 6-8" of suspension travel being bagged. The bars on my dads a nice and short, only about 16" long, and work great with a fixed suspensions limited travel. Even bags S10's with lots of suspension travel use a kit with only 15" long bars, and it works fine. Hope it helps
Damn, I like that alot. My project is a 39' dodge p/u that was alredy chopped... But someone had no idea what they were doin with a welder, and then got bondo happy... So Ive got a lot more work to do, wish I had a good cab to start off with... You wouldent happen to know anybody with an extra cab or****le, would you? Thanks, Cory
I've got a 42 dodge p/u, thinking about something along those lines and was curious how much you channeled it?, and if you've got pics of the floor?
Hey thanks Cory. I wish I could be of help finding a cab or****le, but I live in "no old tin anywhere close" town, southwest florida. If you feel your cab is too rough to save though, 30's/40's truck cabs seem to be pretty available, and not too expensive usually. Do you have any pics of your cab by chance, may be able to give some free advice
Man I had no idea there were so many 36-49 dodge p/u's around hehe. The cab is channeled about 5". There is not sheetmetal on the floor yet, but the new suframe is all welded up, and the body is mounted to the frame. The subrails I fabbed are mostly 1x3 rec tubing. Heres a few pics of the subrails/floor
I do have a couple after the top was set on for its first test fit. The only piecuts needed were to angle the a-pillars so they could meet up. I did one piecut on the upper part of each post, and one on the lower part of the post. If you need I'll post some pics tomorrow, since the top is getting closer to its final fit, these will get you started though
thanks id appreciate that. im doing my 40 this week. its gonna be my first chop. hope i dont mess it up to bad
No problem. One thing that may help a bit is to search the hamb under "truck chop" or similar things. There are many threads from others that have gone thru it, and theres lots to be learned from their experiences. Also maybe pick up a book, as there are many good ones out there for chopping tops. Before I tackle any major project thats new to me, I try to do a few things first. I research others posts as mentioned above, they can teach you more then almost anything. And I make sure I think it out and have everything I need to do the project on hand before I start. Granted, its impossible to get everything needed in one shot, but it helps to be prepared before hand. And you don't need to rush the chop and do it right away if you are not comfortable with doing that yet. There are many things your project will need that you could do first before you dive in headfirst with chopping it too. Just some thoughts, good luck though! I'll post some updates tomorrow after I make some more progress
Hey, i sorta spaced here for a couple of days, but i wanted to say thanks for all the pics and answering my questions. It has given me a bunch of ideas and i'm sure there are going to be some more questions to follow. On a slightly different path, i'm looking at a new Lincoln 185 TIG welder. My old MIG is just about shot and not capable of doing the things i want to do now. What do you think of the Lincoln 185 and what type of welder are you using? Mike
Looks great. Helps give me some ideas for my '39. Are you planning on filling the roof seam. I've been trying to figure out a way to do that. 5" looks good. I was figuring 2-3" but now I don't know...
Ha no problem. As far as the welder, I have a Miller MM210 Mig. Its been a great mig, with plenty of output for frame/chassis work, and does fine for body work with .023 wire. I wish I had a tig, but to get one that I feel I won't outgrow is too much $$ right now(and most of the time actually). If you are looking to own one welder to do everything, for me personally tig wouldn't be my choice. I'd have to pick a mig, a 220Volt mig is a much better welder then a 110V, unless all you will ever weld is sheetmetal. Then a smaller 110V would be fine. I have not personally had any experience with Lincolns, though many like them. I have always had blue(Miller) welders myself. If you can go to a local weld supply shop, maybe they have demo units you can run a few beads with to get a feel for it. Its sometimes tough to tell if you'll like a unit until you use it sometimes.
Thanks man. I am prolly gonna leave the forward roof seam alone. Its in good shape, and doesn't look bad. If it was a kustom I'd prolly fill it, but its alot of extra word for a hot rod hehe. 5" is about as much as I figured I could chop this particular cab without major misalighment issues. Even at 5" I've got lots of fitting/grinding etc to do before the top will be ready to weld back on. Definitely not as easy as my model a sedan
Not wanting to change the subject.But when are we gonna get some more update's on your sedan.Been following the build and would love to see where your at with it now.GREGG.
Hello Gregg. Man I appreciate the interest in the sedan. I kind of came to a stopping point of sorts after I didn't finish the car for the Turkey Rod Run. I had been working on it so much too. Its kind of a combination of things, but the bottom line on the delay is, umm, well $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Now as it sits its a painted, rolling chassis, with the yet-to-be fired motor bolted up. But all the little stuff I need to finish it up really adds up, its its to the point that its stuff I can't fab up(brakes lines, wheel cylinders, driveshaft etc), but need to buy. And every project to finish comes in $300-$500 lumps Then of coarse with the lovely x-mas season here, all the extra $$ went away as if by magic. But to cut to the chase, I am real anxoius to get the thing done, and as soon as New Years outta the way I can regroup and finish the thing. I'll keep updates coming for sure, heres how it now sits though
Hi, Nice Dodge. I am going to team up with a friend to chop my 45 blackout very soon. I like your technique. I am contemplating employing multiple strategy to slice 7". The visual is very stimulating. Thank You.
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