ya it just takes some eyeballing, you have to slide the window forward a little more and I wouldn't go over a 4" chop in the rear..My old 51 was a 4"& 4" Repop rear window would help the flow out also..
Welding, welding, and some more welding...When creating a Hardtop, and you want to have functioning windows for it to seal, you have to try and think a few steps ahead of what your doing to not screw yourself up. Revamping the door jambs to accomodate weatherstripping and stuff can be a PITA!
Now the fun stuff, creating all the window frames. I opted to make a new vent window housing frame since it would be visible and needed to be sturdy enough to hold the vent frame and not be attached to the top of the door. After the frame was finished and reshaped the vent frame and shortened the division bar.
Hey Matt, good to see you are posting the full build of my car. The finished pictures don't do the car justice on the quality of the work....the chop is perfect and the windows are impressive!
Wow! I've never seen that vent window treatment before. That is out of the park and well done. I'm impressed. I can't remember when I said that last. The Wizzard
That's real craftsmanship. The catwalk area is beautiful. It reminds me of the Buddy Alcorn Merc. Maybe even nicer! Thanks for posting.
This is better than Fifty Shades of Metalwork. I study each photo and think 'my skill is nowhere near even being allowed in the same garage as Matt'.
Great work, a good friend started this "hardtop" while he was in High School.... - The hardtop was a ton of work and he's mentioned more than a few times he wouldn't ever do it again - (I apologize if you've seen these they are old posts) (Again old posts) His latest with the '51 back glass
Never hurts to see pics of Mercs Verbal Kint!!! I made the frames of the windows out of some 1/2"x 1" rectangle tube then trimed it down to 5/8" If I have to make these again in the future, they will be from stainless, REALLY SUCKS when the chromer's screw up the shape and all your perfect fitting edges...
So after getting the chop all done and doing some miscellanious stuff, I get a call from the owner and were talking for a bit....Then he spits out...I think I might sell the car, I'm liking the look of 51's better!!! My jaw dropped!! Well after some more chit chat I brought up the idea of grafting some 51 quarters on instead of starting over thank god! I called my fellow Merc brother Chad (Ether), because I remember him recently dragging home a rust bucket 51 that he was going to part out. Ended up getting everything I needed pretty much to start the swap.
Once everything was sand blasted, I trimmed off the 50 rear 1/4's. I had pics of this process, but I believe they were on my phone which just happened to fall in a pan of tranny fluid...Ooops..I left a little 1/4" flange on the top part by the body seam to let the new panel rest on. When I cut the 51 1/4's loose from It's body, I used a thin cut off wheel to keep as close to the edge as possible to retain as much metal as I could. The 51's peak along the top edge, is pretty much the full length of the upper 4 door 1/4. So I used almost every bit that Chad had sent me. I marked everything out where I was happy and made my cuts and once fit and tacked on, everything lined up really well. Then on to some tedious welding/ grinding and some dolly work...
Awesome work... I'd be interested in knowing what welder you use, and what your settings are. I see a blue welder in your pics, I'm assuming it's a Miller. Do you mig everything, or just tack weld with a mig and finish with a tig?
I will use my MIG to tack if I'm not able to position something and tack with the TIG to get it set. Then follow up with The TIG. My TIG is an older syncrowave 180. Usually have it set around 70 and I will use 023 mig wire when butting the panels. I use the mig (Miller 185) in certain areas on the chops, usually will have less distortion in the spots that I can't hammer. It's usually set on 2 & 50 and I use 023 wire
Matt, are you going to address the support that the 51's have along the back edge under the trunk floor that is from side to side? Just wondering what you think about it? I have full 51 1/4's I had planned on using on my 50 before the 51 showed up. May still use them.
I didn't add that support to the floor. I personally just think it was an improvement on the design in the floor to keep the sheet metal from bowing in the floor. I didn't think the new 1/4's would affect it at all one way or another. Like on this 50 the flathead was in the trunk so the floor was banged up and sagging a bit, and that structure would of stiffened up at least a section of the floor.
Very nice work . Just the thread I needed to look at for ideas and direction Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Ok a little update on the build from where I left off. Been a bit busy, my wife had our second child a couple weeks back and I forgot how much sleep you don't get with a new born!! Got the upper and lower 1/4's all smoothed out and dollied, then gave the body a once over with the DA before I shot some epoxy on it. This car was 99% rust free but had some bad previous body work so I opted to trim off the passenger rocker and replace the skin. Firewall was left stock, just filled in some holes...
[/ATTACH] Picked up the chassi from the powder coater and started running the fuel and brake lines, then got the body sitting back on the chassis. Owner wanted to keep this car simple so a bolt on disc kit and dropped spindles is what was mounted up front. The rear is running a block.. You got to love Merc floor boards when they are as purty as that!
The Jalopy Journal
