Hot Rods LOOKING TO CHOP ORIGINAL 1931 FORD ROADSTER TOP IRONS 2 1/2'' CHOP NEED HELP

NEED TO KNOW WERE TO CUT AND HOW MUCH LOOKING FOR HELP THANKS STAN

 

Often,making a drawing to scale,lets you make cuts>with out really doing them ,too see how things work out.
The stock "A" top frames workings,when folded was a big pile> I didn't like a big pile or how hard it was to use. I designed my own !
Kind of same way, I worked out my own type 28A roadster top,. I did a tech you may get some ideas out of?;
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...top-a-how-too-do-it-tech.857951/#post-9479688

 

Very nice 'how to' tech thread.

 

aaa

 

Thanks for all the help!!

 

If you’re talking about the later irons made from flat stock, I did it.
I started by first cutting the arms off where they attach to the body tabs behind the doors. Since they’re angled, the linear amount will be more than the 2-1/2” vertical you need.
When you remount them you can MAKE SURE that the horizontal side bars are parallel to the body.
I would clamp and mock up before making the cut!

I also wanted to rake the top forward as it was too vertical in the back.
I don’t have a picture, but the stock arms form a parallelogram where they pivot, so they can fold without binding.
Raking the top also requires shortening the sides, so you need to recreate this parallelogram, as well as shortening the forward side bar.
I drilled out the rivets that attached them to the cast corner brackets, shortened them and reattached the corner brackets.
I created a mockup of the sides using a narrowed yard stick and some pins so I could create new pivot points and the required parallelogram dimensions. Measure the legs of the parallelogram first, as you need to maintain the ratio of short vs. long. I redrilled the side bars and reattached with ****on heads and thin lock nuts.
Seems like I had to make new small pivot spacers also. These are the small, round pieces that are center drilled and angle cut on one end to attach the short middle bow arms.
I decided on the rake angle by mocking up so I had the most headroom under the middle wood bow. The only wood bow I cut down was the rear one, just by shortening the ends.
Car is gone to NH now, but this will give some ideas of the look. The top itself was a stock 32 LB Haartz cloth that I chopped also. You may prefer a wrap around style or an angled closed quarter. I didn’t have anyone to custom make that for me, so used the stock style.

 

THANKS FOR THE HELP THATS WHAT I AM LOOKING FOR BIG HELP THANKS STAN