Kicking around the idea of chopping the top on my 30 coupe 7". The dillema I'm having is in the quarter window and windshield area. On the quarter window thing if I alter the photo the rear radiuses look like shit with the bottom and top radiuses being different. I've seen cars where this problem has been corrected and some where it has not. personally I'd like to be corrected on my car with one smooth transition through the back of the window. I've found that the top radius from a Tudor sedan rear side window is very close to the bottom radius of the coupe so that may work. Here's some pics. Any suggestions? Next question. Is a 4.5" winshield big enough to see out of. With a 7" chop that is about how much viewing area there will be in the center of the windshield, more towards the edges. anyone have one this small and how is it? Thanks.....Mike
Touch base with loudpedal, I think his A was chopped about 7 inches, I bet he will have some pointers...
You might PM Loudpedal, as he chopped his coupe if I recall, the same amount. He can tell you how he solved those problems. Guess Rolf beat me to the gun!
go here: http://donshotrodpage.net/Project-30/projectindex.html Select "Top Chop in a Weekend." Lots of other A coupe info as well on this well done site.
As a frame of reference, here's a pic taken from inside a 32 roadster that has a 2" chop. The windshield in the middle is 7" of clear glass between upper and lower windshield horizontals. The height of the windshield directly in front of the driver is 7 1/2". The 32 has a good view as you can see and 3" may be real livable. A lot of guys do chop roadster windshields 3", but you need to have seats that get you down in the cockpit if you do. In any event, don't fall into the old trap of, "Let's chop the shit out of it." Knowledgeable people are going to know you've done a chop no matter how much or how little you take out of it. Nice part about the 32 windshield 2" chop, if you run a blower, the scoop can protrude through the hood and you can still see pretty good.
MP33, If you change the top rear profile on the quarter window the driprail won,t look right IMHO. The rail on a sedan starts the drop later and flows with the quarterwindow. Something to consider if you switch top rear of quarter window with sedan. 30 years ago I took 6" out of a 30 sedan and I thought the view was panaramic!
Heres some more reference pics...i think this is around 7"...i can get ahold of the guy if you want...works at a hot rod shop near Calgary... more pics here....http://hotrods.hutt.ca/Projects/31delmo.htm He also channeled it a shit ton...i dont fit, i'm 6'1", i look into the roof side panels or into the header...the tall ass hemi and custom 3 carb intake make looking right a bitch too...looks killer though...
Thanks guys. I sent Kris a Pm a few days ago about it. While waiting for a relpy I thought I'd see what you guys had to say. I have a 30 tudor I chopped 4" and chanelled 4". I've put on about 3000 miles so far and it seems fine but I wasn't sure smaller windshield. I wonder if there is a way to manipulate the header where the windshield mounts to give me more hieght. Hammeredabone, I thought of the driprail thing also. Is it possible to bend the driprail to match the radius? I haven't looked to see how they are fastened to the roof.
I agree with C9, don't just chop the shit out of it, how are you going to use it, 3 or 4 inchs looks good, does your state require a certain window height if you are going to drive it on the street. Think twice cut once, its hard to unchop a car.
yeah loudpedals car has got longer doors but the sedan doors hes using are only like an inch at most longer, its realy not that much longer...however that anti section job give the car a world of a difernce in the looks department. he says with the drivers seat built so you actualy look threw the front window instead of craning down to look threw it that he can see just fine as the windsheild is so stinkin close to you anyways. i asked him about the chop a heck of a long time agao and this is what he replied, hopefully it helps you out "Tim.. The biggest problem I faced when I chopped this one, was the width (outside to inside) (in the door jamb area) of each post. The posts get thiner as they go up from the bottom of the windows to the tops. I thought about splitting the tops of the posts in half and moving the inside piece in (tward the center of the car) so that the bottom part of the post would line up. But what I ended up doing was to just weld the posts as they lined up on the outside and then I added metal to the inside of each top post so that the end result was a wider than stock top part of each post. The reason I chose to do it this way was the window tracks didn't have to be moved. The hardest part was to fab up pieces for the outside of the window openings (to make the top part of them wider as well). I've seen chops that remove metal from the bottom (a pie-shaped piece), (again we are talking about the door jamb) and cut a slice in the top part of the post. Moving the top piece out, and the bottom piece in, lines everything up. If you do it this way, the window run channels have to be messed with. One other thing was the rear part of the roof where the seam of the chop is. If you look closely at the rear of the roof, it doesn't go straight up. It angles slightly to the rear and to each side of the car. So when you chop an A this much, the top ends up being about 1/4" wider than the bottom. A few slices in the top take care of that eaisly... (My girlfreind relates the slices to "darts" apperantly some kind of sewing term.... ask a woman if you have a hard time picturing what I'm talking about). Anyhow what you are doing when you slice the metal and then weld it back together is removing a small piece of metal, making the roof thinner. If you need some pics of the details, let me know..... Don't be afraid of it.... it was fairly easy. Hope this helps! Kris"
I've got a 6" windshield in my 33 p/u. It's not on the road yet, but I can tell I wouldn't want any less. In Washington 6" is the legal min. I didn't know that when I chopped it, just happened to work out that way.
Allthough I can't stop looking at the rendering of "my" car, you may want to ask to sit in some friends chopped cars. Mine is done 4 inches, and with a decent seat, my 6 foot body, and to be able to hang my elbow out the window (very important to me ) it is about as low as I would want it. I have to lean forward quite a but to see stop lights. It has a lot to do with your own body shape as well, you may be all legs, or all torso, it makes a huge diff... Keep us posted...
I have a 3" chop on my A and I really wouldn't want more. Sure the 7" chop looks good from the outside,but inside, there's not much room in the A. I've got low rise Fiero seats bolted to the floor and I'm only 5'8" and there is not much headroom and not much visibility.Guess you have to decide where beauty and pain intersect. Surely you will check your state laws before making the chop,---and don't call me Shirley.
Thanks for the replies guys. I checked the laws and there is no minimum windshield hieght laws in Wis. that they could find. Then I called Curt(OG 001) a call and he confirmed it. As far a sitting in a chopped car my sedan is chopped and chanelled 4" and I can see fine. That's why I thought with a 7" chop I'd still be ahead an inch. Oh and Rolf, I can't take credit for the photochop. I found it on here somewhere and thought it looked kickass.
I don’t have much to add except for I put close to 50,000 miles on my 8” chopped coupe using it as a daily driver. Sure, you have limited vision, but the only thing that you can’t see are the tops of the trees. Do you need to look at the tops of the trees when you drive? I don’t. I could see just fine… I must have because I never crashed into anything… and I don’t drive like a blue-haired old lady. It was comfortable to drive and I thought it looked great. Here is one tip: Get a Stoplight Finder, and your troubles are over. It’s harder to chop one deep. Nothing worth doing is easy anyhow, so why not?
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