Well I am not happy with the chop on my shoebox ,had a place do it, and it came out like @#%& so I have decided to get a donor roof and completely redo it. I tried doing a search on here, but am trying to find how to info/details regarding chopping a shoebox. I ordered Tex Smiths how to chop tops book so that is coming in the next day or so also, a couple guys suggested it. I have a 49 tudor sedan that I'm gonna redo to have about 5.5" out of the front and 7" out of the back. Any info/tips are greatly appreciated.
find chops you like and talk to the owners. There are many way to chop a top. Tex Smith is just one way, the chop you already have is another. I have my own opinion and here goes. Becasue of the amount of chop you want, there will be a m***ive amount of misallignment everywhere. If all the problems are addressed with the angle of the pillars or the width and length of the top the proportions of the top get out of wack. A chop that large will need a lot of work in many areas. Do some research and it will pay off in the end. Brick
If I had it to do over again, I would not have taken 6" out of mine. LOTS of misalignment. LOTS. Very difficult to get proportions. May want to look into shortening the overall length if you go that far.
There are a few youtube vids out there i think. at least on chevys. little bit interesting to watch. buy mags and books and reasearch online and get drunk at car shows and talk to other drunk people who have chopped their car. "OHHH MAN THAT B PILAR WAS A ***** DUDEEEE" cram your brain with info, and then.. pray.
heres my chop, 5 outa the front and 7 the back. Its alot of work. ALOT! You can either lean the back window forward for a fast back look, or move the back window forward to meet the top and use a filler piece over the pacage tray( makes it look like a coupe chop kinda with the longer rear end area) then you got to think about the B pillars, slanted or straight. Its easier to keep them straight, but if your going for the fast back chop i feel the slanted look better. AND KEEP THE DRIP RAIL!!! Of course these are my opinions and im no pro by any means at all. Oh and check out this site, helped alot............. http://www.kingkustomstemecula.com/wst_page3.php
Didnt you post this on ruffrodders? I guess the dude who did it isnt going to fix it? Or maybe Im thinking of the wrong guy!
I did post on ruffrodders, I'm the same guy. He offered to fix it however I have personal thoughts regarding that. If it didn't get done well/right the first time I don't think it would be that much better if he worked on it again in all honesty. I do give him props though for offering , the other guy who ran the shop never has contacted me back when I messaged him regarding things. Here's a pic of my car, so you get an idea of what it looks like. It has the profile i'm looking for, but the area from about 3 feet above the rear gl*** all the way to the package tray has to be completely redone.They tried to weld in new metal in place of the flat piece of metal between the trunk lid and the rear window.They also didn't use the nice stock seams that go from the back windows into the bottom of the rear gl***.And they hammer and dollied the piss out of the section above the rear gl***.There are deep valleys in the top corners of the front windshield metal where they pie cut it.I'll try and get some more pics. <ahref="http://s70.photobucket.com/albums/i114/draggin49/?action=view¤t=post-2-45059-Picture_002.jpg" target="_blank"></a>
Cool looking car. How good are you with sheetmetal work? Cuz I will tell you all you know vanishes in fear when the roof comes off. Just sheer nature. Figuring if you had a shop chop the car in the first place, it would be from not feeling comfortable with the job. The are you are looking to tackle (b billar rearward) is the hardest part of the job. First, valleys are hard to avoid above the corners of the windshield. 9 out of 10 times there will be a valley there. Not the end of the world. It is the end of the world though if you take some square tubing or the like and hold it against the gl*** channel (windshield) top to bottom and if its uneven. The channel wants to slide backward at the top near those corners naturally, and if that is the case and its not straight and square, you will never get gl*** in the car. Whats wrong with the catwalk area? There must be added metal there as the rear window is nearly always moved forward (except maybe a hardtopped shoebox chop). So unless its done poorly, its standard procedure. How bad is the crown above the window? Bad? Post some more pics. From what little I can see the roof doesnt look bad, gaps look ok, and of course the flow of it is pretty nice. Id definately if you have ANY hint of being unsure of chopping the car yourself, try and fix what is there first. Better to ruin a fixable chop than ruin a car.
looks good to me but im with Unionville on this one i chopped my 49 and mine looks like what yours does you cant get away from the valleys on the front but mine are hardly noticeable, as far as the rear window (backlight to some) i had to add to the bottom of the gl*** area to make up for leaning the gl*** over. we need rear pics to really get a feel as to what you problem may be.
for inspiration i recomend "mad fabricators society volume three" DVD. there's a bit called "chopping Jake's shoebox" where bob bleed shows a stylish chop. i got a vhs tape on choping 49-51 mercury 4 doors. its like 4 hours long and has lots of good info. i got it on ebay. i myself had to save a chop on my 31 coupe it was off by 3/4 inch on one side... it was probably easier than a shoebox... good luck
Definitely need more pics. I'm no expert, but I know that some of the guys that have posted in this thread are, and I'd listen very closely to their advice. Many a nice project has been abandoned when that roof comes off or gets botched. Maybe it's not as bad as you think? Post more pics, and then see what people ahve to say.
Here is one I did... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=64513&highlight=shoebox+chop
Here's a pic of the rear area.Sorry it's not a better pic, I only have my camera on my phone. The piece of metal between the trunklid and the reargl*** is goes up /down/up down/ the whole way across, it's not even remotely close. Also you can notice how there is no sharp body line that curves into the back window from the side of the body. The other side is just as bad.
A friend of mine has a 51 parts car that I can use for a donor roof.I'm hoping that through using pieces off it that my roof can be fixed.I'm guessing the pillars will be easier to fix vs. the rear section.
Check out this thread by Alex at Gambino Kustoms. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=201970
Here's mine I did. If you have any questions pm me and I'd be glad to help. I had no other metal working experience prior to tackling this chop. I think overall it has worked out. I still have the finishing to do. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=182495
Yeah man, dont be afraid to do it yourself. And dont be afraid to use a little filler either. That back looks horrible. everything else doesnt look that bad from the pixs you posted. cut that portion out under your window, leave at least an inch and a half of metal surround our lower window. then make a cardboard templet of that area to bring back the beltline and cut that **** out. roll it (you can use your fender)to get the right contour and tack it in. then tack here , there , over there , then here...take it slow so you dont warp it. a little grinding, a little filler then you got a decent chop. JUST DO IT!!! your going to make some mistakes, buy hell thats the fun, learning new ****.
Thanks for your suggestions and offering to help, it's greatly appreciated. And to Cheaterslick, you can say it's whining, I could really care less.The shop that did it, did a **** job, and anyone getting paid $$$ to do work on cars should have more pride in their work. I opted to pay someone to do it because I do not have a space or tools right now to work on my car, so that was why a shop took on the job.
I worked at that shop that's now closed and even though i didn't do all the work on it i offered to fix, for free, all the work that was done. If you don't think i can do it, that's fine, best of luck to you.
doesnt look all that bad really....... take a straight edge or some masking tape and go from the top to the bottom of the window opening. see where you have gaps. i might would cut the rear panel out that is under the window and fit another one in its place. sail panel might be out too but its very fixable and i wouldnt even think about cutting the roof off and starting over (major f#%*@# up in my opinion) when i chopped my 49 that was the first one i ever did and to tell you the truth once i got into it that was easiest body mod ive done.
Mybootsonfire is a stand up guy. He did come forward and offer to fix my ride, and that says a lot. And he didn't see the shape it was in when it left the shop, so he was under the impression that someone else was going to do the remainder of the work before I got it back.He did tell me that he was rushed during the time he did work on my car. So I shouldn't have said that I don't think that you could do it because in all actuality you probably are capable of it if given the right amount of time to work specifically on it.Since then the motor took a ****, and it currently isn't running so I wouldn't be able to bring it down your way even if I wanted to unfortunately.It wasn't your shop, so I do not hold you accountable for how it left at all. Just wanted to clarify that.
looks very fixable to me.. you would be crazy to cut that off.. just needs some tweaking in the back. like unionville said that is the worst part of the job, so why do everything over?
I agree with these two also. One days work of cutting,fitting and welding and you'll be ready to start the body work.
Heck, dude, just fix what's there! It looks like the basic lines are good. Starting over would be, well, starting all over from scratch. Fixing what's there means you can skip all of the work that's already done, and only have to do what needs changed. Use donor parts if you like, or just cut out anything that looks bad and make new panels yourself. When I chopped my Chevy at one point I had some serious warpage above the windshield. It wasn't all that hard to fix once I figured out what was wrong.
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