Hey Guys my brother chopped his 48 chevy all by himself!

Just to save yourself alot of extra work,although it may be too late, you should really invest in an assortment of clamps in various lengths & depths. I, personaly, would cut some of the tack welds & see if you can get the pieces to fit a little better before progressing too much further. I'd also recommend gas welding the posts. I'm not here to break your balls but I just don't want to see people laugh at you or talk shit behind your back when because some guys on the net said it looks great & it actully don't. I give you guys alot of credit because it takes some balls to cut a top for the first time. A little time now working out fit & alignment will save alot of grief later.

Billy

 

I second the clamps.Someone mentioned welding paint , if you would grind the paint back some it will weld alot better and cleaner.(less grinding and clean up later!)That being said it looks like your moving in the right direction keep it up.

 

For a first timer.. Easier said than Done. As we go on we learn.

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Just to save yourself alot of extra work,although it may be too late, you should really invest in an assortment of clamps in various lengths & depths. I, personaly, would cut some of the tack welds & see if you can get the pieces to fit a little better before progressing too much further. I'd also recommend gas welding the posts. I'm not here to break your balls but I just don't want to see people laugh at you or talk shit behind your back when because some guys on the net said it looks great & it actully don't. I give you guys alot of credit because it takes some balls to cut a top for the first time. A little time now working out fit & alignment will save alot of grief later.

Billy

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Looks Good to me..Shit yeah ..Nice work...

 

Hey Egdar's bro, nice to meet you, my name's Chris. Anyways, the book on the fender was Tex Smith's book on top chopping. Not a whole lot of detail but some good tips that saved some grief. One thing we did know to do was to brace the body, even if you can't see it in the pic. Esp. since it was a post car, we knew once that post came out and the roof off w/o bracing we'd be in for some fun. Gas welding would have been ideal, but the tig trips the garage's breaker and the mig was there. Overall, I'm pretty stoked on the progress. Perfect, nah, but neither am I. Then again if it were perfectly done we'd have our own show on discovery. As far as the criticism, no worries. I may be young, but one thing I've already learned, real friends stab you in the front.
P.S. Oh yea, the hood, I didn't have anything to do with that, blame ADD I guess.

 

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I may be young, but one thing I've already learned, real friends stab you in the front.


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Thats cool, WAAY fuckin wise beyond his years!

 

"We have a gas welder but the garage has no 220?" Uhh, am I missing something here? I think everyone was refering to oxy-acatalyne welding, which, unless there have neen some advancements in technology that I'm unaware of, doesn't need to be plugged in.
That said, looks like a good job for backyard hacking to me. Sure, it's not a $5000 no filler job, but looks pretty damn good to me. I would think about using some strong peices inside the a pillar. It'll keep them together in case you get in a wreck.

 

The hood he fucked up on it hahahahahahaah!! I dont think he knows what to do with that.... And as for the welder guy.. Im a Graphic Designer/Web Designer... I dont know much about welders.... so I dont know I might of heard him wrong... ehh and the topic title is wrong.. He chopped his car with the help of his friend (My mistake sorry)
Sorry.. when I made this topic I was buzzed and just came from the TIGER ARMY show.... which by the way was a good show!! (My friends, BLACK ROSE PHANTOMS) played very well!

I'll keep you all, updated as progress continues......

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Hey Egdar's bro, nice to meet you, my name's Chris. Anyways, the book on the fender was Tex Smith's book on top chopping. Not a whole lot of detail but some good tips that saved some grief. One thing we did know to do was to brace the body, even if you can't see it in the pic. Esp. since it was a post car, we knew once that post came out and the roof off w/o bracing we'd be in for some fun. Gas welding would have been ideal, but the tig trips the garage's breaker and the mig was there. Overall, I'm pretty stoked on the progress. Perfect, nah, but neither am I. Then again if it were perfectly done we'd have our own show on discovery. As far as the criticism, no worries. I may be young, but one thing I've already learned, real friends stab you in the front.
P.S. Oh yea, the hood, I didn't have anything to do with that, blame ADD I guess.

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Well,, I'll give you an "A" for just jumping right on into it.

Nevermind finishing the piecut hood, now it's time to start the section on the body! - just kidding.

Hey, I pretty much started the same way - no clue - just ambition and learn as you go.

Here's my tip: Be sure to not leave ANY pinholes in the welds, moisture will eventually get in from behind and get under the body filler, etc. and fuck up all your hard work. Also, it would behoove you to remove all the paint from around the areas you are welding - it will make the welds turn out much cleaner and easier to do - won't be sputtering and splating all the while you work.

Now finish that piecut! Tell your bro he will need to cut it loose from the hinge bracket inside.

 

There's only one way to learn...I give you credit for jumping in and doing it...I'll withold all other comments until I actually chop my Merc, since I only speak from seeing it done by someone else...

 

The Inside, (top) is being temporarly re-enforced by this steel bar.... Also he got one door done.. as seen in the following images:









Peice for the other side.. currently in progress..

 

Man, he's really made a lot of progress since Sunday. I need to get back over there, I feel like I'm missin out on all the fun!

 

Yeah, you should help him with that hood! it's annoying me

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Man, he's really made a lot of progress since Sunday. I need to get back over there, I feel like I'm missin out on all the fun!

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You've got huge huge balls to do that. The shape looks good. The welds look a little scary with the gaps though. Keep posting the updates, I'm enjoying your progress.

 

Hey first thing, you have big balls to do a chop and gas weld it for the first time.

The shape is looking great...shoot, if the picts were black and white, they could go in the ole Barris books...Thier welds look like canyons too.

Keep it up, keep us posted....

The only way to do it (when you cant afford someone else to do it) is dive in and do it yourself...

At least they did some reading up on it first too....

Great job ...

 

He hasnt gas welded anything...

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Hey first thing, you have big balls to do a chop and gas weld it for the first time.

The shape is looking great...shoot, if the picts were black and white, they could go in the ole Barris books...Thier welds look like canyons too.

Keep it up, keep us posted....

The only way to do it (when you cant afford someone else to do it) is dive in and do it yourself...

At least they did some reading up on it first too....

Great job ...

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Keep the pics comin it looks really good for a first chop. More power to him.

 

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Hey first thing, you have big balls to do a chop and gas weld it for the first time.

The shape is looking great...shoot, if the picts were black and white, they could go in the ole Barris books...Thier welds look like canyons too.

Keep it up, keep us posted....

The only way to do it (when you cant afford someone else to do it) is dive in and do it yourself...

At least they did some reading up on it first too....

Great job ...

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I guess I stand corrected then.

 

For a first chop, it ain't bad.

For his second chop... I'd suggest cutting out the quarter windows completely, maybe even start the cut in the upper door jam area, and then lowr the lid.

After it's lowered, fit the quarter windows to the whole that is there... you'll end up cutting the 1/4 window in four pieces and then shortening each side to fit. More seams to weld, but less gap to imagineer.

Other than that, I'm sure it is going to look great once all the filler work is done... I mean, some of the RAT CUSTOMS that you see aren't HALF as nice as that thing is... jokers who just hammer the lid and leave shit un done... weird shaped 1/4 windows etc.

Sam.

 

Today he didnt do anything.....

 

demon,

could i make a suggestion, please? and this is from experience; i wish i would have done it on mine.

on the upper piece on the back of the passenger door: before you all do any more welding i recommend you slice from the weld joint up a ways (actually a VERY SMALL pie cut) and bring the rear edge forward enough to line up with the bottom piece and make the gap consistent.

after you're done you'll be glad you did.

my hat's off to you, your brother, and all the folks who have helped so far.

 

Looks Good and that they are having Fun!

 

cool now tell him to go and buy a ford.

 

no...
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cool now tell him to go and buy a ford.

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Still has not worked on it. All progress has come to a halt at this point. July 20, 2004

 

great effort, he's off to a great start