Gonna start a serious chop on my 55 Chevy pu and can see there is going to be a big issue with getting a windshield. Anyone done a chop on pu with a curved windshield that could give some advice? I definately want to stay with glass and not do lexan. Can the stock glass be cut to fit? Should I have the glass cut first, then chop to fit the glass? This will be my first chop and I am just trying to think it through so I don't "chop myself into a corner"
Tex Smith has a good book about how to chop tops. It's called (oddly enough) "How To Chop Tops" by Tex Smith. Go figure. LOL. Anyway, he recommends getting the glass cut first and then bringing the metal down to match it. May be tricky to figure out where it needs to be cut, but with a little thinking and planning, it may be the best way. He also says to count on ruining about 2 or 3 windshields before you get one good one.
Ya, I've heard I'll probably have to buy a few windshields! I was planning on talking to Bob at Bob's Classic Auto Glass here on the HAMB before I start cutting. I'll check in to the book too.
Bend the metal to fit the glass, it's easier then the other way around. Just tact the roof back together, then cut the windshield, then tweek the windshield frame to fit. The more radical the chop the tougher it will be to fit the windshield. On wrap around the most critical is the sides, the pinchweld must fit perfect with no pressure pushing out or it will pop the W/S. My buddy just chopped this 58, came out real nice for an amature. I think it was a 3" chop. He's a glass guy so I think he had a good handle on fitting the glass, the 1st w/s fit without breaking. He also cut the rear window out of a VW windshield, the curve fit great and it fits perfect.
I'm not quite sure I follow you on that. Are you saying to only chop the top that much or to only cut 2" at a time? Sorry, I haven't had enough coffee yet. I'm thinking of chopping my '62 C10, so any info you have on wrap-around glass would be really helpful.
Do you know if he had to shrink ar extend the roof? I agree the sides are the big issue, because as the roof is lowered the angle of the glass changes. It almost seems one would have to keep the glass at the same angle, which would cause the roof to be extended an 1" or so, and to change the angle of the "A" pillar to match. Your buddy's 58 came out pretty clean. I was hoping for more like a 5"-6" chop. I came up with that number cause the Chop law in Nevada says you have to have 12" of windshield (at least that's what it used to say).
No the roof skin is intact, it really just drops straight down, tweek the post and rear window panel. The W/S leans back, you trim a little off the bottom at an angle to let it lean. I suppose you could just cut the top of the glass but what a nightmare extending the roof and reangling the A pillers and door frames would be. Lay the glass back, trust me on this! When you say 6" do you mean off the W/S or 6" vertical down? I'd go 3" (vertical) as a max, personally (my opionion, don't get hurt) I think too radical of a chop on any 50's pickup looks bad, too much body for too little greenhouse. I've chopped one 3", my buddies is around 3' both have glass without problems. Go 6" and you might have to live with Lexan, yuk.
Metalmen; thanks for the input. You're not hurting my feelings with your opinion; my skin is thicker than that! Just here to get some good input and criticism from my highly experienced peers. I was thinking of chopping 6" vertically, but am learning that may be extreme in relation to the amount of work involved. I am dead set on glass, and have to agree with the "yuk" on lexan. When you say cut the windshield at an angle, this would be to account for the windshield sides rotating down into the cowl sides correct? I not sure I get the "tweek the posts" though. Are you talking about the A-pillars? Wouldn't this also cause the doors to be tweeked as well, or is the "tweek" so minor, the door mods are unnecessary? My father-in-law, Goldy here on the HAMB, suggested to get a couple plastic models, and experiment with them. Sounds like a decent idea. I'll check it out and let you know.
Take a pencil and draw a triangle. now take the eraser and erase the top 1/3 of the triangle. it looks different. the more you take off the off the harder it is to fit. I have one cut down in the shop right now. take a large piece of card board and make a pattern of the outside curve of your windshield about 6 inches from the top then put it up to the top so you can see the new shape of your roof
that makes sense, that is how my 61 chev trk chop is coming out, 2.5 inch chop, only takes about 1.5 inch off the top of the w/s, and then some on the sides, and the bottom corners.
The Kopper Kart was chopped 4 1/2 in. Unfortunately, I didn't have the chance to do the job "right" we had to do it just like they did in 56. I actually did a build update, showing some of the chop procedure on the truck, here on the HAMB, maybe a search for it? Anyway, the way Barris must have did it, back in the day, was to sink the front and rear windshield into the lower body. They couldnt' cut the rear glass, as it was tempered, and the front is severely curved. After doing the basic chop, they used sheet metal to extend the pinchwelds where they came up short...basically, both sides of both windshields. The rear wasn't a lot, perhaps an inch or so, but the front was. If you think about it, by dropping the glass down, the glass is now much smaller than the opening (think about the triangle again). So the area at the bottom corners of the front had a lot of filler material added to it. Now to "fix" the ugly extensions of the pinchwelds, they covered them with perforated metal, in some spots, and with solid copper plated steel on the front windshield sides. Look for pics to see what I'm explaining. It looks "OK" on this truck, but I wouldn't use that technique on others! The repos of the rear window are laminate, NOT tempered, so you can cut them (I cut them on bottom of the Kart, so it wasn't sunken, but had the right look). The front you can cut, but it's tricky on a glass that curved. If I did a regular type truck, I'd cut the top of the glass, and then build the sheet metal AND the windshield framing around it to meet the new shape of the glass. Shouldn't be too hard to do.
Unfortunately, I do not have the windshield. I have thought of buying one just to make a template off of to help with the build, but wanted to get some opinios first about what direction to go. Thanks for all the good criticism!
You have the right idea on the way the W/S rotates back. When I say tweek the post you'll have to lean the A pillers in at the top to reach the roof as it goes down,it's not much on this truck as it's preety vertical. Yes you'll have to do the same to the doors and cab corners to keep everything aligned. Do the A pillers first (to fit the W/S) then make the doors fit the a piller keeping the door window frame square ( so your windows will still roll up and down, then fit the cab back to the door., it's really pretty simple. I've done a lot of chops on a lot of different vehicals and imho the 55/59 chevy pu is one of the easiest, anytime you can chop something without cutting the roof skin it's a cake walk. I don't think I had more then 8 hrs in the last one I did. Keep in mind it's a simple cut, a lot of guys think they have to do major cutting and welding but you don't. quote=Sincity57;3453854]Metalmen; thanks for the input. You're not hurting my feelings with your opinion; my skin is thicker than that! Just here to get some good input and criticism from my highly experienced peers. I was thinking of chopping 6" vertically, but am learning that may be extreme in relation to the amount of work involved. I am dead set on glass, and have to agree with the "yuk" on lexan. When you say cut the windshield at an angle, this would be to account for the windshield sides rotating down into the cowl sides correct? I not sure I get the "tweek the posts" though. Are you talking about the A-pillars? Wouldn't this also cause the doors to be tweeked as well, or is the "tweek" so minor, the door mods are unnecessary? My father-in-law, Goldy here on the HAMB, suggested to get a couple plastic models, and experiment with them. Sounds like a decent idea. I'll check it out and let you know.[/quote]
This is mine I did in the early 80's. 4" chop if I remember correctly. I used a donor roof and split the difference to widen the roof instead of moving the pillars. You can see the width difference in the first photo, 1 1/2" or so I think. I had a friend in the glass business at that time or I never would have attempted this. Took two tries to get a windshield to fit, first try we shortened the height of the glass top and bottom. That one just didn't fit right and then I broke it trying to get in the old rubber. Second try we left the bottom front edge alone and took material off the bottom sides and top basically leaning the windshield back, which I think is what the previous drawing shows. Drove the truck 3 or 4 years this way, never finished it (too many other projects at that time). Sold it for $500 after after getting a chip in the windshield right in front of the driver, glass guy had moved to California and I don't think chip repair technology was what it is today. Last I knew truck was sold to someone in Minnesota, any body know anything about it now? By the way, that's 27T sitting on the front bumper.
Curious. If you made the top wider wasn't your windshield too narrow at the top? I just never seen one chopped like yours, not saying it couldn't be done that way (obviously if you got glass to fit).
As I have said, this will be my first chop, so excuse the ignorant questions. Another question I have is about the w/s and r/w gaskets. Do guys use a roll of gasket material and glue the seem together with weatherstrip adheasive? Has anyone just glued the windshield in without using a gasket?
my glass guy always takes a new factory replacement rubber, cuts it to fit and superglues the joints together, and installs it the normal way. I've never seen a glued in windshield look right, it needs the rubber to properly cover the slight differance between the cab and W/S that always happens. To glue it in the W/s would have to be cut/ ground to a perfect fit and then it wouldn't look "normal". You see glued in windows in a lot of street rods, particularly fiberglass cars because either the glass frame doesn't fit or the owner is too cheap to buy one, it just never looks right.
the last one I did glass on was cut 2 inches and the top was widened 3/4 inch. look at the windshield from the front and see how much wider it is at the bottom. the more you chop the wider the split on the roof. The stock gasket is the best bet. sometimes you can shave the rubber for clearence. other time you need to cut out sections of the pinch weld for relief. I'm working on 4 chops right now a 54 GMC (mine) a 67 Chev P.U. 4 inch chop. a 53 Chev 2 door post 4+ inch chop. a 55 Ford Crown Vic. 2 inch Chop. every one is different with their own problems
Metalmen, and NONAME, you guys have helped me out greatly with your knowledge. I greatly appreciate it and I know it will be very helpful in pointing me in the right direction. I will be starting the chop here in a couple weeks. I gotta get a few things off my plate so I don't feel so loaded down. I know more questions will come up, so I'm sure you will be hearing form me. I will start posting some update pics as I get started!
"Curious. If you made the top wider wasn't your windshield too narrow at the top? I just never seen one chopped like yours, not saying it couldn't be done that way (obviously if you got glass to fit)." Shouldn't have been, almost all of the materail was removed from the top of the windshield so in theory the windshield width should have matched the post width other than what little width was lost from trimming the sides. I honestly don't remember how well it fit (too long ago) but it didn't leak and didn't break. It may have been straining the rubber a bit in the upper corners but I was using the old stiff rubber (no budget) so it couldn't have been too far off. I can see where your method may give a better fit though. Man these picture answer a lot of questions; thanks! It sounds to me you chopped then fit the glass and didn't cut the glass first...correct? I love the stance of the chopped 55! Although Metalmen is right about being easier not widening the roof, I think it does a lot to the finished look. What a great comparison shot! Correct, chopped then attempted the glass. Not sure which is easier, all I had to do to my doors was remove the 3" and weld them back together. No worries about window tracks being straight, no moving posts around. I think they fit pretty good afterwards. Not sure how you would tweak that rear post around if you narrowed the top but I'm no bodyman, first and only time I tried something like this. Did end up with the seam down the middle of the roof but I never finshed it, was always a beater when I owned it. I do have a few more pictures, if you'd like I can email them to you send me a PM.
Jeff... since you should have the truck mocked up in the back drive by now, you should be able to provide a nice side shot of the cab so we can get a photochop done from one of our HAMB photoshoppers. Here's what you do. Take some of that 1" blue tape and mark the cab in increments. You'll be stacking the tape on top (or below) of each strip. Take a picture at each inch all the way up to the 6-inch mark you're thinking about. Then, post all six shots of the truck and a "photo chop" can be done using the blue tape as a scaled cut mark for the picture. Clear as mud?? Why aren't you done with this truck yet? You need to stop messing with that house and start messing with that truck! Anyone got any pictures of chopped tri-five trucks for inspiration?
Just found one. Earlier than a '55, so the "A" pillars are different, but you get the idea... This is a guy I see at breakfast from time to time. Never hangs out.
Hey, Something to think about when you start talking about "glued in windshields" ,the cut down glass becomes a structural part of the vehicle by virtue of the urethane adheasive. Now this is great for late model unitized contruction vehicles ,where the glass is ment to be load bearing for roll-over strength and impact protection, but I don't think an older vehicle with a conventional frame and stock suspension will offer enough ridgidity to keep the body from flexing. These older vehicles twist and flex quite a bit, and somethings' gotta give. My guess would be that very expensive piece of autoglass would be that something! Swankey Devils C.C. "Meanwhile, back aboard The Tainted Pork"
Actually thought about this already Scooter, but thanks for the reminder!!! Don't worry, I'll get started on it soon and when I do.... Anyway, the more I am looking into the chop, 6" is probably too extreme. There is actually a lot less room on the drive than I has hoped, so I'm goona build a rolling frmae just for the cab to mount on. This way the cab will be by itself and a little lower, and should make it a little easier to work on and roll it out of the way when I'm not. just give me a couple weeks and you'll see some update photos.
Never thought about that aspect to be honest. Gluing in the w/s and r/w was is not my preferred method of installation. Goldy, here on the HAMB, made the suggestion, and just thought I'd check to see if anyone else had done it, and/or some good criticism on why not to. Great point though, I agree with you there could be a time I'm driving the truck, hit the final bump and watch my $$$$$ w/s pop out, fall on the hood, scratch the shit out it and smash on the ground. That would suck!!!!
The Jalopy Journal
