model a coupe chop. help!

so i chopped my coupe 5.5 inches and when i set the roof back on, the top
"a" pillars are about 1/2 in too wide. any suggestions?thanks-kieran

 

I used a ratchet strap,and pulled mine together,but I'm not shure mine was quite that far off.You might hafe to do some relief cuts,at top,and bottom of the a pillar,and meet in the middle.Just take your time,and it will turn out.

 

Pie cuts are your friend.

 

Pie cuts

 

they will be wide. You will have to make a couple small relief cuts to bring them in. also if you have not used a filler peice inside the pillar i would drill a couple holes in the pillar above and below your cut slip some metal stock inside the pillar and secure with some rossette welds this will add strength to your chopped pillar.

 

I chopped my sedan 4 inches and had to make 3 pie cuts on the A pillars. Two on the bottom and one on the top. Then it lined up perfectly.

 

thanks for the input. im just worried about the windshield frame fitting back in. any pictures of the relief cuts you guys are talking about. i dont quite understand where i need to do them.

 

Forgot.....Kieren my sedan is literally the same exact color with the same patina.....sort of a robins egg blue. Aso, I made 3 verticle relief cuts on the c pillars and it also lined up perfectly. I then made wedge cuts in all the window openings.

 

wedge cuts?

 

I used a port-a-power on the bottom, pie cuts on the top. Be gentle with the port-a-power, I used it to get that last 1/8th inch or so. It all lined up great. My chop was 5".

 

anyone have pictures?

 

yea pie cut it like everybody else said. looks good by the way

 

Check out the Rolf coupe build in the Tech Index! That will answer a couple questions for you.

Like everyone else said, you will have to make some pie cuts and you will have to refit the windshield frame with that chop. No big deal. If you can cut, weld, grind, and blend, you can do everything else you need to.

Pie cuts are the way to go though. LOTS of pie cuts on my pillars man!

 

thanks

 

Good point. But do this after the pie cuts.

 

1. Make your relief cuts.
2. Squeeze A-posts together with a come-along or motorcycle tie-downs.
3. Clamp with big C-clamps and pieces of 2x4.
4. Weld, grind, repeat...

Also, look at Rolf's thread. Finally, here's how I did my tudor chop:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=377233&showall=1

 

Your pie cuts should be big enough to take out any "pre-load".

Make pie cuts
Pull posts together with ratchet/come along
Take load off ratchet
Weld

Once you pull the posts in place, you should be able to take the load off the ratchet and have the posts stay in position without any 'help'. Holding the posts together with the ratchet while welding is going to place preload on the posts (they'll always want to pull apart and place stress on the joint).

Chop looks great!

 

Looks great Kieran!! Yep!! Pie cuts, started a 49 ford chop yesterday and pie cuts are your friend!!

Ian

 

man i bet your stoked

thanks! those pictures helped me alot

 

Since I was not running a stock dash, I cut the dash rail, cut the bottom out of the gas tank, spread the tank and welded it in. I cut down a 38 ford dash to fit and centered the window frame in the opening. Looks good. I cut my top 5"