This is what I was trying to achieve. I havent worked on the car for a yr now cause I wasnt happy with the way it looked and kinda lost motivation.
I am by no means a chop expert, but it looks to me like the angle of the top is wrong? It seems to get fatter from the B-pillar back, but I think the total angle of the top should be sloping down more and the back gl*** will end up sitting much flatter with a smooth transition to the back.. Again, I have never done one, so take what I say with a lot of salt. Just saying what it looks like to me.
Hey, On the plus side, you've done a great job with the B-post and quarter window! Most guys miss these and barely get the flow of the chop first go 'round. I'd remove the backlight and reinforce the frame of it with steel tube. I'd then cut the frame loose and leave about 4'' of metal all around it, and plan on relocating it a few inches further up into the roof. I'd make some releif cuts above the drip rails, say 3''-4'', in the Sail panels,a nd carry these cuts about 1/2 way up the Sail to 1/2 wat above the quarter window frame. If you're really after the look of that bleu one on your chop, it will require you to remove and rework anout 1/3 of your top panel above the back light frame. You may well have to cut the Sail panels loose from the quarter and drop them as well to improve the line of thew flow. I'd suggest that the replacement panels above the Backlight frame be formed on an Ewheel in as large a pieces as possible, rather than a bunch of smaller pieces tacked in and mudded over. This will save you some time, and make for a cleaner job. Good luck, and that ain't a bad lookin' chop now! S****ey Devils C.C. "Humpty Dumpty was pushed"
Still is a cool car, hard to advise based on the shots. Happened to me a few years ago, I bought a project Model-A, Chop was started, but "Way Too Much" ....So much in fact that I couldnt recover so I made a channeled roadster from it. May want to cut your losses and make a convert out of it.
I think it would look better if the rear gl*** wasent up so high, or so foward. It just needs to be laid down a small amount. Other than that it looks kick ***. When most guys chop a Shoebox they just lay the back gl*** down without moving it forward. Personally I dont like that look. I think what your doing looks alot better by moving the rear gl*** forward. It makes the car look like less of a sedan and more like a coupe, and what you have done with the quarter window looks really good. Thats where most guys really screw up a chop.
ok. its not that bad that I need to cut the top off...I just need to reposition the rear window, just not sure how. The rear window is just tacked in. I will cut the welds and reposition the window. Just dont want it to look like the roof collapsed.
That blue car appears to be a coupe, where as your car appears to have began as a sedan right? Correct me if im wrong, its kinda hard to tell..
Yes my car is a sedan, and I think the blue car was also. I used that pic and tried to use reference points to position the window. I see now that maybe the rear of my window needs to come down a tad and leaned foward quite a bit. I dont like the chops where they just lay the window down. It looks weird in the sail panels.
Looks to me (keep in mind I've never done one) that the back gl*** isn't laying down enough. Follow this link to a thread on ruffrodders.com that may help you see where you are trying to get to (it might be the best shoebox chop how to on the web) http://ruffrodders.com/forum/showthread.php?t=31234 Hope this helps. As said before the 1/4 windows forward looks nice.
i would cut the back window loose from roof ..looks like it needs to be moved backwards so the filler piece from trunk to window isnt so long..to flat in that area...but ive never chopped a shoebox before..just my thoughts
Do a search for "shoebox chop" Metalshapes did a *****'n one.... I thihnk he removed the whole roof skin, trimmed the outer edges and welded it back on to flatten the roof out a bit..... You also might PM Metalshapes.... he might be able to help you out.... He's a sheetmetal GOD..... Shawn
What about lifting the bottom of the rear window? Seems like it would accomplish a couple things. One, it would make the angle of the rear window closer to that of the roofline and the quarter window and maybe flow better. Two, it would make the filler piece between the rear window and the decklid shorter and not so flat. Maybe move the window a bit closer to the decklid would help as well. I think it's pretty close right now, the rest looks good, don't give up.
The fellow that owns the blue flamed shoebox you like is on the HAMB and he goes by Mr Diablo. He can probably give you all kinds of measurements or provide you with some pics.
Have a look at the way this fellow is doing this sedan, it might give you some ideas or pics for comparison. I think it looks terrific the way he did it. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=399346&highlight=my+first+chop
why? he's got the hard part done, just needs to be tweaked a bit... um, roadster? dontcha think thats a LITTLE more work than layin' the back gl*** down a tad and cleaning up the sail panels?
take a good look at the link that kickstarts posted. it looks like you tried to use the OG metal above the rear window. the metal has a nice crown to it and is a ***** to flatten out, better to replace it. follow that link and search the threads lots of info good start though!!
if all else fails you could pick up a tex smith top chopping book. Im pretty sure he shows a few ways to chop shoe boxes. I know a few people that have copied his chops from the book and they always turn out great. no trial and error.
Kinda hard to see why it doesn't flow from the pics. So I'll put one of yours next to one of mine to help me visualise...
Looks like yours is chopped more than the one I did. And the roof starts to curve towards the back gl*** earlyer. Cant really compare the back gl*** angles because of the differerent amounts of chop( plus I took some of the dome out, which changes it a lot too ), but I think I'd lay the gl*** a little flatter on yours. Flaten the part of the roof right before the backgl***, and move it a little closer to the decklid. Get a bit more of a natural taper in the sailpanels.
Yeah,,,looks like you moved it too far forward. Sometimes just an inch or so makes all the difference in the world!
That's what I'm seeing, the back of the roof has too much crown right before the rear window and it's making the gl*** sit at a funny angle. I think that is more of the issue than the gl*** positioning itself. The rest of it looks quite good to me. I think if you could flatten the crown out at the rear the window will fall right into place.
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