I am finally really starting to get some work done on my old 46 Chevy porject. I started it over 10 years ago, and have finished the driveline, ch***is, etc, and only started on the body. Of course it got chopped first off. Well, it sat for a few years while I got serious with the Kopper Kart, and finishing customer cars. But now it's back in the shop. So I decided to tackle the doors. I leaded up the poorly welded holes where the trim was, as well as the areas we did the chop. Welded up the door handle, and decided to change the look of the door bubble. At first I was going to just use an Olds bubble, which has about 8 in. extra length. Here you can see the difference between the two.
So, I ran into a couple problems with using the Olds bubble. First, it didn't really match with the shape of the Chevy fender. It stuck out a bit too far, as well. So my styling consultant, Ron, and I decided to use the front of the Chevy bubble, and splice the Olds one into it...making it even longer! I also had to remove about 3/4 of and inch to bring it in to match the Chevy's profile. I cut off about a half inch and then using a vise grip, slowly bent a new flange over, and finished it with hammer and dolly.
Next, I though I would like to see i how it would look if the trailing edge of the bubble were angled down, intead of straight down. So I approximated the angle of the rear of the dorr widown opening with some sheet metal. Looked good, but the shape here is so complicated, that I coulnd't just whip a new part out. The piece I cut off was too curved to work in this apolication, so I HAD to make one from scratch. I tried once and failed miserably. So I tacked together a wire frame to visualize the shape I needed, and also to check the progress of my metal shaping to fit it. Ron and I took turns beating the metal over a sandbag, wheeling ti smooth, and checking the shape. we got it pretty good, but were having trouble putting a flange on it where it meets the door. there were too many shapes going on, in one small area to deal with accurately. So I took a 12 In. long, 1 1/4" wide piece of 18 ga, and bent it in a brake, 3/4" on one side and 1/2" on the other. The 3/4 side would be the flange up against the door. Using a regular Lancaster shrinker-stretcher, I shaped the piece to fit the door and the shape I wanted the angled trailing edge to be. I tacked it in place so it wouldn't move while I refined the angle from the flange to the rest of the bubble.
The end of the bubble really needed a lot of shaping, curves in both directions. After getting the rounded part of the bubbel close, I needed to shrink the part that led to the door. I used the "tuck shrinking" method to do this, as the metal was too deep to be shrunk by the Lancaster. This brought the back edge of the bubble in tight enough to reach the flange I made in the last step.
The last part I got to today, was to hammer in the edge off the door flange to meet the newly made bubble end. Carefully hammering the edge with a s**** keeping the flange flat, I worked the 2 parts to a meeting point, trimmed and tacked it together. The next step will be to cut off the overhanging bottom of the Olds bubble, and flange it inward, and finish welding the pieces together. Then hammer and dolly the welds, and it's ready to go. I'll still have to reinforce the inside of the door to match the longer bubble, and fabricate a matching piece for the rocker panel, but the biggest part of the job is done. While I say "I" in most of the post, it was almost equally deisgned and worked on by my friend Ron Blaufedder. He was a partner in building the Kopper Kart, as well as Vic Collins, the owner. He's been hanging around the shop for quite a few years now, soaking up an education about the mechanics, welding, bodywork and painting processes. He's been a great help in all the work coming out of the shop the past few years. He's also very good at designing changes and having them look "right" on the cars. Thanks, RON!
Hey Mark, The "Shev-O-lay" with the door ''bubble''/fade-a-way is lookin great, I bet Jimmy Summers would give it a thumbs up! Small parts with lots of shape in them, built from scratch, sure eat up time, don't they? Do you have rear skirts for this, or are you going to build them? Can ya say Jimmy Jones? Any chance we'll see the "Kart'' out here in the west in ''eleven''? " All great truths begin as blasphemies "
I like the look of the fade-a-ways. I thought about it but had too much to do on mine. Would the Caddy or Pontiacs worked better? I thought they were a bit longer.
Not to take anything away from what you're doing, but I can sure see "full" fadaways flowing into the rear wheel arches.
hey mark, do you realize this thread was started 2 years ago today? sometimes i feel like i'm the only one not getting anywhere! glad to hear your back on it.
They are huge door caps now by comparison to OEM. There was a member here who similarly extended door his caps all the way to the rear fenders. Love the look.
Two years? Hell, I've been on and off on this thing for over 12 years! Not that I've been sleeping on the job...built the Kopper Kart, my 61 Dodge, a 34 Terraplane street rod, a hi-tech 84 El Camino, a beautiful custom 56 Ford ragtop, chopped, subbed, and customized a 54 Plymouth, painted CHOPMERC's shoebox, M-2ed, lowered, and re-engined my 50 F1 truck, and more. I just work on the Chevy in between projects, but I am hoping to keep it in the shop now until it's (at least) in primer, if not done. Ya gotta do, what ya gotta do to survive! So don't feel bad!
Continuing this long drawn out project! I truly hope this year to finish all the bodywork and start getting ready to prep for paint, get some chrome plating done, and line up and upholsterer. So..........since I changed the angle of the door bubble, I began considering the quarter panel extension that I made with an extra set of door bubbles, didn't look right, didn't match the angle of the doors. So I wound up cutting off the door pieces, and making a new set from scratch, to match the new look of the car. Rona nd I first determined the shape, made some cardboard cutouts to finalize the "look". Then transfered the shapes to wood patterns to make a buck. The buck was used to check the shape of the sheet metal as we progressed in forming it. I first did the center 4 inches of the new shape, to establish exactly where it had to be, and to be sure I got the right extension, and angle I wanted. After that piece was formed and tacked in, I shaped the outer skin, takced it itn, then did the inner. Ron shaped one side, while I did the other. It was a difficult process, as I had trouble continuing the shape off the quarter panel to lead into the new extension. It always seemed to have a "hump" in it, and I had a lot of trouble seeing it, as I was concentrating on the length and angle more intensely. That's why it's good to have other sets of eyes checking your work. Both Ron and Kenny ( chopped 54 Ply.) saw what I couldn't see! But after using some long straight edges, and making some more templates, they finally convinced me of the error of my ways! So after doing a bit more cutting and welding....gas welding in this case really helped define the shapes, and correct mismatched curves!....I finally got it right. The second side was easire, but still had the same problem. I think we should have just cut back the quarter panel a few more inches to get to a straighter part of the lead-in. The curve into the original shape was probably still fighting us here. Anyway, both sides done, I also built a new splash pan to go between the bumper and body, and cut out more out of the Caddy bumper to accomodate the new extensions. Looked so good I had to reinstall the bumper and guards to get the whole picture..taillights will be in the ends of the bumper guards, for anyone not familiar with this build.
Hey Mark, Now how cool is that?........a post about kustoms and metalshaping I can't wait to see the work you'll do on the front & grille area. This build should be a show stopper when finished! Thanks for the up date. " Meanwhyle, back aboard The Tainted Pork "
finally got to see it in person and now can't wait to see it completed! great work on a truly cl***y custom!
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