My first Chop 1950 Plymouth...need some advice.

Edit: Figured i would come back and give a quick prelude. I bought this car cause it looked great as i got it, and wanted a nice simple cruiser. I then bought something a little more road worthy and it sat for sale in my yard for a while. Then decided to sell the other cruiser and build a nice kustom. Here are some before pictures.





So im getting ready to make the first cuts on my chop. Im not a huge fan of how flat the top of the roof is, so i wanted to slant it down and take a little more out of the back. I plan on slanting the b pillars and removing the radius at the top/back portion of the rear windows. Here are pics of where i plan to cut.

I threw some tape down real quick so i can actual visual it, and take pictures, going to match it identically on the driver-side once i fully brace the body. Thanks in advance. This is my first chop and i've spent a ton of time looking at pictures and build threads, but any advice is welcome.

 

brace up the inside!!!

 

Take your time and be patient. Double check all your cut lines and go for it. It may seem daunting but once you get rollin you will figure it out. A friend of mine has a 50 Plymouth sedan thats chopped and I must say it really makes the car flow nicely.

Take pics and post them. Were all here for advice,

Hack

 

Looking forward to this chop. Subscribed!

 

Make sure your door fit is perfect before you brace. I like to mount bracing on tabs and bolts so they can be removed. Sleeve your A & B pilars. Make sure your welding skills are up for the task. It looks like your taking metal out around the back glass? I'd hold off till you fit the top.
Good luck with it! & keep us posted!

 

Here´s one I did a while back - its sectioned too and has extended (forwards) rear fenders, but the chop mightgive you and idea.

 

Doors fit pretty great. I did some minor adjusting and im happy with it.

What does sleeve the pillars mean?!


Also the chop looks good, is there a thread on it? And how much of a chop was it?! Did slant the back window much?

 

When you cut the A pillars they will be hollow... don't just weld them back, put a sleeve in there before and rosette weld inside the A pillar, then put the top on and do the same with it, that way it's stronger.

 

^^X3^^cross brace side to side, front to back

 

Oh ok, ill make sure to sleeve the a pillars...ill hold off on removing the rear section untill i chop it down and get a good look at it.

 

When you cut the top off, cut the top cut first, then the lower cut will still be attached to the body and not on the loose top. Makes it much easier to cut the remaining section of the pillars off.

 

It takes a little time but well worth it. Most of the time you can slice the piece you removed and weld it back together for the sleeve. Your weld must penetrate into the sleeve. That way when you grind the welds flush you still have a joint as strong as the uncut pillar. Also helps with alignment. I use this method everywhere I can.

 

Leave as much metal around the back window as possible, you can trim it later when your fitting it. It's a lot Easier to take it off than to put back on. Trust me

 

that second row of vertical tape[on rear pillar] marking you cut is unnecessary and in the wrong location entirely.....
move the cut above your rear glass- forwards- about two inches and do just the ONE cut there....if I see anything people do wrong on chops most frequently -it is overthinking and "over slicing" unnecessarily....

 

Thanks for all the advice guys...Here is where it sits now. I want to take out one more inch in front, and 2 more in the back.



Before i cut out the top of the b pillars.

 

Dang!!! Looks cool!!!!

 

Thanks, Once i get a few more inches out i want to get it outside and get a good look at it. From inside the garage its hard to tell if i like the lines.

 

I would reconsider the extra inch front/ 2 inches rear, you have a pretty nice side window to body height ratio the way you have it cut now, and that's a very square, boxy top to try to do a sloping chop on. More is not always better.

 

The ratio as said above is just about perfect as it is.

 

Whatever you do, just please make sure the back window flows.

 

Agree totally. Looking good so far.

 

I wouldn't chop much more than you already have done. Those quarter windows get really small if you do anymore and it might not flow right or be proportional to the body. Less is more, I know cause I only did a mild chop on my coupe for the very same reason. The lower you go the harder it will be to get the back window to look correct.


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Well i just saw these posts now, and was too late. Although i really like the outcome with the extra removed. Its making me reconsider what to do with the back window. I originally was going to lay down the original window as is. But now it just looks far too big.

I could always shrink down the window frame and cut it to be flat so i can have a back window made more easily. What would you guys suggest for the back window?

Here is how it sits now.

 

Looks good so far. Please keep posting.

 

Should i just cut off the back glass now before finishing up the A/b pillars so i can get a better look/ideas?

As for the lines of the car, im planning to do something with the rear fenders. Maybe section them out to match the slant of the roof a bit. And im not opposed to sectioning the trunk either, im just not sure what i want to do untill i see the roof close to finished.

 

The back glass leaned forward is what I did to mine.
Heres my build if you havnt seen it:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=581049&highlight=jcs64



JEFF

 

Jeff...looks better than i thought! I saw your thread months ago, but couldn't come accross it in the past few weeks while searching.

 

Lean in the pillars or widen the roof??? i can't decide. I need to make my mind up by he morning so i can get at it early. Well as early as a night drinking in boston will let me.

 

What i would suggest is to cut the piece you are holding in your hand right at the top of the end of the upward curve, and cut it at 90 degrees to the angle of the window opening (square cut), this will give you the smoothest transition to meet up where the rear side window comes down to meet the belt line of the car, it will look like it is meant to be, and also gives you the longest side rear window possible, and believe me when i say the more glass you have, the more class the car has.

This same theory goes for the rear window and laying it down, again the more glass-the more class, a chop is more successful when you have a really large rear window, in this case factory glass will look best as in most cars, factory glass re-used looks best, in my opinion anyway.

First step with the rear window is to fully cover it up, i use a 3/4 masking tape around the edges and then cut a heavy cardboard inside and outside that is undersize to the window and then using 2 inch masking tape, put both pieces of cardboard on, one outside, one inside.

With the rear window section you have still attached to the car now, leave it attached, i would start by slicing along the top of the beltline on both sides cutting towards the back until you came to an exaggerated line that drops down from the side of your rear glass on each side (draw a line or use tape/ rule to mark it), then slice again under the rear window, again on the belt line but leave the rear window section joined to the car when your cut comes around to the exaggerated line and leave approximately 3/8" to 1/2" material to hold the rear section to the car on both sides and this will keep the window square to the body and allow enough give to lean the window forward, creating a pivot point (be gentle as it will tear the steel), stand back and have a look at the transitional line from the roof to the rear window and position it when it has a full flowing transitional shape to it.

When it comes time to fill in the underneath the window section, use a long rule and follow the lines of the new roof line with the window and it will join back in to the body, maybe one third to half way in to the dutchman panel, that is the panel that is under the rear window between the window and trunk lid.
The next problem i foresee is what you are going to do with the B-pillar posts on both the doors and B-pillars of the car, you can push them out on the roof, and pull the B-pillar on the body with a come-a-long, this works but leaves you with another problem, when you fit the chopped door tops back on to the doors, you will have to put them on square obviously, but you will have to cut along the door beneath the window to lay them in to the car to close up the new gap at the top that you have created when squeezing the pillars together, this in turn will change the angle that the glass travels inside the window tracks within the door, you will have to change the lower position of the window tracks to accommodate the straight line the window needs to travel.
The other way is to simply cut the roof to make the pillars line up naturally, and then fill in the gaps, this eliminates the need to do internal work inside the doors, not that this is an easy way out either, you will be left with two weld lines of the roof on each side. Not to mention what gaps you now have at the front windscreen where the A-pillars meet ?
It will come down to what you decide, usually this is avoided to an extent with a little chop, but you have done a pretty large chop and this is unavoidable, and nothing looks cooler than a radical large chopped Mopar.
I really love what you are doing, keep going.
Good luck and i hope i have not confused you too much with what i wrote.
Kenny.

 

Hemiken: I got a little confused in terms of the rear window. But after rereading i really like the idea of using a pivot point. Use the cardboard to protect and leave the glass in? I was torn between removing it and not for fear of breaking.

I've settled on widening the roof. I dont want to go crazy with playing with the widow issues. Im going to cut the roof like jcs64 did in his chop.