I am trying to make a game plan chopping my 26 chrysler 4 door sedan. After I remove the wood from the pillars and tack some of the other panels like the back windows, should I Remove the top wood bows or leave them until after the chop. If I demo e them I figured it would lose all squareness unless a tack some square tubing across the top. I plan on using the original wood bows and running canvas top. I figure I would have to add tubing in place of some of the wood to make the whole car more rigid. So should I chop it with the wood bows and canvas roof intact or remove it.
I've been involved with a couple of top chops and the first thing, before and cutting, is to reinforce the body with cross braces so that when the cuts are made the lower part of the body doesn't change position. If the A, B , C pillars are vertical and the top will lower straight down don't remove the top bows or the canvas cover. This is a fairly involved process and if you haven't done it before try to get some experienced help. Through the years I've witnessed many screwed up top chops.
I plan on bracing it all up. Was just curious about the canvas top. I will remove the top after the chop. I still need to rip out the original interior before a start anything. Then I will get a good look at it.
When planning my '28 Tudor chop, I consolidated a bunch of HAMB threads and magazine articles. When I actually did it, I took lots of pictures. Here's the result: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=377233&showall=1 Hope it helps.
that helps alot. there are so many chop threads on here and I have been looking at them. I am trying to save most of the original wood but also make it stronger structurally. I didn't realize these old chryslers were built like t's with sepearte panels everywhere. so they need weleded together before I do the chop anyway.
I chopped and shortened my '30 Chrysler 4 door body..... ....but before I did anything like removing the wood, I aligned everything so that the doors were square, the body relief lines were perfectly straight, and tacked everything solid. I even tacked the pillars and doors above and below the chop marks to prevent any movement. Then I braced the inside of the cabin and took out tons of rotten wood which will be replaced with metal. Then I started the chop and the shortening. One thing to keep in mind is that these bodies go floppy as Hell once the structural integrity is gone..... Good luck with it....
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