Getting your head around a chop....

It won't look as radical but what about just using the hardtop windshield and going with a 2 inch chop and then taking a bit off the crown of the roof?

Otherwise I would have the windshield cut and build the car to the windshield instead of trying to cut the windshield to fit the car.
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NONAME replied correctly...you have to tilt the gl*** back to meet the new roofline. a wedge shaped cut at the bottom of the gl***, close to the A pillars is needed to do so. Again, tricky business on a piece of curved gl***! This is also why you might come up short, on the A pillar to gl*** area, towards the bottom. Sometimes you can fudge it a bit with the rubber, or adding extra trim there, but if you do a mild chop, sometimes the gap will remain inside the slit of the gasket.
Oh, Yeah...another point about sinking the windshield, when you do, the gl*** is bound to be too small for the opening. Think about it...the roof is smaller than the beltline on these cars, the gl*** all tapers in as it goes up. So if you sink, you come up short.

This was the way Barris did the Kopper Kart's front and rear winsheilds. But they ended up way too short, and what we did to duplicate this, was to cut the gl*** at the bottom. Then we had to extend the pinchweld to get the gl*** to fit. The "unattractive" additions to the pinchweld, on the original Kart, were then covered up with either copper plated, perforated steel, to match the other trim, or in the case of the A pillars, a kind of big, solid piece of copper plated steel, shaped like a "comma". Look closely at pics of it, to see. If there's a way around doing this, it should be done, as it really isn't an attractive feature!

 

I did not know that the windshields were different. I will measure the window and the hole and see which I have.
A 2" chop and then pancaking he bulbus roof between the drip rails just might be enough.

 

Maybe it's just hard to talk on a forum......

but if one leans the windshield back......then them A-pillars that sandwich the windshield would be leaned back too. I've chopped a car also, so I understand calculating 'slope' in order to accomodate the A-pillars not being chopped as hard as the rear of the roof......but if your leaning the whole windshield back and the A-pillars rap the sides of said windshield....then It seems them A-pillars are movin.

Carl Hagan

 

Sounds like the way to go, convertible gl*** may even be shorter.

 

convertible and hardtops take the same windshield. also the 55 merc and ford hardtops use the sedan windshields DW378. the 55 ford crown victoria and convert, and all 56 hard tops and convertible use a DW376. Mercurys ran the same way

 

You over-****yze everything. Just measure it and cut the damn thing up Glenn. Hell, if I did it, you ought to be able to.

 

Doesn't look like a tough chop to me. I'd advoid cutting thru the middle of the roof, IMHO that's were most chops go bad or at least end up with a lot of bondo. Don't care how good a metal worker you are welding in the middle of a big roof will cause issues.
Here's how I'd do it. A and B pillers look like a straight down other then leaning the bottom in and the top out to align them. C and D pillers look like they might drop down and back equal amounts, would have to tape measure the rear window to see if it's the same leanth at the top as the bottom. I wouldn't lean them foward, could cause major grief with the rear window gate to tailgate alignment. I'd make a cut a few inches above the drip rail (maybe 3", basically as close to the drip rail and still get a dolly behind) from the middle of the rear door back to just behind were the roof starts crowning down to the tailgate, the across to the other side. Slide this "U" shape piece back to align the C and D pillers, add a small filler above the rear side door and a strip across the back and call it good. Welding a strip across the back (maybe 8" ahead of the tailgate) is a whole lot easier then thru the middle where it's tough to hammer & dolly. You're also working in a crown area, won't warp as much as the flat part of the roof. You could also cut a matching U out of your doner roof, just add the lenth that the section moves back to save one weld across plus having to fab a short piece of drip rail and jam. Hope this all make sense, if my scanner wasn't down I'd sketch it out for you.
What are your plans for the tailgate gl***, is it not curved and tempered?

 

If you've never chopped a wraparound, then you would find it hard to imagine. But it is this way with all the different ones I've done.
Here's a pic of how much was needed to fit a 54 Olds windshield. In this case I DID use a hardtop windshield in a chopped sedan. I am guessing the car was cut about 4 in., as I only had to take out about 2in out of the hardtop gl***. An added bonus was that because of the difference between a hardtop vent window (slanted forward) and a sedan one (straight up), I had extra gl*** in the area that you usually come up short, just above the bottom, at the A pillar. So this gl*** fit perfectly, with no gap. The pic shows the amount I had to cut off the bottom corner of the gl*** to lean back enough to reach the new roofline.
I've also included a shot of the Kopper Kart's windshield....as I said before, with the bottom of the gl*** cut, to simulate the gl*** being sunken into the cowl, and how short the windsheild comes up doing it this way. The cardboard template is the extension for the pinchweld, so the gl*** will fit into the gasket.

 

Exactly.

Thanks guys for being so patient with me.

For my 2 cents worth, this has to be the most difficult chop to VISUALIZE.
A good friend and a very wise man told me:
1. You cannot bend the gl***.
2. You cannot stretch the gl***.

I can make metal move, add more metal to the top, to or take away metal with effort and time. I can re-cut, re-weld and re-do it till it is right. At $450 a pop for new windshields I do not have this luxury with the gl***.

I look forward to the blow by blow threads you guys are starting. I will do the same as mine unfolds.

And VANCE.....ya, ya got me. I do over-****ize some of this stuff. I program comupters for a living and thinking a problem thru and then re-thinking it till I get the best answer is what I do for a living.

Thanks all,
Glenn

 

I think all the efforts to avoid quartering the roof are going to eventually lead to more work than necessary. Sure, nobody wants to add strips down the middle of the quartered roof and try to weld it all back together straight while leaning over a giant roof, but we are NOT going to do it that way.

First of all, you already have a doner roof, so you are gold.

Bare with me for a minute and I think you may see that this is actually gonna be much easier than all the pie cutting, angling and fudging to make all the posts line up:

1) Take your doner roof and cut-out the entire skin of it all the way around close to the edges. Remove the entire skin as one piece and set it aside someplace safe where it won't be damaged while it is in this vulnerable state. This also then leaves you with 'spare edges' to use on your real roof.
2) Take your already broken windshield and cut it down (from the top edge) the amount that you want to lower the lid. Quarter and cut off your actual roof and set the cut down windshield in place.
3) Place the front quarters off of your actual roof so the A pillars line up & so that they frame up your cut down windshield and use pieces from your doner roof 'edges' to complete the surround.
4) Take the rest of your quartered roof and and do the same - lining up all the posts right where they need to be - with no fudging necessary - and using sections from your doner 'edges' to complete the roof all the way around.
5) Now instead of adding strips down the middle of your quartered roof, take your skin that you cut away from the doner and lay it over the entire top of your newly-pieced-together roof and trace it's shape out onto the new roof. Cut out that shape and using panels clamps etc. to hold the doner skin in place while you weld it in - all in one big clean straight piece. This is the part where, if you plan it right, you can also remove some of the crown (as you desired) while you are at it.

The advantage here is that instead of working down the centers of panels, you are working around the edges of the roof where it is A) easier to reach for clamping, welding and hammer & dolly work, etc. B) near the edge, so it is easier to control the heat than it would be in the middle of the panel.

Just patiently weld it in small bits at a time and gently hammer and dolly it as you go - while it is still hot - to allow it to relax any tension built up by the heat so your doner skin stays nice.

I believe this will actually be the easiest way to do it right.

 

Why not cut the cowl and drop the stock uncut windshield and frame down. You get hidden wipers and can use stock gl*** then.