Customs laying a 41 chevy convertible on its rockers....

so as a young "fabricator" i teamed up with an older fella (i'll refer to him as O.G.) whos into "bombs". the man loves pre-war chevs and accessories, and when i first met him he introduced me to his world. he spoke of a dream to first turn his 1941 chevy convertible, with rotten floors and rockers, into a rocker laying, accessorized, one of a kind beauty, and keep it as STOCK as possible. i was up for the challenge, to both make his dream come true and showcase some of my "skills" if you will.

here is how the car began..

 

now due to the fact the lower portion of the car is worthless, were taking a 2 door coupe and doing damn near what gm did to make these bodies a convertible. the lower quarters are pretty rotten as well, so when the time comes ill section the coupe and the convertible at the belt-line and factory cowl seam to re-produce a stock looking convertible body

 

seperating the body from the frame.... this car will never be the same

 

Looks like you're off to a great start. Keep the pictures coming.

 

so heres the convertible floor, i needed the "hump" for the coupe body. under this area are "floor rail connectors" that also act as extra body mounts for the convertible strength. i need to put it in the coupe floor to clear the convertibles massive center crossmember and to utilize the extra body mounts



and heres the stock coupe floor...



and heres the coupe floor with the convertible "hump" and "floor rail connectors/ body mounts"

 

the purpose of all the floorwork is so that i can mount the coupe body to the frame, to insure all the body mounts line up, i can bolt on all the fenders, hood, doors, yada yada so i AM CERTAIN before i hack this car up it all lines up from the get go.

itd b stupid to build a car only to realize before paint that the car never lined up from the beginning;

also i need the entire body together on the frame so i can take all my measurements to see what its gonna take to lay this car on the rocker,

definately not an easy task.....

 

SO after alot of deliberation between me n O.G. about body dropping (sectioning the floor) or sectioning the frame, we decided to go with sectioning the frame. its alot simpler, we wont have issues with pedals, steering, seats, bumpers, radiator and all that other good stuff....

the only problem is O.G. wants to do this all while keeping the car as stock as possible. no mustang II or rack n pinion on this one. here lies the challenge

 

Almost anything looks good "in the weeds"... just keep them pics coming!

 

so with the car torn back apart, here lies our 1941 chevy convertible frame, which is a beautiful frame. some convertible fanatics would ring my neck for doin this, but hey to each his own. O.G. has a few of these layin around anyways in case i measured wrong. hahahaha



the game plan is to cut 1 1/2" from the bottom of outer rails, and a lil more from the center section x-member (since it hangs below the outer rails, and needs to sit above the lowest point of the frame when were done)

heres some view of all the cuts layed out....

 

so, what's the plan for the side rails? Cut off the 1 1/2" at the bottom, and then replace the bottom of the "hat"?

 

So You´re taking material off the frame rails of a convertible...? Aesthetic preferences (and the sense of arguing over them) are always one thing, but strictly from a functional standpoint this doesn´t strike me as a very good idea. Sorry.

 

the bottom "hat" is getting replaced with 3/16" plate, yes

 

im plating the inner rail with 3/16" to add strenght. the center section alone is plenty of strength, but just to be on the safe side....
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so we cut it.........




notice the far framerail, ive already cut the 3/16" steel to "re-cap" the frame

 

and simply put it back together.

 

I like where this is headed, I love bombs! Good job helpin the OG with his dream!! another OG. ~Sololobo~

 

I must be missing something here. It seems to me that sectioning the frame in this manner doesn't lower the car. It only, at this stage, "thins" the frame, increasing ground clearance of the frame, assuming stock suspension. If the suspension is dropped I can see where the extra clearance may be useful. But, confused or not, I am interested in seeing where this leads. Your workmanship looks very good, btw.

One other thing. Knowing how scarce these '41 ragtops are, and looking at the pics, I don't see the severe rust issues in the floor that would seem to be necessary to justify reworking a coupe body instead of just repairing what you have. Grafting the upper body of the conv to the coupe lower shell is a lot of work too. Would it really been any more difficult to repair the rockers in the conv? And when you are done, there is only one body instead of two.

Ray

 

It's a California car, so really rusty to them is almost rust free to us in the rust belt! Anyway, looks like nice workmanship, and a cool project! Good Luck!

 

I've had a couple of 40's Chev converts, and the frame is none to stiff stock, let alone trimming an inch off the vertical section of the rails. 3/16 plate on the bottom of the hat will do nothing to stiffen the frame. It looks good, but ultimately won't be as strong as it was originally. The only point in doing this is to enable the car to set on the sheet metal when parked?

 

Ok, I thought I was missing something as well.

 

I'm really feeling that this going down the wrong path.

 

Hey zman, maybe you should explain to this guy how laying a car on the rockers isn't "stance", it's just setting on the frame.

 

I'm underwhelmed.

 

I'm wating for someone to pull a rabbit out of their hat, and then explain the reasoning behind this. You said you want to put it on it's rockers, I'd want the frame to touch first. Anyway carry on, and show us how it's done. Maybe we are to old to think outside of the box?

 

Hell I'm seeing so much wrong with the way this is going that I'm not even going down that path.

 

ya the point is to lay the car out on the ground pretty much on the rockers. the bottom of frame is about 1/16" lower than the actual rocker, just to slightly "protect" if you will, the body. and I NEVER SAID THIS WAS A "STANCE". the owner wants to lay the car out, its not as simple as taking out some leaf springs or de-arching them, or cutting coils, or throwing on a dropped i-beam. but thank you for the insult non-theless. we put alot of work into the frame and front x-member.

 

I'm thinking a channel job would have been a better route than risking the integrity of the frame. Take it as an insult if you want. I really don't care, but to think that you aren't gonna get called on something questionable is ludicrous.

 

Well, I'm from So. Cal. and even I don't see a lot of rust on the 'vert body. Certainly not enough to justify cutting the car in half. However, as for the car laying rocker, I can see where he's going and why. If you look at some of the cars from Style Kings C.C., they go for the same look. I would save the 'vert body, but I fear it's too late already. And, I would beef up that frame a little more too.

 

Ya looks like a LOT of work for nothing!!! Oh well

 

Wheres the pics?