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

Consider turning the back window upside down.
The curved contour of what was the top of the window will follow the contour of the body better that way when you lay it down.
It's an old trick that would have helped a lot of recent chops.

 

I´d be inclined to say that´s a little too much of a chop for the deep body. Also that the roof is a little too leaned back. Maybe dial it all down a notch? Just my 2c.

 

That looks sick. It flows really well once it's lowered. I got my eyes open for the updates.

 

I'll take a look at that! I need to look at how the flatness of the Plymouth roof will meet with the contour. I like the idea because it will confuse people even more about what it is!

 

If i was going to put the work in for a chop, i wanted to make it close to radical. The roof line of the Plymouth isn't very attractive to say the least. With the flatness of the top, i felt i really needed to be leaned back to make it look smoother. Otherwise they tend to look like someone just squished the roof down.

 

Thanks, it really helped me to do it. I was starting to think the chop wasn't flowing right untill i lowered it. With the skirt and lower it make the car look longer.

I was thinking to do something extreme with the rear fenders, but im going to wait till i see it with the chop done and on the ground first.

 

Yeah, one thing at a time. I started the chop and while waiting for help to come back to finish it, I did the tail lights and frenched the headlights, and lowered the car another 3 inches. I could have been done with the roof by now. I'm 95% done. Just little details and glass is a pain in the ass.

 

Yeah, one thing at a time. I started the chop and while waiting for help to come back to finish it, I did the tail lights and frenched the headlights, and lowered the car another 3 inches. I could have been done with the roof by now. I'm 95% done. Just little details and glass is a pain in the ass.

 

Yea, i could def see myself getting carried away into other things. Once the roof is solid i'll feel better about doing other things here and there.

Here is a quick shot of the mohawk! I started tacking one side, and it got a little late and i didn't feel like moving the welder over to the other side of the car. This is one of those times i wish the car was lower!!! Standing on a chair with almost no where to lean on makes it hard to weld!

 

I have to weld it some temporary braces on the front where i cut out the peak. There is some flex in the roof and thats the biggest point of movement. If i get those lined up nicely and tack them with vertical braces to the pinch weld at the bottom of the windshield, it should make for easier welding later.

 

One other thing I did for support was to bend up a 5/8" dia pc of metal conduit. I bent this similar to a headliner bow and so that it sets above the B pillars (welded above that boxed channel that the bows hook into) and curves upward to apply slight pressure to the bottom of the roof skin (tack the sides, then rotate it up till you touch the roof then weld in the sides solid).
I did this for a temorary brace while I was sanding the filler, but decided I would leave it in!

jeff

 

Wish i did that in the beginning to hold the shape of the roof before i could weld it all together. Before this i have never welded large body panels or sheet metal together before, so the way it moves once welded is still a little new, more of my experience is with thicker metal. I finished tacking the roof together, but had some minor issues.

Roof all tacked together:


First issue, i have a part where at the joint one side of the roof dips down rather than staying flush. I couldn't figure out why when i was working on it, but after thinking about it in bed i think it may be because there was too much width on my addition at that spot. So once it was all welded around that spot it got pulled and dipped down. I think if i cut out the tacks at this spot with the angle grinder, the width of the cutoff wheel will take out enough where once i reweld it it will pull flush. Please let me know if this thought process is incorrect.

Here is a picture of what a nicer level spot looks like, vs the spot in question.



The next issue is, near the front of the roof, right where the peak was cut out, it somehow created extra curvature to the roof. I didn't use butt welding clips here, what i did was take a clamp and 2 pieces of angle iron and clamped it all flat, tacked in about4-5 inches, moved the clamp further to the edge and tacked the following 3-4 inches that were left. I also noticed afterwards that i my tacks were alot closer together here. Im not sure how to handle this issue yet. other than cutting the welds and trying again. But i don't want to do that till i better understand how sheet metal forms once welded.

Here are some pictures of the peak area.


The center of the peak is right were i laid the filler rod.

 

IS the curvature im getting something that can be straightened with a hammer and dolly?

Edit: ok so im starting to think the process to fix this would be: grind down the weld slightly, heat with torch. Hammer and dolly, then quench with wet rag. Im getting these ideas from reading a few things online, they could be completely wrong so any advice would be great!

 

Looking at your pictures, it looks like your heading the right way. Hammer, dolly and a shrinking wheel may come in handy as your progress. Work from the centre out both ways. Can be lonely when your struggling on a project but keep at it, your making headway.

 

Thanks, im going to try and hammer it tonight. I just thought about it and heating it first would be silly since heat shrinks.

Edit: the more i think about it, it curved up and caused a high spot, would shrinking it down be best? Cut out the welds and re-weld to increase shrinking? Or maybe finish running the bead and let that be the added heat source to shrink it?

 

That, or consider using a back window from another car too...

 

I've been looking very closely at 50 plymouth roofs from as many angles as I can find.

When I cut into mine, I plan on moving the roof forward and filling in under the rear window. Then as I slop the back window, I'll be cutting out the "corner" and laying it flat and filling in that area as well to center it more in the rear of the roof. Switching a rear window can be done if you happen to have another roof segment around, like a desoto or a shoebox ford but your getting into more fitment issues as you go along.

Keep focused, start with your hammer and dolly ( you'll do the least damage if its not getting your the results you want) then up it where needed. It may take a combination of dolly and hammer in some segments and heating and grinding in others.

 

marcello, are you mig welding this? The pictures are not very clear on my screen. It looks like the metal is shrinking at the weld. This is the natural thing for it to do. when this happens you need to stretch the weld.

Took another look, looks like your mig welding. You can stretch the welds cold (better and easier while hot) I'd grind them down to the base metal and hammer on dolly them. Don't remove any base metal! Go easy. MIG has a tendency to crack. If your not using easy grind wire get some. I't a little more malleable. You can heat mig welds with a torch and stretch them, but I would advise against it. Real easy to loose control of a panel like that. Gutsy move to split a roof skin!
I tend to avoid it if at all possible. Keep us posted.

 

you gotta be quick w/ this, but this is what I do w/ mig:
do 5 spotwelds w/ each one overlapping the last, zaaap,zaaap,zaaap,zaaap,zaappp.
Then hold the dolly on the weld directly underneath and hammer from the top (maybe 5-10 times?)
If and when you end up w/ an oilcan in the roof panel the "bow support" will be extra helpfull
Im not ashamed to use filler when its needed, and from the pics, it doesnt look too bad, just keep reading and do the best you can.

jeff

 

Ok i'm going to try and strech it. Im using a Tig tho. My Tig skills aren't the best, but they're enough to get the job done.

Yesterday i went at it some more, as i would fit one spot but cutting the weld and rewelding another would warp a bit. I def have to use another method. So hammer and dolly it is for now.

 

Ok i'm going to try and stretch it. Im using a Tig tho. My Tig skills aren't the best, but they're enough to get the job done.

Yesterday i went at it some more, as i would fit one spot but cutting the weld and rewelding another would warp a bit. I def have to use another method. So hammer and dolly it is for now.

 

It was a real shame you decided to cut the roof down the center, it makes for an easier chop if you had cut the roof skin just above the gutter line, remember this for your next one, as it os much easier keeping the roof perfect through the middle of you do mot have to touch it, bit when it is rejoined just above the gutter, you are able to get to the welded area with a hammer and dolly much easier and it will be a one man operation then, the other thing that helps joiming the roof above the gitter is the compound curve of the roof skin in tjat area, much easier to work with than a flat part of the roof when hammer welding.
Still looking good, just thought i would let you know for next time buddy. Keep up the great work.

 

Tip for tig tacking is to use high amps, roughly double normal weld setting. Very quick, low heat input. Happy to be proven wrong for this application as I'm far from expert.

 

What he said...
Except the just above the gutter should be just above where the inner gutter/rail structure is so you can get to the inside with a dolly.
You might consider finding another whole (same car) roof skin to cap in there at this point to end the frustration.

 

Marcello,

Dont, you just love advice that goes against what you just did, especially when no one had any when you asked for help?
LOL

 

Marcello... put on the bull shit blinders and keep rocking!
Follow your gut and DONT GIVE UP!

 

Go down one seam at a time now that they are tacked. In fact if you haven't gone to far , cut one side of your filler strip loose, weld one side up solid, getting it straight as you go, making the metal tight .You can work the edge that isn't welded yet on your strip, shrinking and stretching as necessary. Then when you are done , you only have one seam up the middle of the roof to go, and that will be easier to work than two seams at once, or both sides of your filler strip. Going up the middle of a roof with a filler strip is the hardest thing to do.Make it easier on yourself.One seam at a time. You will have some bondo , but not as much!

 

His pictures when he started this post didn't show any cut lines down the center. I didn't see anything about splitting the roof, until after it was done. It's the hard way, but he'll learn about metal work fixing it. If it were mine to fix, I'd try to find a new skin. Weld it in around the perimeter. At least with the tig it will be easier to work.

 

I would move your rear window forward to meet up with the C-pillar. Don't just lean it forward where it is. Your quick photoshop has a long filler piece to bridge the gap. Cut the rear window loose with some of the flat metal near the trunk. Move that whole window area forward while leaning the rear window down. The make your filler piece to be mostly the flat area between the window and trunk. You still need to do some work to blend the window to the C-pillar, but keep this area shorter for better looks when it is all done.

 

I like this idea and wish I would have thought of it when I did mine. Doing it this way, you could have welded on an extra wide filler strip while the roof half was off the car. Then when lining up the pcs on the car, the the extra width could have help hold things in alignment before being trimmed and welded.

Keep plugging away, your doing fine