I thnk I saw that on an earlier picture, with a couple inches gap to fill in the middle? So the "V" in the widshield opening changed, or rotated angle. Does that allow the top of the windshield opening to still be in plane with the bottom so the flat gl*** will still sit in the rubber? (Gl*** doesn't like to bend) I figure you checked that for flatness/being in plane, so the trimmed windshield will go back in, but could you tell how you keep the top and bottom of the opening lined up? Do you just eyeball it? I think I'd be laying a piece of flat gl*** in there now, before it's all welded solid to check that it'll lay in the rubber right later... but then I've only done one in 1-to-1 scale instead of 1/25th scale... Did you shorten it and how much of the roof skin got cut off when it got lined up at the front?
Great post, very educational. I see from one of the pics, you cut a little then peel it back as you go. When you cut the excess, is it hard to see the edge of the old metal since it is under the overlaping new metal? Do you pull the newly cut edge up a little and peek under? I remember **** welding some panels near my trunk area, there was alot of grinding, fitting, grinding, fitting before I had a good gap for the mig to lay in.
Thanks guys. Doc, the gap in the middle is to make up for the fact that the sidegl*** is still at the stock angle. ( so the Roof needs to be wider to bridge the gap.) I didn't cut the Headerpanel all the way through, but offset the welds by about 5" to each side to help stabelise it and I checked it by putting a ruler in the middle and visually lining it up with the sides ( A Pillars ). The rear of the roof is pushed forward by 5 Inches or so, and thats about as much as I cut off the Front of the Roof Skin.( just happened to be about the same...) Mike, when I try to line up the 2 pieces by cutting the top layer, its tricky to know where you are at.( Cutting the bottom one is easy, since you can see what you are doing...) But you get a feel for it, and I try to go into both pieces at the same time, if I happen to go off the line ( That way I still end up with a nice Gap, its just more work because now you are cutting two pieces instead of one...)
That's truly amazing! SOOOOOOO many cars, esp. the shoeboxes have been chopped............by butchers. That is an INCREDIBLE chop and most certainly one that deserves the credit it's been given and will recieve in the future! You should be proud!! **x Brandy
This is what it looked like when it left here. But that is some time ago. GRSMNKY told me he stripped it to bare metal, and I think he is building it ( suspension, drivetrain, etc...) I'm looking foreward to seeing this one on the Street...
nice job. thanks for the pics. sure looked like a lot of work goin that route but it ssure turned out nice.
Hey, metalshapes, If I understand the post, you were trying to use a planishing hammer or english wheel to flatten out the curve of the roof skin? I did an almost identical chop on my '53 Chevy, and this is how I flattened out the side-to-side crown of the roof: 1. placed pieces of conduit accross the roof framework from side-to-side to give the skin something to sit on, 2. laid the roof skin accross the conduit, 3. used a ruler and a sharpie to draw two lines down each side of the roof skin, about 2" and 4 or 5 inches from the cut edge, then 4. just walked back and forth alongside the car with a flat hammer and dolly, tapping the lines as I went (not pounding, just hard tapping). I would go down the car on one line, then back up the car on the other, then switch sides and do it again on the other side. Back and forth. In less than an hour the skin was flattened out enough to meet perfectly with the framework. It was really amazing how well and how fast it worked. It was my first shot at metalworking, too, so if I could do it everyone else should be able to do it. Best of all, you don't have to lift and move the roof skin once it's resting on the car. Now I have a question: What did you do with the roof support? (Or does Ford not have one accross the inside of the top like Chevy?)
I placed the Roof Panel so the dome looked right to me. That made the edges too low to match up with the sides. I had left about a 3" strip of metal just over the Drip Rail, and I Hammered that over to get that part of the curve right. That left the outside of the Roofskin that was still too low, plus the gap ( because the Roof needed to be a little wider, since I kept the angle of the Sidegl*** stock. ) To solve those 2 things at the same time I welded in a strip of metal, which was too flat so I could put in the correct shape in later ( after welding...)
The Jalopy Journal
