My CHOPPED FB wagon project

[minifb]

ed your doing a excellent job, cant wait till i see the finished item. Cant wait to get my computer back so i can check the pictures out. Cheers mark

[Ed]

A little update 9/6/10.

The roof is basically tacked in with exception of the little tabs used to hold the roof at the start of this process.

A full inch couldn't be taken out of the roof height as the upper tailgate hinge nuts interfered with the rear roof line. Removing the captive nuts would have solved this, but I didn't really consider this an option.

The next step is to re-work the profile of the roof above the windscreen. It needs to drop down to meet the new lower roof profile.

so.. the roof was initially held in place with "Cleko's" through small tabs at about 1 foot intervals along the roof line. "Intergrip" clamps were then used to align and hold each 1 foot section. Working one section at a time, and from side-to side the roof was tacked back into place.




resulting in this... (the tabs aren't cut out yet).



Cheers

Ed

[minifb]

great work ed , cant wait to see the end product, cheers mark

[Devilrod]

Great work Ed, this will look nuts finished Mark!!!!

[minifb]

i cant wait for it to be finished either. maybe debut it at next years nats. Ed is doing a Awesome job on it, might have to send my van up after this lol

[boxhead]

Great thread, I have earmarked it as one to watch.

1 question I have, a cut down screen mould has been mentioned a few times, are these cut down screens available to purchase?
I am in early planning stages of a Kustom and one of the bigger concerns I had was a front screen.

cheers and keep up the great work.

[parisian62]

top job Ed.

[MildFB]

Terrific job Ed. Good explanation of your work. Frankenstien would be proud

[Ed]

I think your wagon is the Frankenstein Graham!

started laying the front roof down to meet the new roof profile. After making a few relief cuts, and recontouring it, it looks like matching the new profile quite nicely.

my long weekend goal is to have it all tacked and maybe welded.

Enjoy the Nats guys.

Cheers

Ed

[Ed]

small update 17/6/10:
welding in the roof and filler panels.

[NoMAD]

Ed you make chopping roofs look easy!

Hell of a job your doing!

Cheers
Nathan

[mrs ratbox]

Ed you make chopping roofs look easy!

Hell of a job your doing!

Cheers
Nathan

yes for somebody that hasn't done it before you certainly make most of the pros look silly with there comments on how hard it is to do

top job ED

[Ed]

thanks Nath and Ratbox,

It is and has been a pretty challenging job, I've been lucky enough to have a good reference to work from, a book put together by Larry O'Toole "Chopping Tops, Practical Hot Rodders Guide". I got it through Graffiti Publications a few years back, I'm not sure if it is still in print though. The book features many different techniques and cars which are chopped including work by Paul Kelly. In essence the pro's have shared their tips to allow backyard bangers like me have a go, so thanks to them!

It's still not out of the woods yet, I need to finish welding the filler strip at the front of the roof. There was a little bit of distortion, you can see where I had to shrink the roof to get it right.

I've also had help from forum members too in terms of advice, and of course the general support of everyone following this thread is a good motivator to get things done.

so far it's on track, looking fwd to doing the doors and finishing up the rust repairs.

Mark is coming over next week, so I want something to show him.

Cheers

Ed

[Devilrod]

Great work Ed! Can't wait to see it finished...

Mark will be more of a dribbling mess once he see's it in the flesh

[EKjimmy]

This is gonna look awesome when it's done. You must be tempted to throw some paint on it once the metalwork is done just to see how cool it'll look eh? lol