Shortening a 30's - 40's car body...

Rat Rods Rule

Help Support Rat Rods Rule:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

christcrusader13

Zip-Tie Mechanic
Joined
Aug 21, 2013
Messages
1,424
Location
Loudon ,TN
Getting ready to shorten the body on my 40 Chevy in the next month or so. For those of you who have worked on rounded bodies, do you think it would be better to do straight line cuts, or a tooth design to remove about 6" from the rear-center of the car? I have two illustration below:


Thanks!
 

Attachments

  • shorten.jpg
    shorten.jpg
    28.8 KB · Views: 41
  • shortenline.jpg
    shortenline.jpg
    27.5 KB · Views: 33
Z

Z'ing or the teeth method would be the one to use, that is how we did the 3OlSH sedan and it worked great.

the reason it's straight across on the 1948 dodge race car thing is because of the roof being sat on the roll cage & the 2 halves being trimmed to fit will change the angles that goes across the top and maybe it will be a pain to get to fit, but not having to worry about a interior, we can get away with a lot more "sins" on that car.

Later :cool:
 
Last edited:
I think I see the theory behind the 'tooth' design - spreading out the cut area to blend the shapes together better - but I just see more opportunity to create warpage with the extra amount of welding needed plus it seems it would be tough to get all those joint lines to line up once you start welding it and things start moving around. You will likely need to do some relief cuts anyway to one side or the other of the joint so things line up properly. Have a look at my 1934 Cadillac project in the builds section (I don't know how to post the link [S), another 4dr. to 2dr. conversion. It's a more 'square' body style, but lots of welding nonetheless.
 
I think I see the theory behind the 'tooth' design - spreading out the cut area to blend the shapes together better - but I just see more opportunity to create warpage with the extra amount of welding needed plus it seems it would be tough to get all those joint lines to line up once you start welding it and things start moving around. You will likely need to do some relief cuts anyway to one side or the other of the joint so things line up properly. Have a look at my 1934 Cadillac project in the builds section (I don't know how to post the link [S), another 4dr. to 2dr. conversion. It's a more 'square' body style, but lots of welding nonetheless.

thanks.. I will check it out...
 

Latest posts

Back
Top