52 f1 roof chop

Here's a few pics of my roof chop being put back together. I'm by no means an expert, but with a little work on my own, I'll make it happen. I re-enforced the cab with some angle iron, then measured several times before cutting. 3 inches came off. I had to cut the top into 4 pieces to fit the 4 corners without streching. As well I had to make relief cuts in the back corners to line the top/bottom up. I have about 15 hours into the top so far, and I figure I'm about 1/2 way done. Best advice I can give is measure a lot before cutting and take your time with the cutting and welding, it wll be worth it in the end.

Looks great ! post more pics as you go

Nice work there iroc. I have a 51 F1 myself, but I took a little different aproch to my chop. I took out four inches in the back below the window to keep the full window. Then I stretched the cab through the doors 4 inches. This made the door frame angles work out so that I didn't have to section the roof into four pieces. Then I made a 1/4 inch wedge cut at the belt line around the back corners of the cab and tipped the roof ahead which gave me a 5 inch chop at the front. After this I laid the A pillars back to meet the roof again and ended up having to cut only 1 1/2" out of the A pillars. This gives it a real killer profile without sacrificing vision out the windows.

Both look great. Personally I'm a fan of the 'mail slot' back window. But after seeing a big back window, I can see the how much safer it would be.

Warp drive!

flat_black said:

Both look great. Personally I'm a fan of the 'mail slot' back window. But after seeing a big back window, I can see the how much safer it would be.

Click to expand...

I agree, both look great... but since I will be in warp drive most of the time with no need to look back... I chopped my back window!!!



Great work guys, Everyone has a different idea of what they want... the most important thing is... just doin' it!!! Keep us up to date guys... u know how we love pictures!!!

BoB

Cool pics guys,
Just goes to show how different everyones taste is for about the same ride. Both are gonna be very cool indeed.

Like Tripper said....Keep postin pics as you go.

Chop and Frame ...

Nice work on the chop, Roddguy. Your F1 is taking shape. Originally I wanted to cut more than 3 inches, but in order to get my VIN and safety to legally drive the F1, I stayed within the requirements the DMV issues. What frame do you have under your F1, it looks custom built? I choose to go with a S15 frame (got the extended so I will be shortening it about 16 inches?) to keep costs down and yet still have modern brakes and steering. I know the front frame on a S10/15 is a little ugly but I plan to put on tube upper control arms and paint the rest of the front end to clean it up a little. I have an 86 Mustang GT 302 with low mileage to drop in. The box will likely be a hand built short box to hold the battery and access to the gas tank. Lowered with red painted wheels and the 34 Terra-plane grill will finish it off, all body parts finished in flat black, then clear-coated.

Thanks iroc for your nice comments, and everyone else as well. Yes that is a custom chassie under my truck. I do have a build thread here as well under the builds section. If you would like to check it out it title is 51 F1 Rat Rod. For everyone looking for pics there is more to come very soon.
Keep up your good work to iroc I'm looking forward to seeing more of your progress.