Making a 4 door cool ...or... My '50 Ford 2 door conversion!

TheTruant · Nov 19, 2011

Here's my '50 4 door.

I want a chopped 2dr. So, better get to work. Here's the main tools you will need to complete this task.

Step 1. Completely strip and blast the car and all necessary parts. Including a pair of 2 door front doors (swap meet find) and 2 door rear quarter panels I cut off of a parts car (don't worry, it was beyond worth fixing.)

Here's the 2 door front door on the car with the 4 door b-pillar still in place to show how much longer it is.

I left the donor car unbraced when I cut it apart so I could see what moved around. The roof skin was WAY floppier than I had thought it would be so I bent up some 90 degree pieces of 18ga and punched some 1/8 holes for Clecos.

I used the shrinker/stretcher to get them to match the contour of the roof and cleco'd them on.

I then braced up the inside, getting the tubing as close to the cut line in the door frame as possible.

To mark the cut line in the roof and donor quarter panel I made a simple sharpie holder out of scrap sheetmetal.

TheTruant · Nov 19, 2011

I made sure to have the cut line far enough up the roof that my body hammer would fit in.

I then picked a spot and marked out the front cut...don't forget to mark which side of the line to cut on!

TheTruant · Nov 19, 2011

When I get to the point of chopping it I'm gonna cut the rear window out and move it forward, so I made another sharpie holder, this time a little longer and marked the rear window cut so it would share the quarter panel cut line. However, since I'm posting these pics after doing some work, I think I'm gonna make the cut line straight across the roof, still not 100% sure though.

To mark the vertical cuts in the quarter panels and get them to line up, I made a wheel arch template of the 4 door body.

I then held it up to the 2 door quarter and marked on the template where the end of the panel was.

Then I put it back on the 4 door body and, sha-zam!, I know where to mark the cut. No trying to measure off of a round edge or anyting like that.

I then used a square to mark the vertical line keeping it nice and straight.

One of these flexible metal rulers kicks *** for marking on contoured surfaces.

The same line transferred to the 4 door body.

TheTruant · Nov 19, 2011

Next up I made another sharpie holder 1/2" longer than the first and marked a second line on the donor panel to make the donor panel 1/2" larger than the cut on the car.

I then trimmed the excess of the donor panel and punched some holes in the wheel lip so I could plug weld it back to the wheel tub in the 4 door body.

Then the always enjoyable first cut! I whacked the b-pillar out so I could see if the 2 door door was even gonna fit.

Luckily, everything lined up really nice.

The end of the rocker panel on the 2 door is 1 1/4" shorter than the door itself.

Flexible ruler coming in handy again, I butted it up to the end of the door and marked a line 1 1/4" ahead.

Then opened the door and carried the line all the way to the inside.

TheTruant · Nov 19, 2011

Now to get that ugly 4 door quarter off of there.

First thing, I cut the outer rocker loose.

I couldn't tell exactly where the end piece tied in and if it would hold the quarter on or not, so I cut that out next.

I then cut loose the welds holding the pillar to the wheel tub.

And the roof braces.

Rather than spend all day laying down and drilling spot welds on the wheel arch I ran the cut off wheel around it being very careful to only cut through the outer layer. Show ya how to get rid of the other piece in a bit.

I drilled a couple holes so I could get the jigsaw started. It worked well for 90% of the cutting and the sawz-all and cutoff wheel made quick work of the tricky parts. Friendly reminder, make sure you drill your starter hole on the piece that gets thrown out

At this point the quarter panel is ready to remove and you can stand back and ask yourself "what the hell have I gotten into?!?!" [S

[ddd

38fordtruck · Nov 19, 2011

[P looks like you got some work ahead of you[P keep us updated

dirtybird819 · Nov 19, 2011

[cl[dr

TheTruant · Nov 19, 2011

Here's the difference in the 4 door and 2 door quarter.

Here's the rotted out pencil that fell out when I pulled the quarter off.

To get rid of the remaining piece of the wheel tub I took a screwdriver and pried loose what I could to see where the spot welds were. Then I took the cut off wheel and ran it between the two to cut all the spot welds. A little touch up with the grinder and it's better than new.

I also trimmed the package tray brace now that it was a little more acceptable.

After that the quarter was ready to test fit. I had to trim this area of the brace out to get it to fit.

I sprayed some layout fluid around the opening so it would be easier to mark the final cut.

Then the quarter was ready for the first of many test fits.

The door gap is probably the most important thing so I got that lined up first.

Then the spot where the drip rail joins together.

TheTruant · Nov 19, 2011

Since the 2 door quarter is 1/2" larger than the cut in the car I was able to drill through both and cleco them together to keep everything in place.

Once you're satisfied that everything is lined up like you want it, scribe a line around the panel.

Then remove the quarter, trim to the scribe line, put the quarter back on and enjoy one helluva good fit....did I mention I want to TIG weld all this back together [

[ddd

TheTruant · Nov 19, 2011

Getting everything fitted up just right before welding is the most crucial part. I made a handful of these tabs to keep everything cleco'd in place like so..

A piece of TIG wire makes an easy contour gauge to see if anything needs bumped around before tack welding.

After getting everything just right I started to tack weld it together.

Here's the roof after tacking it together and some hammer / dolly work. Should take less than an inch of bondo hopefully

TheTruant · Nov 19, 2011

And here's how it currently sits, looking quite a bit more 2 door-ish if I do so say myself [

[P

Tyster36 · Nov 19, 2011

Very nice!!!

rainman · Nov 19, 2011

Amazing work!! I don't have the skilz nor the balz to try something like this!!

Sam_Fear · Nov 19, 2011

Not much cooler than a 3door.

Thanks for taking the time to document all your work! I learned several things already.

Was that really one days work?!

TheTruant · Nov 19, 2011

Tyster36 said:
Very nice!!!

Thanks Tyster!

rainman said:
Amazing work!! I don't have the skilz nor the balz to try something like this!!

Thanks man! All I can say is go for it! It's only metal, pound on it long enough and it'll look like you want it to.

Sam_Fear said:
Not much cooler than a 3door. Thanks for taking the time to document all your work! I learned several things already.

Was that really one days work?!

Awsome, glad you can get something out of it, makes it worth the time of posting it! [cl

I wish that was one days work! It's 4 days working roughly 9-5 minus lunchtime. I spent the first day rebuilding my door hinges and bracing everything. So, 3 days of marking, cutting, fitting, welding.

TheTruant · Nov 19, 2011

38fordtruck said:
[P looks like you got some work ahead of you[P keep us updated

And all this just to get to the "hard part".

Will keep it updated as I go along.

LUCKY DEVIL 13 · Nov 19, 2011

WOW!! Nice work!!! My buddy is building a '49 2 door kustom for a customer right now with a 4/5 slant chop

Sam_Fear · Nov 19, 2011

TheTruant said:
I wish that was one days work! It's 4 days working roughly 9-5 minus lunchtime. I spent the first day rebuilding my door hinges and bracing everything. So, 3 days of marking, cutting, fitting, welding.

Thank God! I was really feeling totally inadequate, now I just feel really slow!

skull · Nov 19, 2011

work

lots of work, but will be cool when youre done

l like it [cl

Later

TheTruant · Nov 19, 2011

LUCKY DEVIL 13 said:
WOW!! Nice work!!! My buddy is building a '49 2 door kustom for a customer right now with a 4/5 slant chop

Bitchin! 4/5 and slanted pillars is what I've got in mind for mine. Any more pics?

Making a 4 door cool ...or... My '50 Ford 2 door conversion!

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