what have i done!!??? 52 disaster

[junkskunk]

OK, I know I should've done my research before chopping and all but now it's too late. How can I fix it or is it too late? Where do I start? I did not brace anything and I now I know why you all advise bracing so much. By the way it's chopped 8 in. On the body 4 on the top, and 6 on the body drop. Help!!!??

 

[TiredIronGRB]

The first thing I would do is an introduction.

 

[junkskunk]

introduction done what next?

 

[hd_griffin]

Is that a fence post holdin' your hinges to the door? (pic #3)

Griff

 

[Bonehead]

Brace it now. Keep making adjustments until the doors open and close without draging.
Angle iron would be best.
Use bracing with sections cut out of it, and vise grips holding in the missing sections.

When everything lines up weld them together and take out the vise grips.


X brace it at about dash height. and braces on the bottom at the door bottom inside the cab. Those braces can stay when you are done, so do a good job there. Then go back to the top, and start fine tuning the chop to align the rain gutters.

 

[junkskunk]

griffin, the post is actually a stop sign, the sign itself became my seats
Bonehead, I'm not sure I understand where exactly do I brace or I only need to brace near dash height? At the bottom of the door,what size angle do you mean since this will be holding up my floor, also I read about putting the floor under the frame for more leg room how will this affect that? Will these braces be the only ones I need? How do you suggest I pull in the bottom of the door where the original hinges sat? Your help is always welcome.

 

[jmlcolorado]

Oh BOY!
I have a pit in my stomach just looking at that.

Its okay, its not ruined quite yet.
Follow what tripper said. Your gonna need to get some jacks. Screw jacks work best for working horizontal. You'll need to spread the door jambs till the hinge side looks good. Once the hinge side is good and square with the floor, run a diagonal brace from up high near the windshield to the floor. That will lock the front half in. Throw in a few, one near the doors and one in the center. THEN, use the doors to line up the reveal on the latch side. If you can get the doors to work well, your set!
Bracing is a must! I just used rebar to brace mine and it worked okay.

Once you start putting your top on, learn from my mistakes and only tack everything together! I went and welded 1 section fully and have been fighting that section since!
TAKE your TIME! Its important since if this part doesn't make you happy, you'll hate the entire build. Then your chances for finishing will be slim to none.

Be careful when welding all your sheet metal together, you dont want to just blast away. It'll get too hot and warp all over the place.
I think with my 7" shop, i had 18 separate pieces when it was all said and said and done.
Don't get discouraged just yet.
OH, and also, before you weld the whole roof in, take a break away from it for a couple days, then come back and look at it with a fresh mind. I wish i woulda done that. I would have taken another inch or 2 out of the front. Now its just too much work and i have a slight "nose up" look to it :/

Heres a couple photos of mine

 

[jmlcolorado]

BTW, i used the door jambs to tack my bracing in. In retrospect, i probably shouldn't have done that but tacked just inside the doors so i could use the doors to make sure all was lined up. I just lucked out.
Anywhere a cross brace crossed over another, weld them together in an "x" pattern too. That'll lock it all together.
Remember that triangles are strong! Don't brace in square shapes cause that can still skew.

 

[Bonehead]

Good advice. This picture shows where I put in temporary braces.

 

[Bonehead]

After taking off 4 inches from the bottom, I put in an angle iron piece at the bottom of the door, across from the front to the back, making a new sill, and making the cab bottom solid. Not show in this picture, but you can see where it will go.

 

[phillip-r-s]

It's never ruined, let me start by saying that.
Bracing is great when starting with everything pretty well together, but when starting with pieces I find that shims and tack welding are your best bet. Especially since the floor isn't in yet.
like many thing there are many ways to come to the same answer.
I am on my phone right now and headed to bed let me get to work tonight and on the computer so I can see your pics better then I will go through how I would do it
Don't worry you can fix it just go slow and be calm
It usually takes me a weeks worth of measuring to do a days worth of welding.

 

[Blue Eyed Devil]

Wow...

 

[Bonehead]

Are you welding or riveting everything together??

 

[izzy]

to help get things together I used 1 inch ratchet straps to slowly pull things together and then finish with more bracing. just my 2 cents.

 

[LOWANDRATY]

opps

I agree with the shim and tack method, cut some shims to put in the body gaps so your gaps are straight and even, and tack the back of the door to the back of the cab, get your cowl set straight with the front of the door and body line straight and shim and tack, then put all your braces in and weld, get the roof tacked in and then you can cut the door tacks.

 

[junkskunk]

wow thanks for all the replies and wisdom, I definatelydo your suggestions and yes bonehead I will be welding everything together, no one will even notice what a difficult time I had. I am also going to use a strap to pull it together at the bottom. I want to thank all of you again, keep the suggestions coming and I'll keep pics and questions coming. also I will start a build thread.
P.s. is it the worst you've seen?

 

[skull]

helpful

this is a great site for helpful people, 'bout the best l found on the web[

take solace in the fact if it don't turn out perfect its a ratrod and all good rats need a flaw or two

just make it safe, thats is the number 1 thing.

keep the pics coming.

Later

 

[phillip-r-s]

ok here we go
let me start by saying bonehead your work as always looks awsome
never the less before i go through and brace i usually start by tacking everything together starting with the points that i know are right

in this situation i would start with the suicide hinge side of the door and use 3/16 flat metal shims to insure a gap around the door then i usually use 1/4 steel shims between the door and the door sill (it should also be noted that very little gap is needed on the hinge side of the door but a gap is needed) then tack weld the door in place

i made a bunch of these metal shims a while back out of just plane flat stock (four of each will be plenty) if you are working indoors you can use wood as long as they are the same thickness but never use wood shims on outdoor projects every time it rains you have to wait for several days to get the saturated wood out

it wont take very many tack welds one or two per side of the door

the main thing to remember is to do everything as a mirror immage on both the drivers and pass. sides tack for tack. that is as soon as you make a tack weld on one side go to the other and make the exact same tack

once you get everything in the same pile then crawl inside and start bracing

once the bracing is done go back and grind out the tacks on the doors and you are back in business

i do have one problem however and that is the door hinges don't look like they are in-line with one another
to fix this i would start by removing them and once eveything is braced and before you grind the tack welds off of the doors; slide the hinges in place being sure that the pins on bothe of them line up with one another (unless you want lambo doors) and then tack weld them to the outside of the door and the outside of the cab. hopefully when you cut the tacks off from around the door the hinges will stay inplace long enough to weld them perminant with the door open

 

[phillip-r-s]

p.s. that seat looks sharp (like it might cut your thigh)

 

[Sam_Fear]

I will be welding everything together...

Whew! That is a relief to hear.

P.s. is it the worst you've seen?

Well, no. At least it's just sheet metal. We've seen some pretty hacked up suspensions before - that becomes deadly.

Just glad you had sense enough to realize you needed help.