36 Ford Bobber Build

[willyD]

All advice is appreciated. I did setup a shop stool inside at roughly the height above floor level that I'm thinking my seats will sit. That was easy with no floor whatsoever in the cab I set the kick panel back in place and sat there for awhile. I taped paper over the windows at different levels to check visibility and also used a block on the current roof to check headroom. If my seats sit the way I think they will, I should have a few inches of headroom when I'm sitting straight up and a fair bit more when leaning back. I'm 6'2" so that should fit most people OK I think that the dash is quite a bit smaller than in my Willys because I feel like I have a lot more space in this one than I do in it. Of coarse, it's channeled 4.5 inches...

 

[Torchie]

Chop lay out looks fine. Door cuts don't have to line up with post cuts and looking for the section that has the least amount of change in it is always a good idea.
I also like the fact that you are not taking the entire chop height out of the rear window. Just my tastes, but mail slot rear windows don't appeal to me unless you are building a salt flats racer.
When doing your mock up you might want to sit in the cab and block off the rear window to what you have planned as well. You aren't going to have a great deal of rear visibility even with a 3.5 chop going thru that small of a rear window.
Just my 2 cents.....
[P [P [P
Torchie

 

[Willowbilly3]

Cab pieces are on the way.

 

[willyD]

Awesome! Thanks a bunch! That will certainly help.

 

[willyD]

I finished laying out the cuts on the back of the cab and welded in some temporary bracing inside. Any comments on the bracing are welcome. Seems like experience is key for knowing if it will be enough or not.

It's a little hard to see but there are two braces running from the back cab wall braces to the dash and 2 that diagonal from the door pillars down to around the front cab corners. While writing this, I think I may have noticed one problem. Those rear cab wall braces aren't attached to the skin and will get cut under the back window. Probably still good to have them braced but I may need to add a few more braces in...

 

[Torchie]

Bracing should be fine. The only thing I did different on mine was having the cross pieces touch each other and then welding them together at the touch points.
Also make sure that the cab is sitting level if it is not attached to the frame as it is amazing how floppy and out of square these things can become.
And remember. The first cut is always the hardest one to make.....[ddd
[P [P [P
Torchie

 

[bruno]

I don't know what you are going to use to cut your top but when I did mine I used a hacksaw. Takes no time at all to cut through the A and B pillars and the doors. works great on the window frames too. Gives a much cleaner and precise cut than using a sawz-all or cut off wheel. Cutting the rear of the roof and cutting the roof in half I used a saber saw, much easier to control than a sawz-all.

 

[willyD]

Thanks for the tips! I was planning on cutoff wheels on the angle grinder and maybe with my electric die grinder but the hack saw sounds like a good option. Better to go slow and make good cuts than to go fast and mess something up. The saber saw sounds like a good option too. I hate the saws all for anything other than demo work as I feel like I always end up all over the place with it or jamming the blade or something. Probably just inexperience but I want to avoid it where possible!

 

[Willowbilly3]

I hate the sawzall too, have to used it on some dismantling.

 

[bob w]

The sawzall is what killed my thumbs.

 

[earthman]

..................[P

 

[Torchie]

Ditto on the sawzall. It is good for thicker material but I always have a hard time controlling it thru the thin sheet metal.
I use a hack saw as well as a very thin kerf cut off wheel on my air powered angle die grinder. The cut off wheel is only about 3" around.
The more precise the cuts. The easier it all goes back together.
Good luck and take your time.
[P [P [P [P
Torchie

 

[willyD]

I haven't posted updates in a bit. I don't have a lot to report since I didn't do much over the Holiday but I did pick up a motor and trans and modified my chop plan a little. My friend that does the chops convinced me to go with a mail slot back window on it. I had thought he wouldn't lean that direction honestly so it surprised me but he made really good points for doing it and I personally like the look anyway so I'm going to go that route.

I bought a Mopar 383 big block and 727 trans from a friend. The short block is together but the rest needs to be assembled. The friend I got it from is a serious Mopar fanatic and has all sorts of choices for accessories and brackets and tin so I need to go pick all that stuff out but that can wait a bit.

 

[DozerII]

Nice score on the motor and trans, should make it haul A$%[cl

 

[willyD]

Oh ya, I forgot that I also got my title back! They didn't even put the bond on the title which is killer since that leaves the title free and clean. The bond would automatically have come off after 3 years anyway but it's nice that it's not there. One more piece of the puzzle in place [cl

 

[Old Iron]

[cl[P

 

[Willowbilly3]

Great project. I'll try to remember to get your driprail tomorrow. Started off to do it today, skid steer wouldn't start, got it jumped but it wouldn't run without the jumpers, must have lost the charging system and no idea how to tackle that on an Onan

 

[willyD]

I haven't posted in a bit but I haven't been taking a break. I spent several more hours hammering on the roof trying to get it fairly straight before cutting it. I think I'm starting to get the hang of hammer and dolly a bit. I also bought a shrinking disk for my angle grinder. That seems to have helped as well.

The big news is that I finally felt that the time was right to start cutting so last night I got the doors cut. I set the tops on the doors to see the difference in profile...

 

[Dirtyrat]

Haircut time! Looking good!

 

[willyD]

Got the top off. A little more cutting to remove the last few sections and it will be time to start putting it back together.