Chop the top on my 1947 Ford Pickup

[hotwheels]

Thanks Mobart, really appreciate it man........

Today i worked on the drivers side door. This one was a little tougher to do since it appears i cut on the wrong side of the tape with one cut, so i ended up with a 1/2" gap from the bottom of the door to the window frame. I used some some 22 gauge steel as a backing plate, drilled a couple holes and welded the backing plate to the inside of the window channel.....after several tacking and grinding events to get the right alignment...I think i ended up with a pretty decent door chop and the hard part is now over.

 

[olcarguy]

Quote: "it appears i cut on the wrong side of the tape with one cut,"


Remember...It's not a mistake till it leaves the shop, besides if you fix it right only you will know. Nice job.....

 

[hotwheels]

True that olcarguy...........

Woohoo, as of today i am done with all of the welding and fabrication work on my top chop. There are still little things i have to do to truly finish it up, like grinding and sanding, but the main work is done...........I am so freakin excited, i can't believe how well it turned out.

 

[caddyhack]

Looks great man. It has to be the best feeling to pull off your first chop.. i have always thought about extending the bottom of the bed to the floor to take up all that dead space, but now that ive seen it I dont really like it. "But that just my opinion" I really like the work you have done to your truck.
What are those spots all around the edge of the bed; bolts, rivets, or welds??? And do you have any closeup pics of the bolts/rivets. And also a closeup FORD emblem you made on the tailgate... I would really appreciate it and keep up the good work

 

[70_boosted]

def a nice setup man, seeing how im building the exact same body style!! props on the clean chop. could just be me, but it looks like your bed sits too high off your tires?? other than that lines look good.

 

[hotwheels]

Looks great man. It has to be the best feeling to pull off your first chop.. i have always thought about extending the bottom of the bed to the floor to take up all that dead space, but now that ive seen it I dont really like it. "But that just my opinion" I really like the work you have done to your truck.
What are those spots all around the edge of the bed; bolts, rivets, or welds??? And do you have any closeup pics of the bolts/rivets. And also a closeup FORD emblem you made on the tailgate... I would really appreciate it and keep up the good work

The spots all around the edge of the bed are carriage bolts. I wanted a rivet look on the box, so i went and bought some 1/4" x 1 carriage bolts, drilled holes one at a time, inserted the bolt and a nut, then welded the end where the nut is so they don't come loose. I took some close up pictures for ya too of the ford emblem. All i did for this was, found an old emblem picture on the internet and printed it out. I then bought some 1/4" round rod and heated and bent the pieces with a torch and then welded them together. I then welded the letters to my tailgate i built and then took a piece of expanded metal, printed off an oval image from the internet and cut the expanded metal into the oval shape. Again i took 1/4" round rod and heated it with a torch and bent it into the shape of an oval, then welded it into place. Trying to give it a shadow box look........

def a nice setup man, seeing how im building the exact same body style!! props on the clean chop. could just be me, but it looks like your bed sits too high off your tires?? other than that lines look good.

Yea those tires are horrible on that truck. I only use them so i can move the truck around and drive it up and down the driveway to make sure my rear suspension system is working correctly. I attached some pictures of the rims and tires i am going to use on the truck. I found an old man in burns that has a **** load of them in a big shop, 16's, 17's and 19's. I bought 5 16" rims from him.......

 

[Gregster]

I'm up on the wheel choice [cl

 

[hotwheels]

Thanks gregster...........

 

[earthman]

Very enjoyable to follow your progress HW.I feel like cheering now that you have reached this point. Thanks for this excellent build thread.

 

[hotwheels]

Thanks for this excellent build thread.

I hope somewhere down the road, this build thread helps a fellow rodder.

 

[hotwheels]

here is what i have gotten done yesterday and today.

 

[Gregster]

You seem to be making short work of it , I'm for sure not that fast on body work . Looks great !

 

[whitjig]

chopped

im lookin for that great feelin of my first chop too on my 42 thanks for all the pics its keeping me motivated

 

[sneakysnake]

How did I miss this whole thread??? Nice job, made it all come out real good and thats what counts.

 

[hotwheels]

Thanks for the positive replies guys and i will keep the pictures comin in.......Today i sanded around the rear window where i had welded then applied bondo. First sanding was done with 80 gritt and the second sanding was done with 120 gritt. Once i got it smooth around the window, i sprayed my primer coat and will start wet sanding around the cab corners and the rear window so that it doesn't look like there is a seam on the back of the cab.....And no i am not painting the truck all fancy, i plan on using a few primer colors (Red and Black) and then an olive green and keep the green, red, black and rust look.......after all, it's a rat rod.

 

[hotwheels]

K, got the back sanded, and i painted it in layers, white, red, black and green. After i finish the other area's of the cab, i will go back and wet sand down to the different colors so that i can keep the patina look. I will then put a light clear coat layer on it, hopefully just to keep it from peeling. Anyways, here are the pics of the rear of the cab, watcha think? I am not a great painter, so i hope the way i layered the paints will work the way i picture it in my head.

 

[olcarguy]

Lookin Goood!

 

[hotwheels]

thanks man......Here are a couple pics of what i accomplished today: The bondo has that you see is the first layer and has been shaped and sanded down to feathering on the ends. Just before i started hanging the plastic, i put my skim coat on.....

 

[hotwheels]

Worked on the roof section yesterday and got about half way done with it.

 

[Neverdone]

Lookin really good!! So I have to ask where did you find such an ugly green paint....???