The 40G

[Mike S.]

Ok, so next was to tackle the doors. I had already cut the tops off to check the chop with the doors, roof pitch and so on. Before I cut them I used a flexible seamstress tape to check the actual width of the door frame including the contours. That measurement told me where to remove 6" and have both pieces line back up. I cut them again at the top to "stretch" them equally to the roof. Now, I've seen a few guys online that say they simply removed a vertical section and added it to the top to fill in the gap. I took a ton of measurements and couldn't get it to work so I went another route. The vertical portion of the frame matched the top of the frame closely but the body skin was way wider. So, I tapped the body skin off, reworked the frame a little, then sectioned the body skin to match the frame. Does that even make sense?! Anywho, the vertical portion of the frame lined up perfectly and the front of the door frame lined up pretty well requiring just a little contouring to blend the angles. The window opening now measures 8 1/4"!

 

[VonHyde]

looking better all the time man looks good that you cut the roof in half thats the debate with my dad right now he want to just cut the a-pillars and pull em back but i dont like that look and usually creates more work on the doors anyways

 

[Mr.Gussett]

I Love it!

Great looking cab!
I am a big fan of heavy chops (look at mine) and you are doing an awesome job of it! I'm also a big fan of BBC (as in mine) too![cl
Going to keep an eye on your build for sure![P
Thanks for posting such good pics with detailed steps!

 

[Mike S.]

Thank you for the compliments guys, I appreciate it! I love looking at build threads and I am really glad you guys are diggin' mine. I'll keep the pictures coming as fast as I can get work done in the garage! I plan on really getting things done as soon as the holidays settle down.

Von-Yeah, I like the look of the stretched roof, visually they seem to fit better. Having said that, I have seen a couple of trucks with leaned back a-posts that looked good. In my opinion, that technique looks best on taller chops.

Mr. Gussett-Your car looks killer! Chopped low and riddin' low! I like it. Yeah, there is something about big blocks that I have always liked. There's no kill like overkill!

Thanks again guys!

 

[Mike S.]

Next on the list was my favorite feature on this truck; the pop-out or "safari" windshield. I don't know why safari windshields are so damn cool but they are! Chopping the windshield frame was pretty easy but I took it slow and deliberate because the frame was in good shape and judging by ebay, it would cost me about $400.00 to replace it. So, I reinstalled the hinges and roughly aligned them. Then I installed the crank or regulator. I set the frame on the cowl to get a look at the outside contours which told me where to make the first cut. I then cut the side of the frame to free the top and bolted the top to the hinges. From there I simply had to make a couple of relief cuts in the proper areas and bend the frame until the contour matched the cab. I then set the lower half on the cowl and drew a cut line on it that matched the upper frame. I trimmed the lower frame and set it back on. The chop gods were smiling down on my garage that day because it lined right up without even having to contour the bottom frame! I clamped the two pieces together, attached the regulator and cranked the windshield out and back to make sure it wouldn't hang up anywhere. So far so good. From there I slowly tacked it all together and then cleaned up the welds. Man I think it looks killer! Once that was done I removed it from the truck and separated the two halves. Well, my frame was a little rusty and that coupled with stubborn screws meant a several day process of soaking with penetrating oil and cussing. I resorted to using an air chisel and finally got the two halves apart, destroying the upper and lower spline pieces in the process. Luckily, Chevy's of the '40s sells new ones!

 

[BUSTEDKNUCKLE]

Very nice work! The chop you have done looks like it came out great. I did an 8 in on mine,,,what a ton of work to line things up. I see your from northern cali,,,,me too. Keep posting your progress....[P

 

[Mike S.]

Thanks for the kind words Busted. Your truck looks killer! 8" chop?! That's easily the heaviest chop I've seen on that body style. Yeah, I was really surprised by the fitment issues between a 5" chop and a 6". An 8" must have been crazy! Do you have any plans to go to the Turlock swap meet in January? I am gonna try to make it. Thanks again.

 

[sneakysnake]

Man your coming right along on this thing, and it looks good. 6" does look good on these cabs.

 

[Mike S.]

Thanks Sneaky. I enjoyed checkin' out your build. I especially like the way you built your floor. Now that the holidays are settling down, I am going to get back on my build. Stay tuned, more pictures coming soon!

 

[roddguy1]

Your doin a killer job on this cab, the chop looks right on. [cl

 

[Mike S.]

Thanks for the compliment Roddguy. That means a lot coming from a dude with skills like yours. Dang, you have a lot of nice work in your truck and it looks great! I should have some more pictures up soon.

 

[61 gasser]

Chop LOOKS GREAT!! Dforget to get a prism so you can see the street lights.

 

[hotwheels]

oh yea bro, that is lookin killer

 

[Mike S.]

Thanks for the compliments guys. Yeah, the chop coupled with the huge tunnel ram will really make forward vision challenging. My wife and I have come up with a series of simple hand signals (the big block should be too loud to yell over) that should help a lot. However, if I am riding solo, it's just up to luck! Maybe I could implement a periscope.

Well, the holidays really slowed progress but I did manage to get some primer on the '40. I only primed areas that won't need any filler. I do have some epoxy primer that I could apply filler over but the body isn't flashing too quickly and body work is next on the list so I didn't use it. I am amazed at how different it looks with even just a little color on it. Also, it's a little off topic but when you build a body dolly you should always mark the max capacity on it for safety's sake, heh heh heh! Stay tuned for more, I hope!

 

[Mike S.]

I've been chippin' away at the GMC, mostly just small details. I finally finished the chop on the doors. I know this has been shown/explained on this site already but I didn't want you guys to think that I've been slackin' so here's proof! I stared at the misaligned sections for a while and figured I could either stretch one side to meet the other or shrink one side to meet the other. I suspected that the operation of the window might be affected if I stretched the inside so I decided to shrink one side of the top and one side of the bottom until they matched. It was pretty straight forward, I just pie cut and tapped the pieces into position, then weld, grind and repeat. Baby steps forward!

 

[Mike S.]

I've been working on the dash little by little. So far I stripped the trim off and filled the holes. I like things to be minimal, no trim and so on, just the necessities. I was going to have the upper and lower dash blasted before I got too into smoothing it but I ran out of patience this weekend and decided to work on it. I'll have them blasted next week. I bought an ignition switch and headlight switch from So-Cal Speed Shop. The ignition switch fits perfectly in the hole on the left but the hole on the right was too big for the headlight switch. So, I welded in a slug, drilled and notched it and presto! There was a headlight switch hole at the left end of the dash but I filled it. These cabs are kinda tight and I thought it would be more accessible in the center. Plus, the stock dash light will shine down on it in its new location. More soon, I hope!

 

[deerchooper]

looks good mike, what are you putting in the c and t holes?

 

[Mike S.]

Thanks Deerchooper. C and T holes? I am not sure whatcha mean. The center holes will get switches. One is going to control two (one per rear tire) windshield washer reservoirs that are going to spray water in front of my rear tires for doing burnouts. I don't have a use for the other switch right now; maybe an ejection seat!

A little more dash work today. A while back I fabbed a 16 gauge steel blank-out panel to hold a couple of gauges. Today I decided to experiment a little with some ghetto engine turning! I sanded the panel with some 150 emery cloth then turned some circles into it with some 60 and 80 grit wheels on a Craftsman "3-D Sander." I primed and painted the back then sprayed the whole thing with a flat clear. Despite my ugly welds, I think it turned out pretty cool!

 

[sneakysnake]

Choke/Throttle

 

[Mike S.]

Choke/Throttle

Oh yeah, now I remember pullin' those outta there!