1960 roofchop

[NxV]

Hello. First post here on the forum!

I have a 1960 Stepside Special on my way home to sweden in a couple of months and I wonder if it is possible to chop the roof on these trucks?

I have nerver performed a chop before so consider me a rookie

I was thinking maeby a 2-3" chop?

[YOLO]

Yes. I have seen two other 63's with chop tops. One in AZ and the other is owned by a guy named Chris in Southern Ca. The one in AZ just got painted and is being put together now. Do a GOOGLE search for pictures. Sorry, I don't have any.

[jonzcustomshop]

I am working on one right now, and will do a build post in a couple of months. 2-3 is a good choice, any more and the windshield could get real tricky.

[NxV]

Originally Posted by jonzcustomshop

I am working on one right now, and will do a build post in a couple of months. 2-3 is a good choice, any more and the windshield could get real tricky.

But how do you solve the windshield at all? It swaps around the pillar, and any height chop will make the window not fit, or am I wrong..?

same with the doors, sience they slope forward, cutting them down would make the slope wrong, if you understand my sweinglish laungage.

[YOLO]

most roof chops on the 60-63 do not have door glass. 3 inches and the windshield will still fit. You just have to do it right.

[jonzcustomshop]

It gets real tricky...
the windshield gets cut across the top, down the sides, and a little on the bottom corners, 5 different places in all.
because of all the angles as the top comes down you have to widen the top. you can match up the front door posts, but then you are a 1/2 inch short on the rear door post.
since the rear roof pillar has 3 different angles in it you have to redo the sheet metal , and then you can move the door post around to make it so you can have working side windows.

I will post some shots of other chops that I have a little later.

[NxV]

Originally Posted by jonzcustomshop

It gets real tricky...
the windshield gets cut across the top, down the sides, and a little on the bottom corners, 5 different places in all.
because of all the angles as the top comes down you have to widen the top. you can match up the front door posts, but then you are a 1/2 inch short on the rear door post.
since the rear roof pillar has 3 different angles in it you have to redo the sheet metal , and then you can move the door post around to make it so you can have working side windows.

I will post some shots of other chops that I have a little later.

Greatly appreciated!

[jonzcustomshop]

Ok here is a start to the pics...
I have about 20+ shots of chopped 60-66's.
I will post up the pics, and then some comments on what I have figured out after I get the shots posted.
lemdrop63's truck: (he is on this board, but I don't know if he ever finished this truck, post/pics from a few years back)

[jonzcustomshop]

a truck that was posted on the h.a.m.b. :

[jonzcustomshop]

this is another guys from the board...

when he bought it ,it was chopped 3 inches, the back was just sunk into the cab.
we are not sure about the windshield, if they angled the posts, or didn't widen the opening, he is going to have trouble getting a windshield to fit...

[jonzcustomshop]

here are another couple:
the blue and white one...another board members,from a few years back but he hasn't posted any more shots of it.
this shows how the roof post angles all change when it gets lower.
he did not line up his windshield post, and front door post, and I think he will have a problem getting the windshield to fit.
It is crucial to cut the windshield opening, and the windshield at the same time, you dont want to have to undo alot of work because the windshield dosent fit.

The black one is a 64, but highlights a couple of problems:
when you are dealing with angles, and straight line movement, in this case vertical down, you will have different measurements.

Example: 3 inches down vertical, might be 3 inches at your driprail to lower window frame measurement, but 3 1/2 at the front post, and 3 1/4 at the rear due to the angle of the post.
this black one looks like it had a straight 3(?) inches cut out of the posts, hence the chop is crooked, more in the rear than the front.

Also look at the door frame, the rear edge of the door no longer lines up with the sculpt across the top. In order to keep them together like a factory truck, I ended up moving the rear half of my door frame forward, instead of cutting it into the post like this black one. that keeps my edge lined up, and as a bonus I wont have to cut down the side windows or frames... they just won't roll up as far.
I will have to modify the pillar on the cab under my cut line (move it forward),and the door edge will have to be modified slightly in the gas fillerneck area.
the tan one in the previous post with the sunken rear has a cut in the door similar to what I am going to do.

The pink one shortened the sculpt on the rear of the top to get the door edge to line up. Another 64, I think it is chopped 8 inches.

the orange one, I can't figure out, maybe they chopped it too far?, if you look closely you can see it has a 2 piece windshield, and I am not sure why they needed to do that.

[jonzcustomshop]

More of that blue/white one from the last post.
The orange one was on craigslist a few months back, no other info

[jonzcustomshop]

gant customs truck, I believe 3 inches..

[jonzcustomshop]

more shots:

[jonzcustomshop]

Here are some photo chops that I used to figure out my 3 inch chop.

I kept the winshield post even in all the shots, the front glass is the most important to get right.

You can see the spots where you will need to shorten, lengthen, or widen the roof.

The side shot I chopped down a bit farther to exaggerate where the rear post dosen't line up at the back window.

As I mentioned earlier, I am going to move the lower door window frame forward, and reshape the door edge.

The back edge of the roof post by the rear window just needs a little masaging , the window edges line up, and the post only needs a pie cut of about 1/4 inch.

I also suggest that If you can, get an extra roof to use the inner and outer skin off of it.

What I am going to do when I widen the roof, is cut the skins long on one roof , and short on the other.
That way I won't have a weld going through the center of the roof where there is a good chance of warpage.
It will be a bit more welding around the perimeter of the roof, but the metal there is more rigid, and an easier place to do your bodywork.

The headliner has some neat sculpted beads on it, and I did not want to try to do bodywork in the middle of that, so I will do it the same as the roof skin.

If you can't get an extra top, it only has to be widened about 3/4 of an inch for a 3 inch chop, which equates to a 3/8 inch gap on either side of the roof skin and metal headliner skin to fill.

[NxV]

ouch.. this is going to be a mouthfull

Thank you for all the pictures and info jonzcustomshop!
Alle these pics made me even more scared and more excited to get the grinder and go bananas on the truck

God knows if I ever would get the truck functional again if i start cutting! :/

[NxV]

BTW, is it possible to bag a sidestepper to get it as low as those fleetsides in those pictures?
With the frame laying on the ground..?

[jonzcustomshop]

yeah, that is what I thought when I cut the top off
I think the only thing that would hold a step back is the rear fenders, you probably would have to set a fender on the ground, and then see what size tire would fit under it.
the suspension is the same as the fleetside, so that no problem.

[283 Man]

cool trucks you have pictured Jon

[MEANlowGREEN]

Originally Posted by jonzcustomshop

gant customs truck, I believe 3 inches..

You can learn a lot more about this truck, owned by Chris Couto at his website,

www.my63chevy.net

Chris' truck has to be one of the top three 60-66 Chevy's in the nation, and has more, tastefully done mods than any other I've seen.