In last month's issue of CCT we followed along as Carmen made a one-man show out of chopping the top on his Big-Window '57 Chevrolet pickup. The key to Carmen's success was researching what he wanted to do, and then not getting in a hurry when it was time for the axe to fall. In this month's edition we're tagging along with Carmen as he shaves the driprails off, and gets the '57 just one more step closer to being the truck of his dreams. That said, there were a few nightmares along the way that Carmen uncovered, but his tried-and-true method of moving slow, and taking it all in before he made the next move paid off. So, before you guys jump out into the garage and tear into shaving your cab's driprails, take a deep breath, and don't whack too far with the first cuts, and don't get carried away with the MIG welder and warp the living snot out of things.
Using a 4-inch angle grinder...
Using a 4-inch angle grinder with a cutoff wheel we proceeded to carefully cut off the rails a small section at a time.
The rails were then tack welded...
The rails were then tack welded along the way to hold the roof panel in place for fear that it might pop out if we went too far. We left a small lip around the door opening to be a vestige of a driprail.
Since the stock driprails...
Since the stock driprails were not in the best of shape, showing some rust and other damage, we thought it would be better to shave than repair them, plus it would look way cool.
We ran into a few surprises...
We ran into a few surprises such as this corner. The roof panel does not exactly match the contour of the post below the driprail.
To make a smooth transition...
To make a smooth transition we needed to pie cut the roof panel and shape it with a body hammer.