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.
Proceeding slowly along the...
Proceeding slowly along the rear corner of the cab above the window we cut, ground, welded, and then used the grinder some more.
Things are beginning to shape...
Things are beginning to shape up, but at this point we were still fighting the rust problem.
Another problem reared its...
Another problem reared its ugly head when we started welding up the corner. There was a lot of surface rust on the underside of the roof and post (pillar) panels. These were not accessible for cleaning. Using plenty of patience we were able to get it welded up. It looks ugly but it was fully welded and was going to be ground down anyway.
With the corners semi-completed...
With the corners semi-completed we moved on to the rear center section of the cab. Notice these are a series of small tack welds that do not produce a large heat zone, important to prevent warping.
After the smaller tack welds...
After the smaller tack welds cooled, we were able to add more (larger) welds to the area.
The rear of the cab of is...
The rear of the cab of is starting to take shape after numerous visits to this area with the MIG welder and the body grinder.
Here is how the area appeared...
Here is how the area appeared after we ground off the welds shown in caption11, and started to spot weld up the holes that surfaced.
The left rear corner was not...
The left rear corner was not nearly as out of shape as the right corner, but still needed a little persuasion to make the panels line up. The rust issues made the whole process much slower than expected. Repeated grinding and filling in holes was necessary.
After the area was cut and...
After the area was cut and aligned as shown in caption 13, while carefully watching the heat, we tack welded the area closed.
It was necessary to make certain...
It was necessary to make certain there were no holes left. A scratch awl was a good tool to determine if the weld was good. We added a few more tack welds to close any remaining holes in this area.
From this small vestige of...
From this small vestige of a driprail left intact, we created a radius transition. The old lead filler needed to be removed which we accomplished by grinding it out. Afterwards the area was filled back in and body-finished.