Chopping tops is always the big-ticket custom alteration. It makes a big statement and a big impact. However, it also makes for a whole range of headaches when it comes time for putting the whole thing back together and adding the finishing touches to the car.
You can step back from chopping a top and rightfully congratulate yourself on a job well done, but don't get too complacent-there's more to come. Much more. Just when you thought you were done, it's time for the window garnish moldings.
Starting at the front, with...
Starting at the front, with the original door molding in place, you can see just how much material has to go. Although it looks daunting, it's all really rather straight forward.
The first step was to separate...
The first step was to separate the top from the bottom. Jay marked the B-pillar portion of the trim using his eyeball to line up the cut with the top edge of the door. He couldn't use a ruler with any kind of accuracy as he was trying to draw a horizontal line across a multi-planed surface.
Once the marks were made,...
Once the marks were made, Jay started chopping. With the molding reinstalled, you can see the complicated "straight" edge at the rear. Jay made it easy on hiself and left a little extra on there so it could be trimmed to fit.
To fill the hole at the back...
To fill the hole at the back of the trim, he used a piece of discarded B-pillar as a filler. Rather than trim the filler piece to match the complicated shape of the hole, it was much easier to cut an oblong hole in the door trim to match the filler piece.
The filler piece was tack...
The filler piece was tack welded and ground smooth. Jay then cut out a small peice to fill the end.
The front was cut off right...
The front was cut off right where the door top ends and capped to make a nice clean break.
Jay then moved onto the roof...
Jay then moved onto the roof pieces. Thanks to the new laidback windshield, the curves of the roof and the door trim don't match so he had t use some muscle. You'd be surprised how much you can bend this piece to fit your needs.
When it went about as far...
When it went about as far as it was going to go, he marked the center of the bend for a small pie cut. The roof piece was tack welded to the roof to hold it in position so it didn't move out of shape while he welded up the pie cut and finished the rest of the molding.
Jay then turned his attention...
Jay then turned his attention to the back half of the new window opening. He started at the back by separating the top and bottom parts of the original so he could lay the lower piece in place and trim it to fit.
On this shoebox, the hardtop chop made for a simpler job of the garnish moldings. We ended up with only one opening on each side of the car, which simplifies things a bit. We're really only making one big window surround that has one section of it free to move with the top of the door. Another benefit was that because there were no longer any B-pillars, we had plenty of unused metal for which to make filler pieces. More often than not we found a piece that fit with little or no alteration.
The piece needed to be shortened...
The piece needed to be shortened about 10 inches as the roof had moved forward in relation to its original position.
As the forward end you can...
As the forward end you can see how the garnish molding relates to the body where the original B-pillar was removed. The top of the pillar will eventually get capped for strength, but jay was more interested in filling the big hole in the molding where the vertical pillar piece was cut off.
In another example of "waste...
In another example of "waste not want not," Jay simply took the piece he trimmed off the rear of the piece and, after a little more trimming and tweaking, he used it to fill a gap.
A little welding and grinding...
A little welding and grinding and the piece looks like it was born there.
Moving up the rear roof piece,...
Moving up the rear roof piece, Jay held the molding up and moved it around until he found a section that matched the curve of the roof the best.
He then cut it off at the...
He then cut it off at the back to meet the lower molding and drilled some new holes to mount it to the roof to hold it in place while he tacked it to the lower trim.
Once Jay had the lower and...
Once Jay had the lower and roof pieces in place, he had to complete the puzzle by filling the gap between the front and rear top pieces where the B-pillar had once been. He had to look no further than the trusty B-pillar discards. once it was trimmed to fit, it was tack welded in place, creating one long piece.
The temporary welds that were...
The temporary welds that were holding the front top piece to the roof were ground so the entire molding could be removed. The last job was the finesse where the top meets the bottom at the rear. A small extension was called for. Using some of the discarded material, a piece was cut and welded in place.
Here's the finished driver-side...
Here's the finished driver-side molding along with the stock passenger-side moldings.