Ford Shoebox - A Little Off the Top: Part One

A Portapower is wedged between the windshield posts of the loose roof, and it will be used to gently open things up a bit with the newly cut expansion slots.

Voila! This sucker looks better already. Now we can see the car's new lines slowly taking shape, but nothing lines up anymore. When the top is lowered down, it becomes narrower than the body, and the front posts no longer line up.

To fix the problem, Scott scribed two straight lines, approximately 4 inches long, running from the top corners of the windshield back. These will be used to stretch the roof out wide enough to line up the posts.

Take several measurements of the windshield opening from top to bottom, making sure the right, center, and left are all the same size. This is a critical stage because if one side is lower than the other, it will not only look bad, but the windshield will never fit right.

Pump the Portapower jack up just enough to make the pillars match up, then tack-weld everything into place. Only a few tack-welds are necessary, because things might need to be changed or shifted later on. Notice the gap in the top right corner of the windshield opening where the cut has been opened up. This will be smoothed and welded shut before the project is through.

Next, Scott tack-welds a few spots in back to make sure the roof stays lined up before making a few final cuts.

Finally, a 4-inch chunk of post is removed, marking the final "chop" in the process. Cut at the top of the masking line so the two pieces of pillar will line up without further trimming.

When we lowered the roof and took out several pieces from all corners, it effectively shortened the roof as well. With the windshield posts lined up and welded back together, the roof now sits slightly farther forward and the posts no longer line up.

Scott uses the cutoff wheel to make a pie-shaped cut about 3/4 of the way through the post base, going narrower as he cuts deeper. It can then be pushed in and tack-welded to line up with the newly relocated roof. This should be done a little at a time, removing material as you go until the perfect fit is achieved.

To remedy the situation, Scott marked off the top of the post as well as an extra 4 inches of material so it can be moved back. When masking and cutting this piece, remember to cut from the flat spot of the front window to the flat spot of the quarter-window, preserving the curved corners, which would be difficult to recreate if damaged.

Trim off the excess material on the back of the post, and it should slide back and line up with the car once more. However, even when it lines up vertically, the top is still narrower, so the post still affixed to the car will need to get sucked in. Note that the bottom half of the post is a finger-width wider than the newly relocated top half.

With everything lined up the post can now be tack-welded back in. The missing piece of window lip will be reconstructed later out of sheetmetal.

With the roof sliced up and firmly back in place, next month we'll tackle the back window and the finish-welding. Note how the corner of the quarter-window is no longer curved and the bottom edge is suffering from a serious gap.

Scott will illustrate how to reconstruct the curved quarter-window corners and fill the back edge, completing the lowbrow masterpiece.

Aready looking better, but we've still got some work to do!