I just added another 7 pics from last weekends work. We've got the filler strip in place, now all that's left is to tack in the door tops then finish welding everything together. At this rate we may have it done within a week. Woohoo!!
http://www.nucleus.com/~agingles/ALAN5E.HTM
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Boyd who?
1948 Chevy 1/2 ton (driver)
Some people march to a different drummer. I like to polka.

She looks FAT now, i like it, would chop mine but its already short
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she didnt accidentally get good in bed

Looking very good!! Thanks for the photo's. To bad you didn't have a parts truck sitting around. Could have cut the top on the parts truck, extending the cut line on the roof, and you wouldn't have to put in the filler. What color primer are you going to use?
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Lynn Stallbaumer

Thanks guys! I got some more done tonight, the tops of the doors are fit and tacked into place. It's starting to look like a truck again. *LOL* On SUnday I'll be starting the final welding, hopefully I'll have that done by the end of the week. I don't want to go too fast and warp things.
Lynn, I had another top to get the filler strip from. Unfortunately the top itself was pretty beat, otherwise I would have used the whole thing.
The truck will eventually be finished in DP-40 grey primer. I plan to re-do the dark grey flames on the hood after I get a new hood.
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Boyd who?
1948 Chevy 1/2 ton (driver)
Some people march to a different drummer. I like to polka.

The rain gutters and the trim around the door windows where the big problems that I had to solve.

Rain gutters weren't a problem, I just removed them. I'll be adding some molded ones that look like '34 Ford gutters once the top's completely welded up. The inside door window trim I haven't tackled yet. Hopefully it goes as well as the rest of the chop has.
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Boyd who?
1948 Chevy 1/2 ton (driver)
Some people march to a different drummer. I like to polka.

Been following along with your progress this past week. Awesome job! You guys are always amazing me with your talents. Looking forward to checking it out in person at the BTTF show. :)
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Your "top-less" cruzn buddy, Denise

http://www.geocities.com/lipstickrun/

I formed a round rail and welded it to the roof that may be something like you have in mind. It turned out to be more of a job than I thought it would be. Be sure you have your doors on your cab when you do this as the opening for the door does not fit the door as well as you would think. The stock rain gutter seems to mask this poor fit. These trucks are hideous as far as the doors, hood, and fender fit. I even added to the edges of my doors to make it look better and it is still is not as good a fit as I would like. My only good feeling about this is that most of the ones I look at do not fit any better than mine. The inside window trim is not as big a problem as the trim that went on the outside of door window opening. Your truck may not have this if you have the doors with the vent windows. My truck has the one piece glass.

We noticed the "fine factory fit" of the doors and other parts. Sure glad GM paid attention to such details. *LOL* We'll be doing a bit of fiddling to get everything as right as possible before doing the gutters. My plans are exactly what you described...round rods welded to the edge then molded in. I do have the outer door window trim as my truck is a '48. We pieced it together and it turned out pretty good. However, we haven't done the finish welding on it so it could still turn on me. :-)
I should have some more pics uploaded by Monday.
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Boyd who?
1948 Chevy 1/2 ton (driver)
Some people march to a different drummer. I like to polka.

I know this is going to sound a little agricultural but I did away with the outside trim. I used some black plastic edge trim that I bought from an auto trim shop. It is similar but different than door edge molding. It has nearly the same general shape as the original metal piece. I just heated it with a heat gun where it makes the corners and if conforms to the shape of the opening. I slash cut it at the center of the top and it is hard to notice where the two ends come together. Since my truck is now flat black and the trim is black, it is hardly noticeable anyway. Eventually I may do away with this piece altogether and fill this area and make it smooth and finished to the pinch weld at the opening. I saw a truck done this way and it looked good. My problem is that I do not have a tig welder and my wire welder and my skills could not weld the thin piece of the opening trim.

Agricultural?? Hell, that's just plain ol' shade tree hot rodding! I liked your idea so much I went and removed the trim from my truck. I will find some of the trim material to replace it with.
Thanks a million for the tip!!
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Boyd who?
1948 Chevy 1/2 ton (driver)
Some people march to a different drummer. I like to polka.