here are some pics of the rollcage, I got the cage painted today, I went with silver.
so maybe later today I will be able to get the back of the cab back on for the final time
then the front top section of the cab, then I need to cut some of the back of the cab to fit and weld the rear bars, then finish putting on the back,top of the cab and finish the chop top Ron....

Ron,
Since you had to add the extra 3" in the roof line to get the windshield lined back up, will you have to do any changes to the doors to get them to line back up?

Your work is incredible and is giving me a lot of motivation to get moving on my 48 Panel. I would love to do a chop on it, but I think it is way to ambitious for me at this point. But if you have a few days of spare time and want to come spend some time in the midwest let me know I will be happy to let you work your magic on the panel.

Thanks for the details, photos and discussion it is always good to see someone making progress.

Brian

thanks Brian, I thought about making the door 3" longer but decieded to add 3" to the cab just behind the door area from the botton to the top and move the back of the cab back the 3" there.
with the chop the cab needed to be split and a filler piece made to fill that area, after the top was set back on we found that we need to make a 1 3/4" filler piece, but when you add in the 3" that i moved the cab back the filler piece needs to be 4 3/4"
I will make the filler piece 2" wider than the opening and overlap it across the roof. that way I can weld it inside and outside Ron...

here are a few more pics from today, I am letting the paint dry on the rear bars, i have the back of the cab welded back on and the front top fitted, and the rear top section has been fitted and cut out for the rear bars, also the rear bars are finally welded in Ron..

where I added to the cab:


rear bars welded in and painted:

Hi Ron,
Once again I am simply amazed at your craftsmanship and would like to thank you for allowing us to watch the progress. How will you finish the cab where the rear bars come out? Also in one of the pictures I see your brother's sedan, if I remember correctly you are going to paint that for him, what color?
Hughey

here are the latest pics of the race truck.
I finished the welds on the chop top and got the first layer of fiberglass on it, I used Tiger hair fiberglass,it has long strands of fibers to it.
I like to use that on all the welded areas first and then finish it up with regular bondo type filler. Ron...

here is the welded in back window


here is the front seam that I welded up so i can smooth it out










it wont take to much to leval it out

lookin good ron ! are the rear down tubes of the cage welded to the rear cab tin ? what are your plans for the firewall ?

One thing I've never seen done real nice is a fire wall that follows the shape of the engine and still allows service. If you got a 4" thick piece of foam, Installed the drivetrain, then shaped the foam to tuck around the back of the motor and trans with an inch clearance, then pull the valve covers, Dist. etc. to make sure service was good. Replicate the final shape in metal and it would be beautiful! Just a wild thought, but you have the skills to pull it off.

Ron, Yes, you've been doing this for years and years, have huge amounts of practical experience and it is still INCREDIBLY AMAZING the speed at which you work!
I was looking at the filler pieces for the top. It looks like they are lapped rather than being edge or butt welded. (No doubt, much easier than needing to worry about arrow straight cuts.) But have you joggled or offset the edge to bring them close back up to flush or just relying on filler?
Mike Bynum

Yeah Mike I just overlapped the filler piece and hammer and dollied it so it was pretty close and then glass it up . I thought about making a step on the filler piece but that tool is at my sons house and I didn't want to wait to get it back here.. Ron...

here are some more pics of the progress.
I trimmed and fitted the dash in place and got it welded up and glassed in. Ron.....

ron, i like the way you tucked the tubes close to the a pillar ! since the cage has been painted, will the interior tin be the same color ?

right now I plan on doing the interior black tweed and thought that the cage would look good in silver so that it stands out Ron...

Roll that thing out in the driveway so we can get a good look.

I am curious to see how natural the stretch looks.

me too