TECH: How to make a 4 door cool! OR...Shoebox Ford 2 Door Conversion!

Here's my '50 4 door.





I want a chopped 2dr. So, better get to work. Here's the main tools you will need to complete this task.





Step 1. Completely strip and blast the car and all necessary parts. Including a pair of 2 door front doors (swap meet find) and 2 door rear quarter panels I cut off of a parts car (don't worry, it was beyond worth fixing.)






Here's the 2 door front door on the car with the 4 door b-pillar still in place to show how much longer it is.




I left the donor car unbraced when I cut it apart so I could see what moved around. The roof skin was WAY floppier than I had thought it would be so I bent up some 90 degree pieces of 18ga and punched some 1/8 holes for Clecos.



I used the shrinker/stretcher to get them to match the contour of the roof and cleco'd them on.



I then braced up the inside, getting the tubing as close to the cut line in the door frame as possible.



To mark the cut line in the roof and donor quarter panel I made a simple sharpie holder out of scrap sheetmetal.





I made sure to have the cut line far enough up the roof that my body hammer would fit in.



I then picked a spot and marked out the front cut...don't forget to mark which side of the line to cut on!

 

i like where this is going cant wait for more pics

 

I'll second that. The clamps on top are a great idea.

 

When I get to the point of chopping it I'm gonna cut the rear window out and move it forward, so I made another sharpie holder, this time a little longer and marked the rear window cut so it would share the quarter panel cut line. However, since I'm posting these pics after doing some work, I think I'm gonna make the cut line straight across the roof, still not 100% sure though. I braced the rear window frame as well.




To mark the vertical cuts in the quarter panels and get them to line up, I made a wheel arch template of the 4 door body.




I then held it up to the 2 door quarter and marked on the template where the end of the panel was.




Then I put it back on the 4 door body and, sha-zam!, I know where to mark the cut. No trying to measure off of a round edge or anyting like that.



I then used a square to mark the vertical line keeping it nice and straight.



One of these flexible metal rulers kicks ass for marking on contoured surfaces.




The same line transferred to the 4 door body.

 

good stuff man........now get it finished!!

 

So you plan on eating the whole box of Twinkies with only one Dr Pepper ?!?!?!

 

liking this so far......

 

Next up I made another sharpie holder 1/2" longer than the first and marked a second line on the donor panel to make the donor panel 1/2" larger than the cut on the car.





I then trimmed the excess of the donor panel and punched some holes in the wheel lip so I could plug weld it back to the wheel tub in the 4 door body.





Then the always enjoyable first cut! I whacked the b-pillar out so I could see if the 2 door door was even gonna fit.



Luckily, everything lined up really nice.






The end of the rocker panel on the 2 door is 1 1/4" shorter than the door itself.



Flexible ruler coming in handy again, I butted it up to the end of the door and marked a line 1 1/4" ahead.



Then opened the door and carried the line all the way to the inside.

 

It was far from a whole box...my sister's boyfriend found them!

 

Fuck yeah!!! Looks like your off to a great start. I started doing this on a '50 once. I wanted to do this to my '56 but some people talked me out of it. After seeing this thread I still want to do this to my '56.

 

Now to get that ugly 4 door quarter off of there.

First thing, I cut the outer rocker loose.



I couldn't tell exactly where the end piece tied in and if it would hold the quarter on or not, so I cut that out next.




I then cut loose the welds holding the pillar to the wheel tub.



And the roof braces.




Rather than spend all day laying down and drilling spot welds on the wheel arch I ran the cut off wheel around it being very careful to only cut through the outer layer. Show ya how to get rid of the other piece in a bit.




I drilled a couple holes so I could get the jigsaw started. It worked well for 90% of the cutting and the sawz-all and cutoff wheel made quick work of the tricky parts. Friendly reminder, make sure you drill your starter hole on the piece that gets thrown out




At this point the quarter panel is ready to remove and you can stand back and ask yourself "what the hell have I gotten into?!?!"

 

Wow! Man, I love this stuff! Nice work, I can't wait to see more.

 

Here's the difference in the 4 door and 2 door quarter.




Here's the rotted out pencil that fell out when I pulled the quarter off.




To get rid of the remaining piece of the wheel tub I took a screwdriver and pried loose what I could to see where the spot welds were. Then I took the cut off wheel and ran it between the two to cut all the spot welds. A little touch up with the grinder and it's better than new.



I also trimmed the package tray brace now that it was a little more acceptable.



After that the quarter was ready to test fit. I had to trim this area of the brace out to get it to fit.



I sprayed some layout fluid around the opening so it would be easier to mark the final cut.



Then the quarter was ready for the first of many test fits.




The door gap is probably the most important thing so I got that lined up first.



Then the spot where the drip rail joins together.



Since the 2 door quarter is 1/2" larger than the cut in the car I was able to drill through both and cleco them together to keep everything in place.



Once you're satisfied that everything is lined up like you want it, scribe a line around the panel.



Then remove the quarter, trim to the scribe line, put the quarter back on and enjoy one helluva good fit....did I mention I want to TIG weld all this back together

 

Wow!! Check that fitment! Amazing work

 

Getting everything fitted up just right before welding is the most crucial part. I made a handful of these tabs to keep everything cleco'd in place like so..





A piece of TIG wire makes an easy contour gauge to see if anything needs bumped around before tack welding.







After getting everything just right I started to tack weld it together.




Here's the roof after tacking it together and some hammer / dolly work. Should take less than an inch of bondo hopefully






And here's how it currently sits, looking quite a bit more 2 door-ish if I do so say myself

 

Wow,thats one of the best 2 door conversion i've seen so far.Really nice work!

 

Nice man! Looks good! And in your own garage? Very nice.

 

Very well thought out and executed. You rock!

 

geeesh you make this look so freaking easy , great job ,and an informative build thread

 

dam you make that look easy

 

leave the passenger side with 2 doors , your work looks fantastic! very clean

 

Did I just see what I thought I saw? I gotta learn to do stuff half that cool.

 

where do the twinkies come in? use em as undercoating like noise insulation?

 

wow great work! and yea, you make it look easy!

 

Love the methods, photos, and commentary! Not enough sight gags. Anything with fire or stupid housecats will work.

 

It's SO nice to see the extra effort put forth for a quality job. It's show's in the panel fitment alone.
Very nice job!!

Tony

 

Great work there !! Gives me inspiration to try my own chop.

 

poor 4 door looks good mang

 

Nice work, What is the elapsed time frame?

 

Rad