 Part Three: Fit It! With...  Part Three: Fit It!
With everything cut, John set the roof back on the truck to check fitment and see where things needed to be adjusted so everything would line up. This picture shows how far off the windshield post actually is. It needs to come back and down to meet the new lower roof. The roof section was again removed and set aside. |  1. The angle on the windshield...  1. The angle on the windshield posts was changed by cutting out a wedge-shape piece at the top of the cowl just above the hinges. |  2. After pushing the windshield...  2. After pushing the windshield posts back, the roof was reinstalled to check for alignment of cab extensions and windshield posts. The misalignment of the cab extensions was taken care of by removing the roof and spreading them apart at the relief cuts made earlier (inset). The roof was reinstalled to check our progress. This was done many times as each cut was made. |
 |  3. Once John was happy with...  3. Once John was happy with the fitment, he proceeded to tack the roof in place. John set his Millermatic 251 Digital welder to 16.3V on the heat and 35 percent for the wire speed, and he used a 0.023 wire. |  4. Relief cuts were made at...  4. Relief cuts were made at the bottom front corner of the door tops, where the side mirrors bolt up, to bring them down to match the windshield angle. |
 |  5. The door tops were trimmed...  5. The door tops were trimmed and tacked at their new lower height. Because the top was already in place, finding out how much to trim off of these parts was as simple as holding it up there and marking it. |  6. A hammer and a piece of...  6. A hammer and a piece of wood make a perfect adjusting tool to get things lining up. The wood spreads out the energy of the hammer blows to move the metal without leaving little dents from the hammer. |
 Part Four: Finish It! Things...  Part Four: Finish It!
Things are starting to come together, and the truck is looking like a truck again. The back edge of the door at the top had too tight of a gap, so John, being a perfectionist, ground the door to produce the best gap and then went back and welded the edge of the door back together. |  1. To align the rear window...  1. To align the rear window in its new lower location, they held up the piece removed earlier in the story and marked around it. Now it's just a matter of cutting along the line with a cut-off wheel (inset). |  |
 2. With everything cut, the...  2. With everything cut, the window opening was dry-fit. As you can see, there will be a lot of welding to do here, but luckily it's on a corner so there is less chance you will warp the metal. When John was happy with the fit, he stitch-welded the frame in place. |  3a. The same basic thing was...  3a. The same basic thing was done to the front windshield area. The extra material that overhung the window was removed, and the roof skin was stitch-welded back together (3a & 3b). | 
3b. |
 4a. Before moving any further...  4a. Before moving any further along in the job, John dry-fit all of the glass to make sure everything was copacetic. Because John took the time to measure twice and cut once, all of the glass fit like it was supposed to. The side window channel rubber needed to be trimmed at the bottom, so it wouldn't limit how far the window rolled down (4a & 4b). | 
4b. |  |
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The Final Word
Check it out, a chop-top 'Dime with no custom glass! Before you grab a saw and start cutting your ride, know this: John is a pro and has done this for years, so he makes it look easy. Doing the job with little or no skill could turn ugly. Make sure your math and problem-solving skills are up to par, because you're going to need them. Obviously, if you don't want to do this yourself, you can have the crew at Clean Cut Creations do it for you.