How challenging to remove the drip rail

[hillcountryflt]

OK. I haven't even cut into my body to repair/replace rusty panels and I am think of nice mods.
Wife and I were watching overhaulin last night and they had a 67 Chevy Stepside (c10). One of the mods performed was one I liked, removing the drip rail around the doors. Looked like it would be one challenging project, but it sure cleaned up the lines.

[Mancar1]

OK. I haven't even cut into my body to repair/replace rusty panels and I am think of nice mods.
Wife and I were watching overhaulin last night and they had a 67 Chevy Stepside (c10). One of the mods performed was one I liked, removing the drip rail around the doors. Looked like it would be one challenging project, but it sure cleaned up the lines.

I watched that also. Removing it is the easy part. (I have done that on a vehicle.) Doing the body work is the time consuming challenging part.
It would look good. I would like it except for the trickle of water down my neck getting in and out in the rain.
Keep on Trucking.....John

[marvin2]

I think it completely depends on your level of fabrication skills. I like the end result, but it is not a project that I would be willing to take on.

BlueOvalDave did it in his build thread...check it out:
http://fordification.com/forum/viewtopi ... &start=135

Looks great

[Lowell]

Having had this done, I can warn you that the drip rail acts like a pinch weld in some places. If you aren't careful when you remove it you will get separation of the sheetmetal. After the fact, I discovered the guy who did mine just cut the whole thing off and then tack welded the roof back in place and gobbed filler in the rest of the gaps. When another body guy saw some rust spots developing, he took it back down to the metal and had to fabricate a strip to weld in to fill the gap. It was a time consuming process even for a professional. If you decide to do it, I would do it a section at a time to prevent separation or distortion of the cab roof meta. It does look nice however.

[jthulan]

Having had this done, I can warn you that the drip rail acts like a pinch weld in some places. If you aren't careful when you remove it you will get separation of the sheetmetal. After the fact, I discovered the guy who did mine just cut the whole thing off and then tack welded the roof back in place and gobbed filler in the rest of the gaps. When another body guy saw some rust spots developing, he took it back down to the metal and had to fabricate a strip to weld in to fill the gap. It was a time consuming process even for a professional. If you decide to do it, I would do it a section at a time to prevent separation or distortion of the cab roof meta. It does look nice however.

A little at a time is the way I plan on doing this modification. My intention is to cut into the drip rail about every three inches. Then I would cut off every other section. This would give me a three inch section to weld up while still having solid drip rails beside that section. After welding up every other section, then I could cut the rest of the drip rail areas off and then weld them up. This will be a long process and I can imagine very tedious, but I am hopeful for the end result.

[Mr-Dyslexic]

Depends on your experience level. How much fabricating have you done and have you screwed up enough to know what not to do and how to fix it if something goes wrong? Lol but if you choose to tackle the project do some research, come up with a plan, write it down in steps, make sure to take your time and go step by step. What ever you do make sure you don't warp the metal!

[hillcountryflt]

I watched some guys do it on TV - one of the velocity programs - and they did as jthulan suggested. Cut some (about 6 inches), tack it about 2 inches apart, and then weld it it up and work their way around the roof. It won't be happening on my truck - now if I had a shop and an old truck to practice on, yes, I would try it.