Rear Quarter chops.

[Punderhead]

Hi all.

Am looking at doing a rear quarter chop and fabbing up a rear bar for my GQ.

Firstly, are there 2 skins that I need to cut through? also do I need to seal the gap somehow? what have people done about this?

Can people who have done this before please post up some pics?

Also, I have noticed that the black plastic side bumper thingys bolt on independantly of the alloy step. has anyone made some bar work that bolts on in place of these, leaving the alloy step in place and reducing weight?

Any help and input much appreciated. And pictures. Definitely pictures. And if you have them, pictures would be great.

Cheers!

[Bigrig]

Do a search for Mudrhino's quarter chop link mate - its on here and on the net also ... haven't read it but apparently a pretty good guide.

I used the mounts in a similar fashion but replaced the alloy step with checker plate ...

[bazzad]

I did a rear chop to one of my sons GQ's a few years ago. Will try and fine some photos for you. Yes there are only 2 skins but there is also a support brace in there for the roof. Your best bet is use one of those rip saw things you can get, we used a grinder and it created alot of isues with sparks and grinding dust. We plated the top back corner with 2mm plate and hammered the window seam down flat and welded it. Put a 50x50x3 mm angle iron brace across behind the seat to use as the front corner of the welback section and plated that with a 3mm sheet. Be aware that all the pieces that you reuse don't fit correctly as they are different lengths and profiles so you will have to do some adjusting as you go. When you cut the roof leave it a fair bit longer so you can put the seam at the back corner. We didn't do this and it took a bit of mucking around welding across the roof.
Just something to think about but we both reckon if we did it again it would be a complete chop from the back seat and then build a tray for it.
The chopping photos are on a dead computer in the cupboard but here is the best rear shot i could find for you.
cheers
bazzad

[TimE]

Do a search for Mudrhino's quarter chop link mate - its on here and on the net also ... haven't read it but apparently a pretty good guide.

I used the mounts in a similar fashion but replaced the alloy step with checker plate ...

Here you go for a link

[Punderhead]

Thanks for that TimE and Bigrig. Is a good guide.

oh well guess that means I have to stop being lazy and go do some work far a change.

Cheers!

[moose maverick]

Hardest part is getting up the courage to make the first cut. I took out the rear lights to make sure all the wiring was out of the way first then marked with masking tape where I was gunna cut. When you look inside the panel you will see that the rear quarters are like a pocket and you need to cut the whole lot out. The inside section closest to the chassis was a bit painful to do but ok. Then I used a bit of 1mm steel sheet and marked it with a texta to the shape of the hole you create and welded it in on both sides. From memory on the rhs there is the wiring loom coming through for the rear lights and wiper etc in the rear door. I cut a hole out of the new panel to allow that to come through then proceeded to water proof it. I replaced my 91 model rear lights ( brake and reverse in one and indicators in the bottom bumperettes) with some rear lights from an 88 model which ran brake/reverse/ indicators up top which allowed me to get rid of the bumperettes entirely. Take your time with it and seal everything with silicon as a precaution to prevent water entry. It looks god and is functional coz if my rear quarters were still there they would be smashed up by now

[BigMav]

Here's a couple of mine mate. Done a little differently to most, the inner skin was cut and the outer was carefully folded back so as to give a little bit of a rounded apearance instead of a sharp edge. Here's some pics.

[Richo460]

Geez i wish my GQ was that tidy. My rear quarter chop looks pretty nasty, but i'm not to blame for that.
I am fabbing a rear bar and should have it done tomorrow so i will post pics.