1934 Ford Highboy Coupe - Dropping Your Cowl And Tweaking Your ’Rails, Part 2

The upper subrail template measures 15 inches in length and gradually widens from 2-1/4 inches to 3-1/2 inches from front to rear. It will be transferred to 1/8-inch mild steel plate for a solid base.

Using a MIG welder, Cornell then tacked the side plate to the upper subrail base.

The assembly was then removed and final welding of the side plate to the base was completed on the workbench creating a rock-solid one-piece unit.

A number of relief cuts were made to the bottom edge of the new cowl panel extension to allow it to follow the body side’s gentle curve. The cuts were then TIG-welded back together.

To perfect the lower cowl body reveal line once the two panels were welded together, a hammer and dolly were used along with a bench vise.

The cowl panel extension was then held in place to mark where the new subrail side plate would need to be trimmed to.

The outer rocker trimming was reconfirmed from its initial measurements 29 inches back from the front of the cowl. A square was used to keep all cut lines sharp.

Using 3/4-inch masking tape, the cut line was set (bottom edge) and trimmed with a plasma cutter.

An air-driven cutoff wheel was used to remove the remaining section of the rocker panel area.