Now that the top is welded in place from the B pillar back, it's time to work on the windshield posts. The front part of the roof will have to slide forward about an inch. I pulled a string tight to get a straight line to cut through the front doors.

I picked a spot as close as possible to the highest point of the curvature of the front doors. I also made sure it would be a good spot on the inside of the car as well.

To get everything lined up evenly, I measured from the front of the roof opening to the string on both sides.

Right before I cut the roof loose, I clamped a piece of half inch conduit to the rear part of the roof to support the front half so it doesn't fall in the floor when it's cut loose.

Slicing through the doors was quick and easy, and the whole front came off. This shot reminds me of my favorite custom car by George Barris, Aztec. Actually, that car is one of the first customs I can remember seeing in a car magazine, and it's the one that really sparked my interest in custom cars.

This is the only good picture I could find that shows the cut away roof on the Aztec. I think it has been restored recently. I've always loved this car.

Here's the front section off the car. The windshield posts get wider from bottom to top. Lowering this section down makes it stick out from the sides of the car slightly. It will have to be split in half to make it 3/16" narrower.

Since it's curved, I used the string again to get a straight line to cut.

Then I spaced tape evenly on each side of the string. The gap in between is the width of 3 saw blades.

Split down the middle and 3/16" grinded away from the overall width.

I tried to get the cuts as straight as possible so it would go together easily.

Here's a test fit back on the car with a couple tack welds and lots of clamps. It was much harder than I thought to line up these 2 pieces because I had to rely on clamps to suspend it from the windshield posts in the right spot.

Here's the gap created by sliding the front part forward. I'll have to cut filler pieces to smooth this out.