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69 F(ed) body hack

so its a all new now? i can only guess the whole clip will be new metal as well. looks like a brand new car now. stuffs level looking lol
 


I kinda just put the tray where it wouldn't look whack for the pic, I'll be measuring tommorrow. But everything laid in place damn good so should be few problems. Pretty much the inner structure and rockers are all thats not new. It does look tight in all new skins. We are replacing one fender and fixing the other. Dude you would not believe that roof cost as much as a good W-body wheel bearing and it fits nice. What a trip. Parts are nothing really, and if they fit good the labors not too hardcore. Times are changing and I am duly impressed. These parts gotta be good sellers though, so they gotta fit somewhat.
 
I got the package tray screwed in place and didn't get a pic but you know what it looks like. Did get a peek pic of where I had to cut the right outer wheelhouse. Also spent time cleaning, and fixed the right trunk hinge support where it had been cut off and welded on twice... and spent most of the day squatting in the area shown. There will be a load of these type bs posts before I'm welding skins on. The "bs" TV, web articles, and mags don't show.





 
matt you need this many beers

cray.png


sooo how many more times will you test fit everything
 
About that many! Seriously, I could use a beer or two. Not like that though, yawn in technicolor! I hope to take this apart once only, for coatings, welding prep, and fixes on the structure here and there. The decklid, already on and off a dozen times but its on hinges now. That panel, I can mount by myself.

Today's arguably dramatic Camaro episode begins with 'junk in the trunk. Folded myself into the back of that thing again several times this rainy morning, with the ol' bum drillin hand aching up a storm. Heres what went down-

I fussed around re-leveling my measuring setup and the car's body. Measured twice and took a small breath of anticipation before dropping the filler panel in place. Erg, the car was maybe a half inch too wide. Thats when I grabbed all remaining available clamps and screws (also took a few out to allow quarter movement) and dove in.

A fair amount of force was required to bring the quarters in to meet the filler panel edges. In the end as you see, they drew up OK and are held by two screws each side, through the downward flanges at that joint. This joint is seperate and free from, from but adjacent to, the joint where the downward flanges of the package tray and hinge supports connect.

After all that, the window opening was true to within 1/8". Meaning the previous scenario still exists but the difference side vs side is only about 1/8" at the worst spot. Good. Now I took a deep breath of anticipation and we held the decklid up there...





I laughed heartily. It ain't so much the cars or the guys doing these things, its the dadgum parts. They all seem to have the same problems built in. Somewhere in time and space, a reference vehicle was off somewhat perhaps? I just had to laugh. Because I'm looking at something that is obviously a stumbling block about these cars. Every guy must run into this, the wide side gaps that is. I tried a junk OE lid too, same thing.

So I stared and pondered for a short time...



...then the answer suddenly became obvious and I had it going my way in minutes. After of course bringing boss and camera into play first...

CHOP CHOP!





Can you see where I chopped then overlapped the quarters at the tail panel flange and brought the corners inward? IMG_9998 illustrates it best in the poor lighting. Shhh- I / we just learned something handy here. The root of the problem is loose stamping at the rear edge of the quarters there. The flat eyebrow area was anywhere from 1/2" to 1-1/2" wide, see previous pics for reference.

I simply took the screws out of the jamb's back corner, chopped the eyebrows, drilled new screw holes in the qtr jamb, offset from the old, then used a pick tool to pry the quarters inward and re-screwed into the new position on each side. The right was farther off than the left, and the photos above have the lid flush left so all the gap is on the right.

Here is the new gaps from the top. This is probably close enough to work with on the sides and theres plenty of fine tuning left to do, but...





This pic shows a flaw in the new filler panel too.



This right front corner fits too tight.



This one's a tad loose-



I assure you it felt good to be that far along when 5 came. Not a bad day!
 
I wanted less gap all around that lid. And I wanted the grey stuff gone so I could see what I was doing. So-

Sanded off the grey stuff and fogged some trim black where it was bare, then...

Got out two small Mo-Clamps (body shop sheetmetal pull clamps, for gripping weld flanges in collision repair) and a friction jack (seen on floor in background), removed the right gutter again, and clamped each quarter. Right in the middle of the trunk opening, on the edge. I set up the friction jack to pull instead of push, and hooked it in the clamps. Took those screws in the jambs out again and used the jack to pull the quarters together.

THAT worked!











I like those gaps even better now. Got the gutter back in place and shuffled the filler panel a little until we were all happy with it.

Then I turned my attention to those eyebrow area cuts. I can tend to those more when the quarters are off again. End of the day both sides were smoothed out and got a shot of trim black for safekeeping. The decklid is pretty darn wavy. Not sure what tomorrow's episode will cover.
















 


i will tell you what tomorrow will bring!!


2 super models fighting over a wet sponge while trying to wash that dam car. then you get a $27 raise to what ever your getting paid now. because your not paid enough to do this anymore. and a few beers just to make the day go by faster
 
ericspecullaas said:
i will tell you what tomorrow will bring!!


2 super models fighting over a wet sponge while trying to wash that dam car. then you get a $27 raise to what ever your getting paid now. because your not paid enough to do this anymore. and a few beers just to make the day go by faster
Click to expand...

FWIW- and I thank ya... this is for you- a friend's garage sale find. He paid the cover price for a 60 year old skin mag. It has a Jane Mansfield page!

 


Oh its the parts. Maybe a little GM too but remember the roof braces were smushed on this one. The RH qtr stamping is much more approximate at the rear than the LH and its apparent firsthand. Like how at the trunk gap theres like a 1/4" radius on the bend whereas the left side is more crisp. But the left leaves something to be desired at the other end by the door, where the right is OK. Thats why theres bodymen, I reckon. It worked out OK. As I said before, this job is different because it came with new quarters off rather than on poorly like the '68. Its just all crap like GPs, generally speaking. But hey, looky-





The spoiler is just in the holes, not screwed down. But I fitted the left gutter and put a latch and striker and weatherstrip on it today.

Got a few pics of the gutter joints and such, too. I'm almost ready to unscrew it. And there may be a secret productivity weapon coming into play. More later-






 
The expanded productivity experiment failed. I was attempting to improvise a suitable resistance welder from the bits on hand. It was a no-go but worth a try because of how much labor it would save if it were viable with existing equipment. I sure gave it heck.

Here are some plugs for the pluggers. I took the package tray out and prepped then welded it into place. At least the front half, anyway. Next, I may weld the gutters in. If the quarters will slide in and out with those attached, it would help retain dimensions when both quarters are off.

If not that, for sure I'll tack a tab on the right outer wheelhouse I sliced so it holds still. Then off with the right quarter and patch that up, and fuss over the rest of the exposed structure before weld prep.




 


Heres that wheelhouse all welded up, smoothed on both sides, and fogged with black. I didn't have enough battery for flash inside the wheelwell, but I assure you there are no pinholes and nothing to grab a sidewall there. Feels smooth. Have not yet re-tried the quarter on. The wheelhouse lip may require additional light bending to fit closely.





Did some more sanding then rust converter application in the area shown-



This area is next up. Theres a rip in the metal where that clamp is.



There are a couple patches required down low in the B-pillar area-

 
If you like it so far, you will want to fondle this. Ew. Wait, its wet...

Today I added this tab where the rocker wasn't connected to the wheelhouse-



Did those two patches-









Decided I'm gonna need visual progress real soon since I've spent days behind this right quarter, so I sanded, cleaned, and applied epoxy to all thats covered by the new panel. Yeah I missed a spot or two at the front but I did brush under that new flange above the rocker. If the quarter still fits well enough (after some work where I split it and some weld prep), it won't have to come off again.





Its a good thing looks don't count behind the skin!
 
Test fitted the quarter with the modified outer wheelhouse and some beating was required but nothing major. So I marked weld holes, planned a bit, and decided to spend some time at the drill press, brake, shinky stretchy, and blast cabinet.

Made this-



...which doesn't look like much until its attached-



Then welded, lightly smoothed, and fogged with etch-



Got the next section made but thats it. I'll get the hang of it.



Then it was five-

 
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