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1967 ss/rs resto/mod
I've owned this car since 2004 and re-assembled it from a basket case to drive "while I was restoring it". It never got past the driver stage until 2 years ago. I, FINALLY, got a 1 piece trunk pan, trunk drops, extension panel, right full quarter and left skin for it. I was just going to do the back half and drive it again.... uh, huh.
https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill The car came from the SF Bay area and was, generally, in good condition, but the salty air caused the typical rust thru at the rear window and the center section of the trunk pan rusted...badly. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill I was going to just replace the center pan, but the car was hit on the right rear corner way in the past and the quarter was sectioned on over remnants of the original panel. The tail panel was sectioned in the center of the left tail light opening and the trunk floor/extension was still crumpled and not pulled out properly. This led to the decision to replace the entire trunk floor and "do it right". The frame rails and left trunk drop are in very nice condition, so I preserved and left them. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill The inner wheel houses needed repair on both sides for rust at the floor weld flanges. I had to replace much of the left, while the right only needed sections welded in at the flange location. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill After fitting the floor and left inner house, with gauges, to be certain it was centered and square, I cleaned and sprayed galvanizing preservative in the frame rails. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill The rails were still galvanized but I had welded up extra holes from previous exhaust mods and drowned the rusty steel shackle mounts in Eastwood converter. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill Once all the pieces were ready, the weld flanges got coated with copper weld thru primer and installed. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill The floor killed my back and knees from leaning in the trunk. The wheel house required curling up in a fetal position inside the trunk. Good thing I'm not all that big. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill |
Wonderful work
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Nice work on the floors and the welding. Do you have plans to Day 2 this car?
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I'm in our local Camaro and Chevelle Clubs and it was getting into March of 2019 and the Chevelle Club was looking for a "tech session" project to work on. I have held a number of these for both the Chevelle and Camaro Clubs during the long winter months over the past 12 years.
I had a complete front disc upgrade and Global West upper control arms sitting on a shelf for several years, so I said we could throw all that on for the club to have a meeting and get together. https://hosting.photobucket.com/albu...unds&crop=fill I have hosted a few of these complete front end make-overs in the past and with 6 people working on it, we have done these kind of swaps in one Saturday. I got the car turned around in the shop to face forward and removed the front wheels in preparation for the event. I was looking at the dirty, surface rusted sub frame and thought I can't just throw all these new, clean parts on it like that. Well, most of you know how steep the project creep slope is and I started removing other parts for access to the subframe to clean and paint. This is where I stopped...:rolleyes2: https://hosting.photobucket.com/albu...unds&crop=fill I figured we could do a quick clean and spray of the frame and get all the parts on and I could finish it up the next day. Uh, huh. I, also, had a fresh rebuilt 350, that another member of the Chevelle Club had built for me and had just installed. The original 350 was long gone, as was the original powerglide. After we had a meeting and pizza, the guys removed all the suspension and were encouraging me to remove what little was left and get the subframe powder coated. So, what the heck, lets do it. https://hosting.photobucket.com/albu...unds&crop=fill The entire front sheet metal went out for chemical stripping. https://hosting.photobucket.com/albu...unds&crop=fill https://hosting.photobucket.com/albu...unds&crop=fill Sub frame, inner wheel houses, core support and all small under hood pieces went out for powder coating. https://hosting.photobucket.com/albu...unds&crop=fill And the firewall was stripped and rust found in the lower cowls. That turned into the usual repairs but I tried a product, new to me, that was supposed to be the greatest at stopping and sealing any future rust. More on that time consuming fail later. https://hosting.photobucket.com/albu...unds&crop=fill https://hosting.photobucket.com/albu...unds&crop=fill |
I found some rust in the lower right cowl and repaired that.
https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill As I was cleaning out the firewall to upper cowl seam, I found an area with no spot welds so put a few small tacks in the seam to get covered with sealer. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill |
The left side turned into a much larger issue, from a seemingly, small area.
https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill I cut out the side panel and when I saw how rusty the whole bottom 8" was, I cut off the front panel too and eventually the rest of the side panel and drilled out all the spot welds. I wire wheeled and sanded all the rust that I could reach and then treated it with a rust encapsulator. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill In the process of all this removal, I discovered a misplaced panel and the spot welds to the firewall weren't holding anything. The panel had been allowed to be too far forward and was spot welded in place to the body mount supports. I drilled out those welds, pulled the panel tight with drill screws, clamped the support brackets together and welded it all up. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill Then it could move on with the "tulip" panel as some call it. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill |
Looks like you are moving right along.
Nice pics of the progress. |
After I got all the rust repair done, I reinforced the throttle pedal area with a heavy plate. It was already cracked and I was adding a Lokar Midnight series pedal and cable and I learned, the hard way, that the pedal stresses the metal and cracks the thin sheet. I added the same pedal to my '66 Chevelle a couple years before and had to add the plate after the fact.
https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill Then I stripped the firewall bare and seam sealed it. Then I applied the Mastercoat rust encapsulator and let it dry for 2 days. It was still soft after 48 hours and was supposed to be dry in 24. I thought it would cure with their paint on it, so went ahead and shot that on. 5 days later, I scrapped and sanded the gummy crap off and started over, cleaning the metal until it was sanitized and tried the encapsulator again. It never did dry, so I got that off a second time and ordered my usual SPI epoxy urethane primer and shot it with that. All in all, I sanded that firewall 5 TIMES before I got a product that worked. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill Finally !! Ready to assemble. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill I went to put the e brake pedal assembly back in and couldn't like this... https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill Gave it crushed glass bath in the blast cabinet and then painted it with the SPI, along with a "few" other things my perfectionism got the best of me on. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill I installed the subframe and suspension/steering systems in preparation for the new engine and transmission. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill I upgraded to power disc brakes, Global West upper control arms and a Hotchkis 1 1/4" sway bar. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill The car was built with a pg trans and I don't really care for automatics in muscle cars. I had a Muncie sitting on a shelf for about 8 years and "thought" it was an M20. I needed to replace the main case and rebuild it, so I got it down and it is an M21. I had bought all new Italian gears for it many years ago, and obviously forgot which trans it was. I still needed to buy the complete bearing kit and assemble it. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill I had bought a, rather hard to find, Hurst conversion shifter for '67-68 Camaro's with console a LONG time ago, anticipating this swap. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill |
Looks like a nice project and certainly excellent progress. It's great you had been stockpiling parts for many years which certainly helps with the cash flow.
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Awesome work & coverage Mitch. :)
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About the time I had the engine/trans in, we found a different home and placed an offer that was accepted with a closing date only 30 DAYS away !! That put the HURRY on the rest of the front clip. After the chemical stripping, the metal was too smooth for the SPI to hold. Barry recommends 80 grit sand on bare metal for "tooth". I wasn't going to hand sand everything, so I took it to a local blaster and stressed that all it needed was a light texturing. He was a little perplexed, as it was all bare steel, but understood what I wanted and kept the nozzle back quite a ways and it came out nice.
I knew the left fender had more than it's fair share of bondo in it but I didn't expect what I found when it came back from chemical stripping. That poor fender was a crinkled mess. The leading edge was crushed and folded and had been shaped out of filler. I don't have much in the way of metal shaping skills to save the fender, but I tried and it had to go back on the car, so it did get epoxy primer and jamming of the original Granada Gold. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill Shortly before we signed a contract on the other house I had been in negotiations with Camaro Specialties near Buffalo NY for an NOS left rs fender. I did a 38 hour run out there just before we moved and brought it back. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill I threw the rear axle back under the car and a patch panel in the left rear foot well and then the car was ready to be moved. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill And that is where it stayed until last weekend. I had no heat in my new, to me, pole building and spent all summer, and a good chunk of change, insulating, stepping the trusses for an overhead door, ceiling panels and heat. I now have a very comfortable shop to work in again this winter. Seems the only pic I have showing most of the shop is with my '66 Chevelle. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill I backed the Camaro in and marked where I wanted to cut the quarter off for a new skin and outer wheel house sections. The 2 rust holes weren't that bad and I could have used patches, but the entire length of the panel has filler from an old crease. NOT going to fight with that. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill So off it came... https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill |
I drilled all the spot welds out at the tail panel, trunk drop and outer wheel house.
https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill I cut off the wheel house from the drop down. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill The bottom weld flange of the quarter panel was buried in sealer, so I scrapped that out and discovered the diagonal brace in that area was spot welded on top of the quarter. I removed the brace for access to the flange welds and drilled them out. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill Then I cut out the forward section of the wheel house lip that was rusted and dented. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill Did a bunch of cleaning and de-burring and set the new skin on for a test fit. It, actually, looks like it's going to be very close. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill Marked the area of the outer house to cut out the sections I need. https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...unds&crop=fill https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...unds&crop=fill And that is where I am at today. Next work session is getting the sections cut out and start cutting the skin to fit. |
Great work, thanks for sharing.
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Looking good!
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Quote:
Thanks, I've got about 10 hours into trimming and fitting the skin and just can't get it where I want it. It keeps rocking on what is left of the original wheel house. I wanted to retain that to locate the new skin, but the wheel opening on the skin seems a bit too high to get the body lines to line up. Guess I'll cut off the center section, align the skin and use the complete repro outer house after all. At least 3 hours of that has been spent on re-locating the weld flange at the rocker up 1/4" a little at a time with the dolly. I, finally, have the center of door body line down low enough to be right on. |
All right, I was thinking I would need to cut off the rest of the outer house to get the new panel up 1/8", but figured I may as well beat on it first, to see if the skin would go up further and it DID !! I think it was pushed down slightly from the crease down the whole length of the original panel.
Finally, all the body lines are in alignment. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill This bottom weld flange was a PITA. I had to keep moving it up with the hammer and dolly, but I got it. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill The trunk drop even lines up now. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill The new panel is inside the original, to retain the original body lines. It goes all the way to the top ridge. There is no seam visible in the trunk, unless you lay your head on the pan and look up. That, too, will get a thin swipe of seam sealer, to protect from moisture getting under it, but will help disguise it too. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill The leading edge fits between the door jamb structure and the original q-p. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill With the panel fitted, it was time to clean up the rust and be ready for the converter/encapsulator and then undercoating. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill As long as I was already making a mess, I ground down the welds on the inner repair too. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill |
Looks great, nice work fitting the new panel. Are you lapping or butting the upper seam?
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Top and front will be lapped, new skin behind to minimize filler to blend.
Right side gets a full quarter. That will be interesting to remove and see what is left of the original under it. |
Prepping before quarter install. I cleaned up the loose rust and then shot it all with rust converter and then undercoating. First pic is supposed to show the rust, but not enough light.
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Still getting ready to install q-p. Today was clean up, weld holes shut and install the original trunk drop.
wire wheeled the rust on the inside for undercoating. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill I cut thru this with the plasma while removing the tail panel. Also looks like the factory had the spot welder in the wrong place the first try. 5 dents and heated spots in line with the cut. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill Used my copper backing plate on the cut. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill Went all the way around, welding spot drill depressions/holes for a solid surface for reuse. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill found the date stamp December 1966. Car was built second week of Feb. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill All welds knocked down. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill Shot it with undercoating before lunch. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill That was dry when I came back, so welded it on. I knocked down the welds on it and the pan to frame rails, so I wasn't throwing grindings in the drop later. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill |
Talked with Restoration Specialists this morning and I'm going to pick up the Camaro and Chevelle hoods Wednesday. Looking forward to getting them back and to my PDR guy for dent removal.
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Nice progress. What do you do with the lapped seam to finish it out? I have only butted panels together...but nothing quite that long....
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The GOAL with the overlap is to blend it with a SKIM coat of filler. We shall see how well that turns out. I attempted to butt weld a skin on my '66 Chevelle a few years ago and between the mis-match of shape, heat expansion, weld shrink, etc., it didn't go well. Then I tried flanging the seam and that distorted the curvature of the panel. With this method I have had decent success with controlling all that to a minimum.
The plan is to spot weld the trunk drop and then fit the outer wheel house patches and weld/spot weld them in. The right side gets a full quarter, so should be a lot easier. :dunno: |
I ordered new battery cables, a positive terminal and pan clips from Summit a while back. The cables are being made and shipped directly from AAW. I got the other parts and my new, favorite, T-shirt last week...:wink:
https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill I did get the quarter further along. I finished welding the overlap seam and the flange at the rocker. I forgot to punch holes in that flange, so had to edge weld it. Very tight getting the mig gun in the quarter. I was looking down thru the glass channel at the top to aim the gun and then pulling the trigger, while looking away. Not pretty, but it won't fall off either. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill Then I set up the spot welder to do the trunk drop. IF I can get everything set up just right for this to work, it does a really nice job, but it's finicky and HEAVY to hold in position. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill Then I changed out the tongs to do internal welding for the wheel house. I got a few done nicely, but I didn't get everything as clean as it liked and gave up after a while of trying to please it. I couldn't get the tension right to compress the panels tight enough for it to fire. I will get back to this soon. I got side tracked with clearing out my late mother's apartment and putting up new LED lights in the shop so I can actually SEE what I'm doing on the car. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill |
I've had several distractions and work lately, but got back on the Camaro today. I cut out the wheel house patches I needed from the repro house I had. Got them prepped and welded in. Got the spot welder working right again and used that for the wheel opening all the way around. That will save from needing to dress weld grinding. A little touch up with some 80 grit to smooth them out a little and ready for epoxy.
https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill Took a fair amount of hammer shaping to get the repro to fit snug against the original, but it's good enough for a skim of sealer to hide the seam. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill |
Starting on the right side. This has a skin brazed on from crash damage a LONG time ago. I've known there was filler on this side, but wow, I don't know why it needed to be 3/16ths to a quarter inch deep to blend this panel. The miss-match at the top of the door has always been a question too and I can now see the new skin follows the door quite well, but the top of the B pillar is offset. I have a complete quarter for this side, so I'll end up moving the inner structure out to match up the body lines. Lots of work ahead to get this off to evaluate what else it needs.
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Got an NOS shifter plate today, thank you very much Dan !!
It has a few light scratches, but they just blend with the rest of the aged console top. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill The shifter doesn't seem to be the correct body. The stick is almost touching the side in 3rd/4th. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill |
Late Christmas ? Early birthday ?
FedEx dropped this on my front porch this morning. This is sold as a conversion, but it has everything I need to replace the original parts that are worn out, missing and damaged. Wish it was summer. I would get the NOS fender in epoxy and jammed with Granada Gold to install with all this. 16 years, this car has been waiting for a working rs headlight system. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill |
Finally got back on the Camaro. I cut off most of the right quarter panel.
https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill Back side with the original piece they left on. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill And even THAT had holes and filler from a scrape. The owner(s) of this car must have been terrible drivers. EVERY corner and side has old crash damage...:rolleyes2: https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill This piece was fully brazed on and was an original GM part. Must have been when the car was fairly young. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill They left the lip of the wheel house on and put the new one over it. How much more time would it have taken to do this right ?? https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill |
Nice work, are you leaving the door jamb area or replacing that too?
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The whole quarter will come off.
Not certain how far I will go back into the jam. That depends on where the previous section is brazed on. Ideally, I'd like to NOT have to drill out all the spot welds holding the q-p to the inner structure of the jam, but it will be what it is when I get there. I need to determine why this mis-match exists too. May need to pull the jam pillar out. https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...unds&crop=fill |
Thanks for sharing all this,incredible attention to Detail.
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Update has been a long time coming, but I changed channels along the way.
The AMD quarter did not fit near as well as I was led to believe and I went looking for an NOS. TravlnZ28 came to the rescue with a nice one and I drove to his place in TN to bring it home without the shipping gorillas getting a chance to destroy it. Here is a pic of the door gap with the AMD. It is way too wide and the lazy curved edge didn't help either. The seam at the extension panel was the same, wide, lazy bend and the lip at the trunk lid would require cutting, repositioning and welding to look right. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill The NOS door gap, WAAAAAY better and once I lift the door at the front, it will be even top to bottom...:grin: https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill Pic of the seam at extension panel, super nice. Unfortunately, I need to replace that too and the bends on the repro are lazy and the corner is rounded, not pointed as seen on the original. That will take work to correct, but I'm considering brushing up on my decades old brazing skills and using that to build up the corner. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill Once I had established that I was MUCH happier with this piece, I used drill screws to hold the door edge in place and inserted the reinforcement bracket inside the panel. I had used drill screws to hold that in place while I drilled out the spot welds, so I was able to get that back in the correct location. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill I then used 3 drill screws thru the skin to hold it tight to the brace and removed the quarter. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill Once I had it off, I used a silver marker to color in the spot weld drill holes and sanded the EDP off for welding. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill Then it got welded to the quarter. NOT pretty welds. The brace gauge is much thicker than the skin and with the galvanized coating, made the welds get too hot to run a full circle without stopping. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill On the skin side. I do have some overheat high spots and the 3 drill screw holes to knock down, but it will be fine with a skim to blend after that. I probably should have tried to set up my spot welder for this, but that can take a LONG time of experimenting. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...%3Bcrop%3Dfill |
Just yesterday, a friend in the local Chevelle Club asked when I was going to get back on the Camaro. I told him soon, as I thought it had been 7 months since I last worked on it. Wow, When I found this thread and opened it, May 17...7 months to the day.
Anyway, I was stalled out on this issue with the right inner wheel house to trunk floor mis-match. I've run into this on every floor I've done, but not this much of a gap. I could pull the inner to the floor, but it was barely touching, so I found the scrap of left inner house I had kept and it had the right curvature and incline to match the patch I needed nearly perfectly. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...2FDSC08532.JPG https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...2FDSC08533.JPG https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...2FDSC08534.JPG https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...2FDSC08535.JPG https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...2FDSC08536.JPG I started the welding in the corner and was able to clamp the 3 pieces pretty tight underneath, but the top of the patch wanted to stick out away from the house. I didn't want to use a bunch of drill screws to hold it and then have to weld them up, so after welding 3-4 plug holes I quickly reached in while the metal was hot and tapped the patch flat. Dang, I love it when an idea works. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...2FDSC08539.JPG Until it got forward of the curve and widened out for the rust cut out I had to hold tight. I finally came up with 2 old rotors we had recently removed from my son's Malibu to provide enough weight to hold the panels tight. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...2FDSC08537.JPG https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...2FDSC08538.JPG After welding https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...2FDSC08540.JPG https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...2FDSC08541.JPG https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...2FDSC08542.JPG 1 more rust out patch to make and weld in. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...2FDSC08543.JPG I used another piece of the same wheel house to donate that too. https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...2FDSC08544.JPG https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...2FDSC08545.JPG All knocked down and cleaned up. And, yes, I have a LOT more old undercoating to remove with the crud thug...:rolleyes2: https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...2FDSC08546.JPG https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...2FDSC08547.JPG One last pic...the NOS gas cap I got from Anthony a few months back...:cool2: https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...s/DSC08548.JPG |
Metal Man
How many years have you been doing this type work?
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About 13. I bought a 1967 GTO basket case, and then a mig welder, plasma cutter, rotisserie, metal working tools, 2 more tool boxes...:flag:
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I did start back on this a month ago and took all the sheet metal off to prep it. About that time, I was in communication with Tony, in Tulsa, about an NOS tail panel. We came to an agreement and I drove down this week and retrieved it. 1407 miles in 30 hours.
Original box looks like they pulled it out of the Titanic, but the panel is perfect..:cool2: Thanks Tony https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...3Bfit%3Dbounds https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...3Bfit%3Dbounds https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...3Bfit%3Dbounds https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...3Bfit%3Dbounds https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.ph...3Bfit%3Dbounds |
Looks great!
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I have to ask, with 30 hours of travel plus fuel, why don’t you trust a shipper like UPS with double boxing and insurance? In my experience, that would be 100-200. Even at $10 an hour for labor you are at $300 plus fuel cost. You are worth a lot more than $10 an hour! I think that less than minimum wage now.
Jason |
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