68 Camaro bodywork

[UGLY OLDS]

See that  :!:       The word's gettin' out ..... :!:    You do Camaro's "right" ...  );b(

Bob....

[39deluxe]

Looks like a lot of fun.

Tom

[kb426]

Lets hope that the creative repairs on your wall were someone's beginning and not the normal way as they progressed through life.

[idrivejunk]

Thats why I'd rather just show whats there rather than bag on whoever about whatever I found. I just fix and try to pace myself right and not get hurt. Theres a beauty of a quarter panel section on the 69, a nice tail panel install, mini tubs, and the wiper cowl area replacement that all look great to me. The gaps and filler work are nail-biters for any builder but I seem to do well enough with balancing panel fit that the work keeps coming.

Thanks for droppin' in with words of encouragement guys.

[idrivejunk]

Back on the 68 today  

Dive right in and peer up and forward through the passenger's rear side marker light hole, and look to the right of the trunk hinge where the LED lamp is shining. See the row of welds? It was not welded there before today. Only tacked from the topside at the corners. I cut the tacks loose and had 8 or 9 vise-grips where you're looking, welding in between.



Stick your head inside the trunk and look. See the closest two welds? Made those from this side (just blew thru on 16 ga setting since no holes this side) but the rest were done from the inside, around the front of the hinge support in a no camera zone. These were all blind welds, meaning no peeking just feel and zap. But I did observe the cherry to confirm each weld.



The rear window panel side of the flange was swiss cheese because it was drilled through upon removal of the old quarter.   So there were plug weld holes on the other side. Each weld penetrated well.



Before claustrophobia sets in lets get the hell out of there. Heres how the topside looked at beginning and end of day:



Hey, get your nose out of that corner and back up a little!











That was all just little zap-zap grind-grind to square things up. After that I began to remove the previous gap fix nearby at the trunk. Met my old gold friend, Rod Braze.  







I can't stand that stuff.





All clean. Now I can fix that. Look what else showed up! With the obligatory dent of course   but no squashed corners. See the low spot at about 10:30?



More as I go along...

[BFS57]

Hello;
Have you contemplated a look at what Real Deal Steel has for the camero?
I know they make a super body for the tri-five!

Bruce

[idrivejunk]

Hello;
Have you contemplated a look at what Real Deal Steel has for the camero?
I know they make a super body for the tri-five!

Bruce

Hi. No, I haven't. Just looked at the website though.

[UGLY OLDS]

Nice Goin' Matt.....Do you realize how hard the next guy to change that quarter is going to need to work  :?:  :?:        

 What was the brazed area holding together  :?:  :?:
I thought that process on automotive sheet metal went away with wooden spoke wheels ...  

Nice work my friend .....  );b(


Bob....

[416Ford]

You do some great work.
Having worked in a restoration shop I love seeing these flash backs. I did not have to do exterior panels but did get to see how "bodyshop" pieces together the classic cars.
Again, you do have some great talent.

[idrivejunk]

Thanks so much, guys. Ran short on time for writing the yesterday story but I bet you can follow along with just the pics for a day. There were a couple small things I wanted to get past before tearing into the left quarter corrections. The brazing on the right quarter was where a steel rod had been attached to improve the wide trunk gap there. Watch and see, it looks like all MIG wire on the driver's side.

Don't let me forget to tell you the tail panel gas cap story...

If'n you do have any questions, do post here and I'll catch you on the flipside.

[idrivejunk]

Well I only got about half the day on it today but did make some progress. Took down that ugly weld area some more and did straightening of warpage on either side. I was fine-tuning the top of the quarter when the whistle blew so to speak.

[idrivejunk]

Only a few hours on it the 68 today. Finished straightening the quarter warpage to my satisfaction then did a row of plug welds where it attaches to the gutter.

[jaybee]

That's an incredible amount of work you've put into that trunk area. Looks like they had the right idea to do the weld right at the flange, but WOW it went wrong from there.

[idrivejunk]

Howdy, jaybee  

Yep all I can figure is the left side was done first, then after seeing the warpage that occurred, brazing was done instead on the right.

I am fairly certain that when the lid goes back on, there will be epic gaps for me to deal with. Hopefully by then I can whittle down the insanity level of these surrounding areas to a point where things will at least hold still.

[idrivejunk]

Well its ready to mount a latch and decklid on now. Today's project is a good example of me just going where an objective leads me. First thing I banged around on the top of the right quarter, straightening warpage. That went fine and I didn't get a pic. Wasn't as bad because it was only brazed, unlike the other side.

So stick your head in the trunk again, here we go... this time you get to pretend you're the fuel cell.

This is the stump of the old trunk floor. I wanted it flat so I started chopping and then got the camera out lol. I like to chop.




Stomped that area flat, welded it up a little and bombed it-



Now heres where I may get a wrist slap from my CAD instructor. Found a good piece of C and had all the right intentions... but it was just easier to scribe my measurements on a piece of 16 gauge hot rolled steel and cut two pieces then make 3 bends with the brake and two tiny pie cuts then a bench vise bend. Follow that? Here we are-



Plug welded the bejeepers outta that 1 x 1 x 14" L-bracket to the flattened stump, made some holes, tacked some nuts, and voila!



I was feelin good about that and it was lunch time. So after chow, I took the brace out and tried the fuel cell. Aha, still a no-go! I mean you can cram it but once theres paint on everything, well...

Any good plan can evolve without major loss so let's just see what I done to solve the problem of the latch area interfering with fuel tank fittings upon installation-





If you look hard enough, it may make sense to you- insert drilling, grinding, zapping, and air ratcheting sounds here.




A little sandblasting and what-not, and there ya go. Removeable latch brace. You guys think that'll work?




Those 1/4" studs at the top are easily reached with an air ratchet, and bumper holes have plenty of room but the support could be drilled for access with a deep socket if need be. Anyway it seems solid to me, at least it should be as strong as what was there originally. There is a little manipulation required to remove / install the piece, it fits nice and tight.