68 Camaro bodywork

[idrivejunk]

Hey wait... you didn't think I'd finish this today didjya? Hell no, but hey lets see how far I got with it-











Oh I bet you want to see it closed. I do, too. Thump-








Thats starting to look more do-able, ain't it? Boy I like the looks of it much more gooder. This should please the customer when done. It cost me a little knuckle skin but thats alright... what an eyesore I'm getting rid of.

[enjenjo]

Nice job. You sure like punishment.

[UGLY OLDS]

I flattened out the lid some more with both knees, a Durablock and a piece of wood.

 SURE...Now you start using all those "High Tech" tools that us "home hackers" cannot afford ...

  Excellent work ....

Bob... [/quote]

[chris spokes]

nice work      

[idrivejunk]

Thank you, gentlemen.      Chris, thanks for the comment.  

Frank, somebody asked me if I like pain once. It was a tattooed pink hair lady who was supposed to help me with a busted wrist that never got a cast.    I gotta thrive on punishment, its the biggest dish on my buffet of life.

Bob, you would be alarmed at the crapola tools I'm doing this with. They lurk in backgrounds where they belong. Its embarrassing. :oops:  :oops:  :oops:

Onward ho, its been a long coupla suns ride on this task. They want me to chop the roof off tomorrow. Did I mention I like to chop chop :?:  :!:  










Now that we got that side looked at real good, lets cruise over to the bad side of Trunk town-











I got on a roll so you have to imagine another big long weld here
 Everybody knows what they look like by now.

This is welded and smoothed-





Other side real quik-




Yeah, yeah.. So, can we shut it yet        :?:  :?:  :?:










Well, those are still kinda wide- looking but theres still bondo and primer to go, and if anybody wants, I can add rod to the lid. Those jambs are as tilted in as far as I'll allow, and the whole mess is within range of filler and stable enough to final-straighten and wipe it, then live long. Theres room for adjustment so I ain't sweating a little wide, this was a big-time save as it is. Looks alright if you step back. Ran out of time to bomb it black.

Somebody brought me lugnuts so I could finally lower it to the ground!  

[idrivejunk]

I go in swinging every day, but today good contact with the ball was made. Saying that because the customer popped in unexpectedly and was fairly blown away by what he saw. Boss told me afterwards that he had said "I sure wish you'd send me a bill and some pics!". Perfect. Thats how it ought to work. It just makes me feel good to know I'm ahead of the curve... setting the pace rather than racing to keep up with expectations. I like the phrase "Under-promise and over-perform" and try to work it that way when I can see it coming.

The presentation was exactly ripe for him to walk in near the end of the day, you'll see...

I spent a couple hours touching up butt welds and placing missing plug welds, and bumping spots here and there. Planishing and what-not. Scratched and cleaned the surgery areas and bombed it all then shut the trunk to step back and squint at it. You are welcome to squint with me and call stuff out if you see it. She don't sit so square as she did on stands. Messes with the eyeball.












I cleaned up stall and car, looked up at the Pontiac clock, logged my time and it was 11. Man, I needed my sandwich before chopping roof. What can I...

Ah! The long box over by the metal brake! Yes, this will fill that time slot nicely and pile on more visual progress because boss is ready to bill for a chunk. On with it-











Yeah now thats more Z-28ish and there went a bunch of my new gaps! I can dig it. Look it over for a spell, I have a date with sandwich. Have your safety glasses ready here shortly please.

[idrivejunk]

Are you as tired of looking at pics of the same thing over and over as I am of looking at the back of this car? I know its been a... hey wait! Something changed here and its all rusty. Man I love to chop, lets move on.














Just as I suspected! The old quarter's tab that connects it to the inner structure had been hacked. Weak. There are other ways that could have been done stronger and luckily now I can correct it somehow. We can also finish welding the rollbar and paint the top of it. I've got a lot of flanges to clean up. By the way thats an 8mm Zebra cobalt spotweld bit in the pics above, and a house painter's 3-in-1 tool. In the pic below, my trunk key is on the floor. It can't fall from the floor.

[UGLY OLDS]

Hi Matt....  Nice work as always ....  

I reviewed the chapter on repairing the rear panel , the photos show that it was finished straight & smooth.... In the last photos , the area at the end of the rear panel where it attaches to the lower rear of the quarter seem to have some "funky" gaps... :?  Did something move or does that area still need to be addressed  :?:  
Question # 2 ....  How is the outer roof skin attached in the rain gutter area  :?:  Or will we learn that when the new panel is installed  

Good thing that you are working on an "Illinois" style body ..It gives us MANY more opportunities to learn  :!:  
Just think of it as "Job Security" ...

 Thank You again for sharing your work so that we all can learn the proper way  ..

Bob...

[idrivejunk]

The tail to quarter fit at the bottom has yet to be addressed. Glad to have someone ask questions! Before tackling the bottoms of the quarters there (both sides need a fix), it occurred to me that I had been doing minor areas up to this point. A month of me costs several grand, and I felt a need for more visually apparent gains to justify time spent thus far. So I attacked the proverbial gorilla in the room. Things that are tough to estimate time on need to be done sooner than later because if it comes down to paring down the job, those bottom corners are the least offensive defect.

By that same token, going right from lid gaps to roof makes sense. Get the hard stuff knocked out first then you know where you stand. People really appreciate it when you can overcome big fears and leave enough money to do the remainder with due care.

The roof's edge is narrow and horizontal, and simply lays on top of the drip rail flange. Of course you will see. I intend to bond that area, a popular method because it seals the area as a bonus. Stay tuned. I have the old roof flanges all removed at this moment. Now to clean up all that inner structure...

[kb426]

Geez! I hate rusty metal. I would estimate that most of the older vehicles will have the same areas when you dig into them. I appreciate what you have said about billing. I hear stories from people all the time about costs. Those of us that do our own work are clueless about the rest of the world. The last time I worked in a body shop was 1973. Prices have changed just a little.

[idrivejunk]

I bet what I bring home is scarily close to what crash men made in '73. Oh but thats a whole nother taboo topic entirely! I just try hard. But business is indeed business so everything has to stay moving not just me.

Today sure felt like work. I have never done a roof on anything old, so I am figuring this out as I go. Always wanted to see how this is done and now I'm finding out.

Taped the heck out of the drip rail's exposed portion. Too much pitting was present for me to locate the welds visually in the rail seam. So, using a 3 x 3/16" 3M cutoff wheel, I carved away everything that was first layer. I'll show you as best I can-




















Can you see all that? Here and there, scraps remained in these pics. I did not take pics after the sanding session because I wanted to drop that roof skin on for an initial fit check. Stand by...

[idrivejunk]

It took some hammer-coaxing to get the lid to drop down far enough to clamp. All the corners were non-exact so based on experience, I did not get alarmed and just tried to force it into shape gently by whacking corners with a light slapping spoon and medium weight hammer. Resistance is futile. It fits.

But the right side had been bent a little on both ends and that didn't help. This is as far as I got. The clamping and screwing and checking everything may begin now that the corners are down. I stopped before prepping for any coatings on the inner structure. Theres stuff I want do do to it first, and the front piece (mirror mounts to it) is badly pitted. Willing to use it but, well, you'll see later. Today's mission was to find out if its really gonna work. The new roof. I predict success but with adventures. Panel bonding adhesive might not be in until Tuesday and that suits me!

Here's the visuals-









Homework is to study the last pic. Rail area roof remnants in foreground. Bonus Q: What does the triangle mean?

[UGLY OLDS]

Boy O Boy .....  
I remember looking at some late '50s / early '60s Ford wagons that had rust in the roof by the rain gutters & thinking "Gee..It can't be that hard to fix"...WRONG... :!:
 After seeing this , I sure am happy that I passed ...
It's amazing the damage that moisture can do to when it gets into enclosed places ...
Do the little triangles indicate an approximate "line up spot" to other panels  :?:
One of the photos in the spot weld removal lesson show a triangle stamped in the rear window flange right at the upper quarter seam .. ( Yes , I look CLOSE at your photos...It's a GREAT way to learn   ) ..

Thanks for the explanation on the rear quarter question.. I now understand why that repair will be done at the proper time  ...

On with the adventure     :!:  :!:

Bob...

[Beck]

Grrrrrrrrr
It upsets me that for some reason all of your photos are blocked on my work computer.
I need to catch up on this build at home..

Instead of selling my '70 Camaro I should have sent it to you for metalwork. Too late now, lucky you..

[purplepickup]

I might have missed it somewhere but do you do anything to "kill" the rust or convert it in all those pockets and seams? Here in Michigan rust has a habit of coming back in short order if it isn't dealt with.

I'm really enjoying and learning a lot from your detailed posts & pics. Thanks.