1967 ss/rs resto/mod

[Too Many Projects]

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.

[Too Many Projects]

Did the final fit and prep of the q-p and started the welding process.
All weld surfaces got paint removal with the scotch wheel.









Then, all the mating flanges got a shot of copper weld thru primer.





I pre-drilled holes for the drill screws to hold the new panel snug against the original and locked it on.











I was pleased that the replacement matched the original so well at the back.





After an hour and a half of tack welding, it was ready to remove the screws and close it up.





I started knocking down the extra weld but supper called.

[scuncio]

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....

[Too Many Projects]

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.

[Too Many Projects]

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...








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.








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.














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.

[Too Many Projects]

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.

















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.

[Too Many Projects]

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.

[Too Many Projects]

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.






The shifter doesn't seem to be the correct body. The stick is almost touching the side in 3rd/4th.

[Too Many Projects]

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.

[Too Many Projects]

Finally got back on the Camaro. I cut off most of the right quarter panel.





Back side with the original piece they left on.





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...





This piece was fully brazed on and was an original GM part. Must have been when the car was fairly young.








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 ??