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1973 Camaro

PostPosted: Sat Dec 16, 2017 11:07 am
by Sauceman
Hey all,

Have this one in the shop, a 73 that needs substantial rust repair (Southern Ontario, go figure)

It looked like this when it was brought in,


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First thing was to get it up on a frame table,

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Started with the left side rocker,

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Here's a little video of the nastiness that was inside the rocker,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVFpdKe ... nrk0h00410

New rocker welded in,

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New inner and outer wheel wells,

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I must say that threading those inner wheel house panels into place was quite the chore.

And new outer quarter skin. This one was from Year One and the fit and finish was horrible and the two body lines would not line up. We had to cut it and re-weld it to get the lines to match up.

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Old quarter behind the wheel.

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cheers

Re: 1973 Camaro

PostPosted: Sat Dec 16, 2017 11:58 am
by '68 Coronet R/T
I have had similar problems with the reproduction quarters from Goodmark.
So far the best fit and quality panels I have used came from AMD. Cost more but a whole lot less headaches when installing.

Great job as always. :goodjob:

Re: 1973 Camaro

PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 12:27 pm
by Doright
OER Panels are available for that

https://www.classicindustries.com/produ ... 68287.html

The Full panel is worth every dime over the Half panel when your replacing that much.
I use the Half panel to cut up to make patches with similar to what you've done.
The whole panel is Truer to the original with a lot more detail.

I would love to discuss the whole repair area were you cut and welded the lower portion of the quarter were it ties in to the rocker.
Wish I was close by would love to come look and compare notes :goodjob:


That inner wheel well at the aft inner rocker area sucks don't it? Lol
That's a pain in the ameba.
Surprised you arent doing the Trunk floor as well?
I am sure the Trunk drop offs were shot.

That's just crazy with the rats nests in the rocker How the li'll B's figured out how to get in there is amazing

Re: 1973 Camaro

PostPosted: Mon Dec 18, 2017 10:09 pm
by Sauceman
Thanks,

Yes we have trunk drops to replace as well. Where it ties into the rocker was pretty much gone and not much there for reference but we're lucky I guess that we will replace everything in that area . We had to rebuild and add some of the gussets that reside in the space between the outer skin and the inner wheel well. None of it will be seen but at least we know it's there.

The trunk floor is pretty solid, just a bit under the rear panel braces, easy fix.



cheers

Re: 1973 Camaro

PostPosted: Thu Dec 21, 2017 12:00 pm
by Doright
Love to see more of it and the repairs!

I did the whole Trunk floor in a 70 Fire bird that's still waiting on funds for parts.
Still have a long way to go on it,
Money issues been holding me up, but I am getting back on Track.

Re: 1973 Camaro

PostPosted: Fri Dec 22, 2017 11:07 pm
by Sauceman
Well we got the right side torque box and frame rail installed,

Old torque box cut out,

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New one installed,

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We had a really hard time to get the new rail to sit flush along the top edge, no weight in the car so pushing upwards would just lift it off the hoist. So what we did was drill a hole and use a piece of threaded rod and nuts to draw them together. Worked just the very best!

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One more side to go,

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cheers

Re: 1973 Camaro

PostPosted: Tue Dec 26, 2017 7:30 am
by Doright
I did not have any problems at all getting my new whole floor pan to sit flush with the Frame rails when I was replacing the floor curious?

With the car I am doing I was able to save its original frame rails, I Glass beaded them inside and out before treating them with a Zinc rich Epoxy coating.

Its hard to tell from Pics but did you remove the Back seat bulk head and package tray ?

Re: 1973 Camaro

PostPosted: Wed Dec 27, 2017 11:05 pm
by Sauceman
Doright wrote:I did not have any problems at all getting my new whole floor pan to sit flush with the Frame rails when I was replacing the floor curious?


Must be the new part's stamping. It's very common for the stampings to be done over an original part as a mold. So what you get is an over stamp that's just a little too large. Have the issue with the 1/4's and had to section the front part to fit as the space between the upper and lower body lines was too large.

Doright wrote:Its hard to tell from Pics but did you remove the Back seat bulk head and package tray ?



No we just popped the spot welds and slid the new inner fender in place, not fun lol!



cheers

Re: 1973 Camaro

PostPosted: Thu Aug 23, 2018 7:00 pm
by Sauceman
Well she's all painted now and delivered back to the owner.

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Now to finish the 71 Z28/RS!



​​​​​​​cheers

Re: 1973 Camaro

PostPosted: Fri Aug 24, 2018 3:01 pm
by OldFatBald
My Gawd! That is so impressive.

I really don't understand how you guys can tear into a vehicle and bring it back to life like that!

Awesome!