Just remember when doing all this fit up should have ZERO GAP! between the two panels when clamped together if not something is wrong these cars were welded by robots originally yes men were on the line but most welding was done by the Bots.
A lot of it was still Hand formed depending on model on the line too but Not all panels will all fit without some form of nudging pulling bending tweaking and plain beating the crap out of it lol Trick is to know what to do when.
I love my Low crown Martin Hammer with the chisel end, and a small but heavy Bucking bar.
I have a Huge selection of Bucking Bars but find myself gravitating to just a few select favorites.
1968 Plymouth GTX
Top Contributor
Posts: 6234
Joined: Tue Sep 16, 2008 1:17 pm Location: Pahrump NV. Country: USA |
Dennis B.
A&P Mechanic, FCC General radio Telephone Operator Line Maintenance A&P Mechanic and MOC Tech specialist. |
Nice metal work on those doors.
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Drip rails are all in so I decided to test fit the roof skin.
Everything looks good except the left side sail panel. The upper portion of the left quarter panel doesn't seem to have the same angle as the right side. A straightedge shows the right side spot on, not so on the left side. I remembered that there was some bronze (?) filler material in there when I media blasted that area. Looks like I need to do some metal removal and patching. 1968 Coronet R/T
ACTS 16:31 |
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So is that some kind of brazing?????
Metal, wood, fiberglass, we work it all... www.furniturephysicians.com We can restore the irreplaceable!
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That's my guess.
1968 Coronet R/T
ACTS 16:31 |
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I had to dust off an old industrial welding text book for that.... yes, I think it is brazing as well because we had to learn how to do it in Metallurgical classes I took in college. I'm just surprised to see it on a car.... we had to learn how to do it to join dissimilar metals and areas that could not tolerate heat past 1000 degrees or so. Wonder if that might be some old timers replacemet system for his lead solder????
Metal, wood, fiberglass, we work it all... www.furniturephysicians.com We can restore the irreplaceable!
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Made a cardboard template to check the profiles.
Here it is installed on the right side: Flipped over and in place on the left side: Doesn't look near as bad as I thought it would. There seems to be a slight outward bow in the roof skin on the left sail panel. Once I mark the center locations front and back above the window areas, I will remove the roof skin and inspect the structure for any high spots on the left sail panel area. My plan is to clean everything really well, apply the dampening material and once the roof skin is in place, begin spot welding from the center outward on both the front and rear of the skin. Hoping this will ensure it is laying flat and straight during installation. 1968 Coronet R/T
ACTS 16:31 |
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Found a couple of places that needed some adjusting to get a better fit at the left sail panel.
Also, noticed that one of the corners on my front roof support rail had never been spot welded. All the other corners have a small spot weld but this one didn't. Must have been that way from the factory. Started drilling spot weld holes today. 1968 Coronet R/T
ACTS 16:31 |
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Top Contributor
Posts: 6234
Joined: Tue Sep 16, 2008 1:17 pm Location: Pahrump NV. Country: USA |
Looking good Dennis B.
A&P Mechanic, FCC General radio Telephone Operator Line Maintenance A&P Mechanic and MOC Tech specialist. |
Applied the 3M NVH Dampening material: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005IU2IPM?ps ... ct_details
There was just enough product in that order to get the job done. Set the roof skin (with help from a friend) and then welded it into place. Started grinding down the welds along the rear window. Have a long way to go yet. The rear deck filler panel and lower window corner patches arrived and are waiting patiently for me. 1968 Coronet R/T
ACTS 16:31 |
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