1967 ss/rs resto/mod

[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.