1971 Chevelle repair

[Too Many Projects]

Some of you saw the pics I posted of a friends '71 Chevelle I was looking for parts for.



I work part time at a major collision repair company, although I don't do that work. I have my own back room where I do restoration and modification work for them. There is a frame rack back there and I brought the Chevelle there a few weeks ago. After stripping the front sheet metal off, the shop owner and I straightened the left frame horn that took the brunt of the impact.








I then locked the frame down and put 6 gauges on it to determine where and how much the frame was bent. I pulled the front rails left 5/8" to get them, and the front crossmember, back in alignment.
Once we had the frame looking good, I installed all the used sheet metal I have acquired for a trial fit. It is very close and is well withing acceptable gaps to turn the car around and pull the rear damage out.










The rear damage is causing a twist thru the center area of the frame.







I need to get the body pulled back into shape before we can do all the final frame straightening and check for a diamond, which we assume it will have too. That is the next task. I will turn the car around next week and start on the back.

I did pick up the 1 piece trunk floor, left quarter panel, tail panel and all the wheel houses yesterday, so I have most of what I will need to rebuild the body, once it is pulled out and all the inner structures are back in place.

[Postsedan]

I am happy you are saving her....well done

Dan

[Mr70]

Amazing Mitch,the car is in the right hands.

[dustinm]

Very nice frame work. Our local frame guy well... he needs some lessons from you

[Too Many Projects]

Here we go, rip, tear and dissect. I welded a pulling tab on the bumper and pulled that out far enough to gain access to the mounting bolts and remove it. The quarter started unfolding with it.








Once the bumper was off, I went to remove the wiring, but it was routed thru small holes in the frame and I had to cut it all apart to get it out. The connectors weren't going to fit back thru those holes.











Once that was cleared, I used 2 clamps on the quarter and tail panel, pulling them far enough to relieve the pressure on the frame and pull some of the deep buckles out.








I had the body locked to the rack in front of the left tire and 2 ratchets holding the front of the frame from going backward and another chain holding the front from pulling sideways to the left from the towers at the rear.








20 tons of pulling power made easy work of unfolding the quarter and getting the door pillar back where it belonged. I have a very even gap again.








This pic shows how far the quarter moved at impact. It had overlapped the door by almost a 1/2".





Then I cut out a good size piece to get access to the reinforcement inner structure at the door pillar and to relieve more of the stress of the sail panel at the roof.





There are still 2 shallow buckles but they are below the roof seam, so nothing to worry about.





That's all for today, folks.

[m22mike]

Neat stuff

[Too Many Projects]

Not much changed visually today. LOTS of time spent removing spot welds. I started drilling them, but I don't like the tip on the drills they have at work. By the time the top layer is drilled thru, most of the bottom layer is too, which I DON"T want to drill thru. I already have a handful of holes I need to weld shut and sand smooth. I went to a 3m 1991 stone to grind off the quarter panel material, leaving the substrate with only a slight amount of material gone. The stone is VERY slow, compared to a drill, but no time fixing a hole either.
I ground out all the welds on the quarter to trunk seal channel, but didn't bother with a pic of that.
Tomorrow, I'll remove the rear glass and, hopefully, get the rest of the quarter off.

[Jonesy]

Its great to have access to the right tools to be able to fix something like this, I am always intrigued by this type of repair and pulling things back to where they should be.
I love this thread.

[Too Many Projects]

First thing this morning, I removed the rear window trim and went to cut the butyl seal with a hand cutter. Hmmm....when did the factory go to urethane ? That "stuff" is waaay harder to cut. Took me an hour...








Once the glass was out, I ground out the spot welds on the window channel. Doing it this way leaves the material below much better than drilling.








Finally time to remove the solder and spot welds at the roof seam. I save this for last, because I dislike this step. The solder is easy, but the panels were brazed at the ends too, which requires a lot more heat to melt. I did drill these spot welds, as the roof skin is over the quarter and I need a hole to plug weld back to.
But I did prevail and the quarter is removed.
From this point, this isn't much different than an extensive restoration, as most of the nasty, bent, stuff is off.

The frame does have a twist that we will need to take out, but the shop owner wanted the quarter off to eliminate any stress it was placing on the frame.

[Lynn]

Fabulous work. I have never had access to a frame rack, and so far have not needed one for one. Wouldn't know how to use it correctly without a coach on hand. Your friend is lucky to have you. Not only do you have access to the right tools. You KNOW how to use them.

Will be following this one.