My new 1968 Nova L79 project.

[Alss]

Awesome job!!..they look great in prmer..ready for paint..almost antiseptic clean [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/laugh.gif[/img]

Jason a question..looks like you have a auto twirler rottisierre..how did you mount the fenders for fittment?..I have the same rottisierre and am looking for ideas!..did you use the rad suport as well?..how about some pics of that area?..thanks

keep up the great work!! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img]

[jasonL78]

Albert,
I am not sure if my rotisserie is an auto twirler I bought it used? But like you said it looks like one. At first I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to mount the fenders because of the front braces on the rotisserie. But they fell exactly where the wheels would be. Obviously with the fenders mounted you are limited to how far you can rotate the car. But it was enough that I could block sand the rockers comfortably without bending over to far. If you have restored a car without a rotisserie and then you get one for the next project I will guarantee you will never go back without it. They are great and well worth the money. I don’t know how many times I said to myself I should have bought one of these 3 projects ago.

So to answer your question I used the core support to hold the fenders in place. I used all four fender mounting bolts in the rear of the fender to get the fender all aligned with the door. Then I bolted the core support to hold the front of the fenders in place 2 bolts on each side. The only thing I have to do before I dis-assembly is test fit the hood. I am going to put the car on the lift and take the car off the rotisserie for this. But I don’t think I am going to have an alignment problem but better safe than sorry later. I will shoot some pictures tomorrow for you Albert.

Someone informed me that a lot of people have a hard time aligning the fenders up on Camaros and Novas because of the uni-body. Actually the front fenders are part of the front support structure. A tip for anyone trying to align your fenders with the sub-frame mounted to the car. I had a hard time in the past getting my fender to door gaps to be equal. Most of the time the top was to tight and bottom gap was way out. This is due to the sub-frame sagging to the back of the car. The easiest way to solve this problem is take the weight off the sub-frame by lifting around the rocker and putting a jack stand under it to hold the weight of the body. It will save you a ton of time aligning your fenders. It really works.

I blocked the car out for the second time yesterday, both sides look great! Just a couple of small imperfections, I think I had 4 on the passenger side and three on the driver’s side. Not bad for a non-body guy. (LOL) So two more coats of primer then I feel the car will be ready for the final finish sand with 600.

But not to knock what Albert said that the cars look great with new primer because they do. It’s all the time spent blocking the car out IMHO that makes a paint job pop. I could have easily final sanded the car with the second coat of primer but I may have never found those 7 Imperfections. I feel its time well spent.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Car looks great Jason.

How do you plan to install the body side molding mounting pins on the finished panels? I need to do the same on our '69!

[Alss]

cool stuff..thanks

[jasonL78]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Car looks great Jason.

How do you plan to install the body side molding mounting pins on the finished panels? I need to do the same on our '69! </div></div>

Well Marlin, I have given this a lot of thought and the quarters &amp; doors used the factory weld on pins. The fenders where bolted on with clips. I was going to use a friend’s gun to install the factory pins but it would almost be impossible to do with the body work and blocking that needed to be done. I think it would also be impossible to buff the car out after color sanding. I even left the pins on the doors until last week. So by using the 2 factory holes on the door I am going to run a string along the side of the car to lay out the body trim. At the back of the quarters another hole will need to be made because the last clip for the quarter panel trim is bolted through the quarter panel. This should give me a straight line to follow.
So after the car is painted I plan on using the original quarters another set of original fenders with factory holes to measure and lay out my pins and holes. Most likely running some 3m tape down the side of the car and snapping a line is what I was thinking??? I plan on using these small stainless steel pin screws. They look just like the original pins but have a Philips head screw. You drill a small pilot hole and screw the pin screws in. They are only ½ inch long. I have used them before and they work great. Just a little lock tight and they won’t go anywhere. I bought a box of 45 pins at my local auto body paint store for 4.00 dollars. They look just like the originals but with a Philips screw face.
The company’s name is J&amp;T fastener out of Syracuse NY. I took a picture of the front of the catalog and circled the two styles of pins they sell. I bought all my new hardware from this company and have saved a lot of money by doing it. The only problem is you have to buy bolts in large quantities like 25 3/8 x 1” bolts for the inner fender wells. But it still pays off.

Hope this helps Marlin? Again I will take some pictures when I am laying out the body side trim.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

I understand - it is quite the predicament. I was going to take the car to the local body shop and have the pins spot welded on right before the last coat of K36, and then struggle through the final sanding and then cutting/buffing. Using the screws was plan 'B', but I'm concerned about seeing them protrude into the trunk. Any plans to address that - or will you simply clip them off the backside?

[jasonL78]

Once the lock tight is dry I plan on trying to remove the remaining threads inside the trunk?

[Alss]

I have used those skrew in pins before...they worked pretty good..alot of measuring...predrill..a little sealer..good to go.the ones I had were very short..I bet a touch with a grinder and they would be gone

[JRSully]

A little insight into the body side mldg pins, When Wayne Bushey was doing mine, we wanted as close to a factory look as possible and looked at some original cars and &quot;screwed pin&quot; cars for reference. On the factory cars, there is a &quot;very slight dip&quot; at almost every welded stud, you have to look very hard, but they are there, it is an ever so slight weld dip/warp that was there from the factory. We went with welded stud/factory look, came out great IMO

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

How did Wayne replace the pins - I think he used a small stud welder right?