68' Chevy II build thread - Page 6

**Crossbreed383** · #51 12-05-2022, 12:41 AM

This next step was long coming and an exciting one for me.
Time to mate the subframe back to it's body.
New bushings and recoated hardware and presto, it's a roller again for the 1st time in over a year.

**Crossbreed383** · #52 12-05-2022, 12:48 AM

So the car was finally a roller .
At this point I was going to just throw the front sheet metal back on, install the engine and transmission, and try to get the car running.
But the more I looked at the car I was unhappy that everything underneath and inside would look fresh, and the outside would have subpar paint and body panels far from being straight.
The quarters had some pretty good waves and dents, as wel las the doors.
The paint on the left front fender was cracking from what appeared to be a poor repair at some point.
The biggest issue was the paint on the rear quaters and roof was reasonably shiny and looked fresh while the rest of the body panels were dull and had much more orange peel.
I had mentioned early on about the hidden issues and they were about to reveal their ugly heads.
So down the rabbit hole we go.....................

I made the decision now was the time to paint it the way I wanted as it was already half way unassembled anyway.
So tear down number 2 began.
Here I am welding in fender trim holes while making new ones for the BB fender call outs.
Then time to make new holes in the hood for the SS louvers as well as add the support brackets underneath.

**Crossbreed383** · #53 12-05-2022, 01:10 AM

The quarters had some pretty deep dents and the nasty surprise was next ..

**dykstra** · #54 12-05-2022, 10:54 AM

Looking great!!!

**Crossbreed383** · #55 06-14-2023, 02:24 PM

Well, It would appear I'm the worst at updating my own thread but will try to get back to it.
The car is actually a lot further along but I'm going to still bore everyone with the process pics anyhow

So in my last post I had mentioned early on about the hidden issues .
When I took off the right rear taillight I noticed it didn't fit well in the taillight panel.
I also had mentioned this was the 1st( and last !) car I have ever bought sight unseen.
It seems the car had been hit in the right rear and there was overlapping metal visible when looking at the right rear quarter from inside the trunk. It looks like it was hit diagonally in the quarter at an angle and it pushed the quarter, taillight about a 1/4" forward, and put a nice vertical split in the quarter panel around 10" long . The fix appeared to be pounding the metal in and then applying some, ok , a ton of Bondo to make it look presentable . The fact everything was pushed slightly forward explained the slight overlap in the metal .Ughhhhh
So at this point I needed to decide if I was going to replace the quarter or try to fix it .
Since this car came out of the West Coast and was about as rust free as a 50yr old car can be I decided to try and spend some time fixing the quarter.
I lost some pics along the way but here is a pic of the quarter after welding the gap shut and starting to do some hammer and dolly work.

**Crossbreed383** · #56 06-14-2023, 02:41 PM

The next step was trying to work the corner of the taillight panel and quarter back to get alignment of the taillamp housing and fix the arc of the rear quarter edge.
This was harder than you'd think as the Nova quarter panel shape is a compound angle as it curves out at the middle in the vertical position but also curves inward at the reads edge of the quarter as well .
I bought a profile gauge, and using the drivers side as a template and a hammer and multiple sized dolly's , I was able to work the metal back to shape.
At one point while working the rear taillight panel something hit the floor.
It ended up being a piece of Bondo that was shaped in a right angle to make the RR lower outer corner of the taillamp panel. This piece was about 1-1/2 thick in some places...
I then had to hammer the edge of the quarter rearwards and it wanted to split, from being thin, so I had to hammer, and weld and grind, then hammer and weld an grind. You get the picture ..

All told , I spent probably spent close to 25 hours fixing a 14" x 14" area .
In retrospect , I could have found a patch panel for the quarter considering the time taken to fix all this . But it is still all original metal still for whatever that is worth and there was zero tin canning and it felt as solid as the drivers side was .
And my stubbornness may have played a small role into the decision to forge on as well , ha ha ..

**olredalert** · #57 06-14-2023, 04:12 PM

----You won't regret the extra work when you are looking at it finished!!!....Bill S

**dykstra** · #58 06-15-2023, 10:53 AM

Awesome! I can appreciate your hard work!

**Crossbreed383** · #59 06-15-2023, 02:30 PM

Here are some pics of the inside of the quarter as well . Getting closer after some metal work to the proper shape using a profile gauge.

**Crossbreed383** · #60 06-15-2023, 02:32 PM

Trunk view before metal work
Metal shape getting close..

The Following 6 Users Say Thank You to Crossbreed383 For This Useful Post:
69M22Z (12-05-2022), big gear head (12-05-2022), dykstra (12-05-2022), L78_Nova (12-05-2022), olredalert (12-05-2022), PeteLeathersac (12-05-2022)

The Following 6 Users Say Thank You to Crossbreed383 For This Useful Post:
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The Following 5 Users Say Thank You to Crossbreed383 For This Useful Post:
big gear head (12-05-2022), dykstra (12-05-2022), L78_Nova (12-05-2022), olredalert (12-05-2022), PeteLeathersac (12-05-2022)

The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to Crossbreed383 For This Useful Post:
69M22Z (06-14-2023), big gear head (06-14-2023), dykstra (06-15-2023), olredalert (06-14-2023)

The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to Crossbreed383 For This Useful Post:
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