Repro sheet metal rant (Pics)

[Dennis Harrelson]

So got the trunk floor wrestled into place, and wtf?  the drop-off is too short by an inch both front and bottom to meet the quarter:



So spent most all afternoon cutting some extensions:



And getting them attached:



And the floor fitted up:
 


Although it pisses me off, I gotta say I'm pretty pleased with the result, except for wasting the time and effort. Not much of a rant, I guess, but it would sure be nice to just put something in for once.
BTW, ignore the white primer, it'll get black before finishing.

[abrahamfh]

Extremely impressive skills man.

I know what you mean. The Scott Drake battery apron I hacked up for the patch I knew wouldn't fit as a whole. Guess what, patch equaled huge fail, had to reorder it to now replace the whole battery apron.

I'm so excited. LoL

[napaguy]

Dennis,
Has somebody done quarter patches before? Usually that area is way long and has to be trimmed off

[mustangstofear]

Looks like they sent you the wrong ones, I always have to trim the bottom edge off. Rich.

[monkeystash]

+3, I had to cut off the excess too.  Nice work making them fit! 

[Shaun]

As the Buddha with cheese grater says, "have welder, will make repo sheet metal fit".

Almost every piece I buy requires tweaking.

[Dennis Harrelson]

Dennis,
Has somebody done quarter patches before? Usually that area is way long and has to be trimmed off

Yes, in fact. About 1990-1995 I had lower quarters and trunk floors replaced. But these quarters met those dropoffs, you can see where I drilled out the welds. Maybe Rich is right, and I got the wrong ones. That'd piss me off even more, not recognizing it and sending them back. The pass side was the same, I just didn't take any pictures of it. Oh, well. C'est la vie.

[Midlife]

You didn't, by any chance, put those pieces in the washer and dryer before fitting them to the car? 

Very unusual to be short like that...most are too long and have to be trimmed.

[Dennis Harrelson]

Extremely impressive skills man.
<snip>

Thanks. It's really pretty easy with all new metal, up in the light and horizontal. My work doesn't look nearly as nice up underneath, in places I can't get very clean, laying on my back trying to make it penetrate upside down....

[AzPete]

Could something else be off.......I don't remember any of them being short......

[Dennis Harrelson]

Maybe the hack job back in the '90s the guy didn't trim the drop-offs and fit the quarter to the too long part? I wish I'd posted before doing all that work.

[jtfx6552]

What brand where the drop offs?

I had some no names that I didn't use because of how they didn't fit around the wheel house.

They were longer in the area yours were short, than the "thicker" Dynacorn ones I ended up using.

The dynacorn ones were a touch shorter than the originals, maybe an 1/8 to 1/4.

I did weld up the round and square opening that are for the 67-68 style drains, and redrilled the  1" hole towards the back, along with the smaller back up harness hole.

Below pics are the PS before any trimming and while the car was still upside down..

Second pic is the DS after trimming.

[B67FSTB]

Looks like they sent you the wrong ones, I always have to trim the bottom edge off. Rich.

+4 here.   Diferences between a 65-66  and  67-68 ??

[Dennis Harrelson]

What brand where the drop offs?

<snip>

These new ones are http://www.cjponyparts.com/side-trunk-floor-1965-1970/p/TFL/. I don't know what the ones before were, the body shop bought them & put 'em in.
I'm now getting a little concerned about this. Can some one measure their's? Preferably installed, inside the trunk, from the bottom of the quarter to the top of the floor? It's probably different front and rear, so maybe at the wheelhouse and at the bumper bracket. Thanks.

[AzPete]

Are the rear frame rails positioned proper?

[Dennis Harrelson]

Yes, I'm very confident about those. They weren't disturbed by the previous trunk floor repair, and niether were the cross member and bumper brackets. When I replaced the rails, I was very careful to remove the cross member without disturbing the rails or floors, installed the new xmember using bolts and nuts, and marked the position of the existing rails. Placed the new rails against the new bolted in xmember and floors and checked the dimensions for the spring mounts. The new rails went in exactly where the old ones were. In fact, the old bumper brackets are still in, so the rails can't be off vertically. I also compared the new rails to the old and they're the same as near as I can eyeball. The relationship between the new rails and the existing wheel houses is the same as that between the old rails and houses. In fact, the new floors fit surprisingly well against the existing original houses.

[jtfx6552]

These new ones are http://www.cjponyparts.com/side-trunk-floor-1965-1970/p/TFL/. I don't know what the ones before were, the body shop bought them & put 'em in.
I'm now getting a little concerned about this. Can some one measure their's? Preferably installed, inside the trunk, from the bottom of the quarter to the top of the floor? It's probably different front and rear, so maybe at the wheelhouse and at the bumper bracket. Thanks.

These things are hard to measure since everything is rounded with tapers, etc.

Attached is my best shot. The pictures are pretty big if you open them completely.

The first picture is measuring the original drop off I removed. The car is in the family since new, so I know that one is an original.

With the carpenter square lined up with what would be the top edge, and the 9.5" inch line lined up with the back of the trunk floor where it goes across, the bottom edge of the drop off at the front edge of the carpenter square is at 7 5/8"

Second pic is by the wheel opening. The original was rusted away there so I had to measure the dynacorn repro in the car. The top of the tape is up against the bottom of the trunk floor, the height is an RCH less than 8 11/16". Tape is more or less "plumb".

If you look close, you can see my patch of the 67-68 drain hole by the tape...

[Dennis Harrelson]

Ok, Thanks. I've been tied up all day with my elderly Fathet-in-law, but I'll check it out in the morning.

[Dennis Harrelson]

These things are hard to measure since everything is rounded with tapers, etc.

Attached is my best shot. The pictures are pretty big if you open them completely.

The first picture is measuring the original drop off I removed. The car is in the family since new, so I know that one is an original.

With the carpenter square lined up with what would be the top edge, and the 9.5" inch line lined up with the back of the trunk floor where it goes across, the bottom edge of the drop off at the front edge of the carpenter square is at 7 5/8"

Second pic is by the wheel opening. The original was rusted away there so I had to measure the dynacorn repro in the car. The top of the tape is up against the bottom of the trunk floor, the height is an RCH less than 8 11/16". Tape is more or less "plumb".

If you look close, you can see my patch of the 67-68 drain hole by the tape...

Darn. I measure abuut an inch bigger all around. I bet the old repro floors needed to be trimmed and the guy didn't do it and just dropped the quarter to fit.  I didn't notice it when the work was done, he!!, I didn't even have them put the valence on, put it back on myself. I think at this point I'm just gonna let it be my little custom touch and live with it. Maybe  have to mold around the bottom corners of the valance a little or something. Even if I want to try and correct it, I don't know how to; from what would one measure?? Like I say, a nice subtle custom touch. 

[AzPete]

It shouldn't be to hard to raise the quarter to match where it should be. Some measurements from the trunk lip around the side to the bottom should do it. I think I would do it right since you are there now........

[Dennis Harrelson]

Well, the more I look at this, the more I dislike it. The fit at the valance isn't worth sh!t, so I think I'm gonna bite the bullet and put in new lower quarters. I really didn't want to trust myself to weld anywhere it could be seen, especially the middle of the quarter where warpage will be hard to prevent, and a disaster when it happens, but que sera. If anyone else would like to make some measurements it'd be greatly appreciated.

[AzPete]

My Dad always said the sign of a good welder is he knows how to run a grinder. Gotta start somewhere.....and a grinder will dress things out nicely until the technique is learned well. Just don't let anything get the metal to hot....

[jtfx6552]

Well, the more I look at this, the more I dislike it. The fit at the valance isn't worth sh!t, so I think I'm gonna bite the bullet and put in new lower quarters. I really didn't want to trust myself to weld anywhere it could be seen, especially the middle of the quarter where warpage will be hard to prevent, and a disaster when it happens, but que sera. If anyone else would like to make some measurements it'd be greatly appreciated.

What measurements do you need?

[Dennis Harrelson]

I'm really not sure. Got to study a little more. Is your taillight panel still in place? Maybe from the bottom of it to the bottom of the quarter, along the slope of the quarter. Mine shouldn't be off to badly there.

[jtfx6552]

Dennis,

Let me know if you have any thoughts on where i should measure? I'm not sure I follow on the tail light panel?

In the mean time, can you measure the trap door opeing in the shell?

I had to remove the pieces on one side to fix some rust. I took a bunch of measurements, but of course I forgot the one that appears to be most critical to actuall putting this stuff back in the right place.

I'm thinking I need the width at the top and the bottom in case the opeing isn't square. I think it should be square, but I''ve been bitten in the past on this car when I guess where something should be.

Pics of what I did below: