My GY8 '71 Road Runner

[ct71rr]

More progress today with the final (hopefully) mockup of the quarters. The left quarter was not fitting well where it wraps around the back of the trunk extension. It appears that the trunk extension is too long or it was bent at the wrong spot. To fix it, I pie-cut the trunk extension at the bend and welded it back together. The cut started about halfway down the panel along the bend and went from the width of the cutoff wheel to about 1/4” at the bottom. Now the trunk extension tucks up into the quarter nicely. I’m finally at the point where I can ( I think) weld the quarters on for good.

Trunk extension not fitting into quarter. The silver sharpie line on the right is the bottom of the trunk extension:

Pie-cut welded up:

Clamped in:

It fits much better now. Yesterday it was about 50 degrees here in the People’s Republic of Massachusetts and, of course, today it’s snowing...

Thanks for looking!

 

[HawkRod]

I'm in PA and had similar weather.

I'm sure you will be rewarded by a great looking car by sweating all these details. Well done!

 

[ct71rr]

Hello all, I started prepping my quarters for final installation. I sanded and blasted the inner structure and removed the EDP coating from the inside of the quarters. In hindsight, I should have just scuffed it with a scotchbrite pad. EDP is a PIA to remove, it’s ON there. I also welded up any pinholes I found. I then spayed the quarters and inner structure with SPI epoxy primer. I have to let the epoxy cure for 48hrs before spraying Lizard Skin on the inside of the quarters. Then it’s on to final install (fingers crossed)!

Sanded and blasted:

Epoxy:

I also had a few lumps/ridges on my left quarter and a few dings on both. I used a slapper and shrinking disc to remove them as best as I could:

Circles mark where the ridges were (and a few dings):

Shrinking discs:

Flat now:

Thanks for looking:

 

[T2R9]

That looks great!

 

[ct71rr]

I had some free time after work today so I sprayed a few coats of Lizard Skin on the inside of my quarters. It sprays on really easy and cleans up with water. I used a cheap undercoat gun instead of the Lizard Skin gun. The gun I used was about $70 cheaper. The only difference I could find is that the cheap gun requires more air pressure, about 100psi opposed to 40-70psi with the Lizard Skin gun.

This is the gun I used:

Quarters coated, still wet:

Thanks for looking!

 

[ct71rr]

Quarters are on!!!!! I still need to grind the plug welds, all 10,000 of them, but they are on!!

And make the noise:

The Lizard Skin came out pretty good too. Looks almost factory:

Thanks for looking@

 

[T2R9]

Nice! I wish I could hit like 10 times!

 

[HawkRod]

Sweet!

I know there is a crap ton of work to get them to that point - well done!

 

[Grabbergreendream]

Looks great! Pat yourself on the back, I know it's a ton a work to get this far!

 

[ct71rr]

Sweet! I know there is a crap ton of work to get them to that point - well done!

Nice! I wish I could hit like 10 times!

Thank you Hawk and T2R9!! It was a TON of work! I’ve had these quarters for like 15 years, they were the first parts I bought. And I think of it as a kind of milestone or at least a turning point. These were the last of the major parts I needed to replace. I still need to do the cowl but it doesn’t have much work left on it.

 

[ct71rr]

Looks great! Pat yourself on the back, I know it's a ton a work to get this far!

Thanks John! And thank you for your help along the way!!

 

[ct71rr]

I spent the past 2-3 Saturdays grinding and sanding all the plugwelds after installing the quarters. Fun stuff! I had some time today so I began addressing the fitment issues with the deck filler panel where it meets the quarters. The driver’s side had about a 1/4”+ gap at the top, tapering to about 1/8” gap at the bottom. I sliced the end of the deck filler panel and spread it open. I then inserted a 1/8” tig rod to fill most of the gap and then mig welded it up. I might be able to get the passenger’s side done tomorrow. The passenger’s side has only about a 1/8” gap along the whole seam.

Gap:

Sliced:

Welded in:

Thanks for looking!

 

[ct71rr]

I roughed in the passenger’s side, as well. I still need to clean up the welds a bit and the seam. I also spotwelded both flanges underneath the deck filler to the quarters.

Roughed in:

Spotwelded:

Thanks for looking!

 

[ct71rr]

I’m still plugging along. I started fixing some of the random holes in my original rear floor pan. The area where I had to drill out the spot welds to remove the driver’s side rear frame rail got a little jacked - I should have been a bit more careful/patient. I also finished grinding all of the plugwelds in the new floor pan that, for some reason, I didn’t finish when I installed it. After getting this done, I started mocking up the cowl. I had to readjust the angle on the flange I removed from my original firewall and tacked-welded on to the AMD firewall. I tacked the flange on about a year ago and didn’t want to go much further until I got a new windshield so I could test fit it to the opening before welding the cowl in permanently. The angle of the flange was slightly off - it was not matching up to the cowl. I basically had to hammer an dolly the AMD firewall’s angle almost flat. After getting the angle set, I mocked the cowl in and tested fitted the glass with assistance from the wife - it fit! I then removed the cowl and blasted it with glass bead. After doing this, I found several pin holes that I’ll need to address. I’ll also have to add a few patches.
Super!

Holes:

Fixed:

This will need some filler:

Cowl mocked in:

Before blasting:

After:

Thanks for looking!

 

[Gunner1]

I'm an old scool motor builder. When I watch how you guys work your magic on sheet metal I'm in awe. My few forays into the mystical world of body work did not go too well.

 

[ct71rr]

I'm an old scool motor builder. When I watch how you guys work your magic on sheet metal I'm in awe. My few forays into the mystical world of body work did not go too well.

Thank you! I’m kind of flying by the seat of my pants on some of this.

 

[ct71rr]

I had some time after work today to start patching some of the crusty areas on my cowl. After blasting it, I found a few more thin, pin-holed areas. In particular, on the side panel of the driver’s side and the front corner area of the passenger’s side. I patched a small section in this area a while back but wasn’t really happy with it. So, I patched a larger area. This was necessary because the metal in this area was thin and pin-holed after blasting.

Driver’s side:

I still need to finish sanding this area. I also replaced the flange.

Passenger’s side area:

I was going to patch just this section but found the area below it (with the raised bead) to be pin-holed and thin too. So, I replaced that section too:

I ran out of time. I still need to finish sanding. I also had a small blow-through that I need to fix.

Thanks for looking!

 

[ct71rr]

Progress; Today I finished welding in the flange to the firewall. I also plug welded the top corners of the firewall. After that, I sprayed the firewall and bottom of the cowl with 3 coats of SPI epoxy.

Flange welded in:

And make the noise:

Firewall in epoxy:

Back of cowl in epoxy:

Next, hopefully, I’ll be able to get the cowl welded back on.

Thanks for looking!

 

[HawkRod]

And make the noise:

Nice work!

 

[ct71rr]

I got the cowl welded in but need to go back and touch-up a few plug-welds. I almost forgot to remove the wire loom tabs and rear seat tab from my original driver’s inner wheelhouse. Two of the tabs were missing so i had to try to make some new ones. I also sprayed some epoxy primer on the inside of my torque boxes that Santa gave me this year.

Cowl in!:

And make the noise:

Original tabs (red circles):

Rear seat tab:

New tabs (two on the right):

Torque boxes:

Thanks for looking!