When I have nothing to go by, what do I go by?

[morrow_jacob]

I have a 68 Charger thats been hacked in every way imaginable. every panel was donated from some poor blue Charger sometime in its past. But every panel was put on horribly, driver's quarter was just slapped on top of the hacked up older panel and then tacked in place. At least with the passenger side they put in some effort, put its still badly done and it will only take longer now to replace.

Where in the world do I start measuring, say when I put on the driver's quarter? It looks as though the only full original pieces are the rockers when it comes to lining up the rear quarters.

My best guess is that the driver's upper quarter which is original, so I should put a new pass quarter's placement based upon that.


I'm not building a show car just a solid driver, it doesnt have to be perfect. Thanks for any help.

 

[benno440]

I am sure someone here will have some or you can try google, but you should be able to find some blueprint drawings which will show all measurements of the charger, i would also recommend putting the whole car on a Jig so nothing moves and you can get it right.

 

[mopar 3 B]

Just read a recent thread addressing this and now can not find it. Putting on complete quarter or a partcial?

 

[eldubb440]

i always start by lining up the doors with the rocker panels...... then you can line up the quarters with the doors...... put the trunk lid between them and so forth........ mock up the front also, everything you dont mock up will bite you in the *** later.....

the sheetmetal and gaps dictate everything

i assembled this cuda body from one door opening and worked my way around as someone had already cut it up and left me with only one original rocker panel and hinge pillar, and a roof!

 

[Propwash]

Good advice and word's of wisdom by eldubb........"the sheetmetal and gaps dictate everything"

A couple questions; Do you plan on buying quarter skins or full quarters? Is the car not hacked to the point you can run quarter skins? Going off your picture, looks like they're hacked pretty high, but that doesn't mean you couldn't run a skin, because tying skin's on on the upper side/horizontal side of the quarter body line is possible (see Notherndave's RR Resto). Skin's, typically have an upper 2" lip or so, AMD anyways. Leaving part of the old quarters & using skins will definitely give a bit more ease when it comes to lining it back right, because you have less to worry about with trunk, roof and window opening alignment. Depending on the condition of the metal near the jams, you could also patch a skin in back from the jam, thus also making alignment a bit easier there as well. Never the less, those areas will still require close attention & work at those gaps.

If you need to go the full quarter route, it's just like eldubb mentioned "the sheetmetal and gaps dictate everything". It's going to be very critical to establish a good alignment at the jamb/door/rocker off the bat. If you think about it, that alignment will dictate door to fender alignment, to hood alignment, to grill alignment and playing with bumper alignment. In the back it will be door to quarter alignment (back/forth & in/out), to wheel opening alignment, C-pillar alignment, window opening alignment, trunk deck, dutchman, tail panel, extensions and so on. So, you can see there's a lot of stuff to get set right, and you need to be right from the get go. 1/8" off on one side of the spectrum can easily be 1/2" off by the time you reach the other side of the spectrum.

Also, like Benno mentioned....it would be a great idea to get that car up on stands and stationary or on a jig. You don't want to be moving that car (ex. jacking up a side) while in process of having panels removed/installing. These Uni-bodies are slinky's to begin with. Welded body panels tie the unibody together, along with the floors, and once you start removing them the structure really become susceptible to shift. Measurements are a must, along with some decent chassis bracing.

Good luck!

 

[eldubb440]

1/8" off on one side of the spectrum can easily be 1/2" off by the time you reach the other side of the spectrum.

so true...... people think i am nuts when i say " if i can just get another 32nd out of it"..... i literally shoot for 1/32 to perfection during mock up...... 1/16 isnt good enough

when 1/32 becomes 1/16, its not so bad; but when 1/16 becomes 1/8 you got problems

 

[morrow_jacob]

I was thinking the full quarter would be the way to go because I wasent sure how much meat on the top of the quarter I had with and considering its a long seam in the middle of a panel it might be easiest to go with the smaller seam on the sail. They also bent down the part that was over lapped by the patch panel. (I'd like to punch whoever did this in the mouth, but thats another story)



Ugly jam...



Do you think I could get away with skins?

I was going to do a quarter at a time and not use a jig. I read in an article you want the car on its wheels so it is properly loaded at its normal points. Id love a jig, but I'm not sure I have the space. As I found out on the day I brought her home, she is a big bitch!

 

[Propwash]

Eeekk! Yeah, you weren't lying........those quarters had the crap kicked out of them. If I was in your shoe's, I'd be saving up for a full set of quarters. You'd be going Frankenstein trying to graft in skins on that mess IMO. Probably could try to, but for the amount of extra work & headaches dealing with that mess, the nightmare wouldn't be worth it. Honestly, she may look like a monster now, but as soon as you get those out wheel houses repaired and anything needed on the tail & trunk, you'll be real surprised how much better the car will come across with new quarters.

I wouldn't worry about putting the car up on big/tall stands or a jig. You won't run into any issues if she's supported equally around the car & braced once you start removing critical uni-body panels. Nice thing about having the car up a bit higher off the pavement is obviously headroom/working room, but obviously you know your space limitations & what's feasible. You're right, Big cars indeed!