Progress Thread 1967 Fastback Project

[Ryan Miller]

So this is my project build thread.

This was a car that I bought in the 90's as a parts car (what was left of it). It was too rusty for serious work, but now with all the sheet metal available I figured to give it a try.


1967 Mustang Fastback, S code 390 C6 automatic
Circa 1995-1998

Final strip down December 2012

You can see some of the bullet holes from this angle - 28 total throughout the car

I took the shell down to a place in Fort Worth that dips the cars for rust and paint (non-acidic). they were expensive, but the car came out very clean. They went out of business last fall. Feb 2013

I was researching floor pans and got several recommendations for a new company called Thoroughbred GT. They are a new manufacturer of complete floor pan assemblies from tail light panel to firewall toe board. These are supposed to be top quality, better than the Dynacorn and fit well per the references I talked to and made in the USA.

SOOOOOOO, I ordered one.

It arrived last Thursday Feb 7, 2013.

It came to my local shipping terminal in a crate. I picked up 4 large swivel wheel castors (rubber inflatable) from Harbor frieght and made a basic wood cart. When I arrived at the shipping terminal and inspected the floor pan I had them put it directly onto the cart, which I then screwed to the wood cart. When I got home, I just pushed it off my trailer and into the shop.


Here are the photos of the floor pan, I have not uncrated it as of yet, but it has all the brackets for E brake, seat belts, dual exhausts, axle bumpers, etc. Much more detailed than I expected.

 

[Ryan Miller]

Plans are restomod.

I am going back to Vintage Burgandy with the black interior and keep mostly stock.

Mods: Power disc brakes up front, 5 speed manual transmission, traction lock rear with 3.5 gears, mild camshaft upgrade, aluminum intake and maybe heads too.

It should look mostly stock, but some moderate bolt ons to improve performance and reliability.

The floor pans are fairly rotten all the way back to the tail light panel and the firewall will need some work too along with the battery tray apron and radiator support and both rear quarters.

My goal right now is to get the body back into shape and later will work on the rolling parts.

Here she is late FEB 2013 coming out of the tank.

So it is now rust free. Although it has numerous holes from the rust.

damage estimated: firewall rusted out quite a bit. cowl - driver side hat channel rusted out. Floor pans - almost gone. Floor pan over transmission has rust. Both rear quarters have rust on over wheel wells and lower rear areas, tail light panel around tail light bezels rusted out, lower parts of the shock towers rusted out and the inner fender panel tops where the panel overlap are rusted out.

I spent a couple days setting up the jig frame using measurements from the Ford manual and cross referencing them to the car. Some measurements from the book were little different, but the measrements were consistent from driver to passenger, front to back so I don't know if that was differences between the 3 production plants.

I talked to Nate at Thoroughbred GT and he said that when installing the floor pans in early mustangs, the measurements were a little different depending on the assembly plant.

So I leveled up the jig moutning locations and checked them with a spirit level and a laser lavel, then mounted the car on the jig.
although the jig is on wheels, I lock the wheels and do not move it until the major frame work is complete and my panels are lining up.

Here are a few photos.

I made a jig point to the lower door hinge mount to stabilize the cowl section for work in that area.

I also took some 1inch square tubing and put in lateral stabilzers low close to the floor so that when I take out the floor it will help to keep some rigidity.

Doesn't sound like much, but with all the running around I had to do this morning, half the day was a bust.

I looked into making one of these jigs and really it is not rocket science, but for the price I could not do it better or cheaper considering the time and running around getting the parts.

Why reinvent the wheel? I just modify stuff as needed for the project.

I had to work most of the weekend, but I spent some time in the shop Saturday night.

This took about 4.5 hours with a spot weld drill bit, drill, a 3 lb hammer and a very thin hardened steel masonary chisel. I am not as fast as Horse Sense!

Now the floor is out and I cleaned up the passenger side front frame extension. I need to get the torque box off the driver side and take off what is left of the driver side frame extension.

Due to limited shop space down here in Texas, I moved the jig for now. I have everything marked on the jig and on the floor to put it back exactly where it was and then I will recheck it before I put the car back on it.

I am debating on if I should take out the inner rocker panel piece - an new inner piece is on the new floor pan assembly. I cut a small hole in the fender well at the back of the rocker to look inside and it doesn't look too bad, but there is a lot of debris still in there.

 

[68GT500KR_Vert]

looks good

 

[Ryan Miller]

Torque box removal: best to remove in two pieces

there were over 80 spot welds on each rocker.

I worked to take out the inner rocker panels - about 2.5 hours per side, plus a little time grinding/cleaning up then sprayed corrosion resistant zinc weld thru primer. A good solid 6 hours or so.

The inside of the rockers was clean bare metal. The driver side had no corrosion evidence, the passenger side has a couple of spots with some mild surface corrosion pitting.

the dipping process cleaned all the rust up inside and out.

Next I worked on filling a few spot weld drill holes and then got the car lift up on an extra set of blocks. On retrospect I should not have had the car left up almost all the way when I set the jig. I wanted to have plenty of room to work above and below at the time. With the new floor pan assembly there is noting to clean/primer underneath.
View attachment 118057

I have blocked up the engine/car lift a little more.

Now I need to drill a few spot weld holes in the new floor pan to plug weld and try to fit this large floor pan assembly.

April 2013

Next I did get the floor pan out of the crate and onto the jig and then I drilled 1/4 inch holes across the top of the new inner rocker on the floor pan.

On the bottom of the inner rocker I left it alone, it seems that it would be difficult to get to from the inside with the floor pan just above.

I instead drilled the 3/16 holes on the bottom of the outer rocker on the car.

I plan to practice some with the Eastwood setup and if it goes well I will do that across the bottom of the rocker - otherwise I will go back to 1/4 inch.

The strap is to keep the floor pan in place while fitting and it was very windy in Texas the day I took the photo.

Went out to the shop and started to work.

1st: I finished welding a few crappy spot welds on the new floor pan - they let the spot welder get too hot - I bet they didn't have a water cooled spot welder.

2nd: I moved the jig back under the car in great anticipation

3rd: I coaxed and worked the car body and the floor pan multiple times

I picked the front up higher and slide the back bumber brackets over the tail light panel ledge.

The car body was stuck about 1.5 inches from going all the way back.
Then I realized that the tail light panel on the bottom was bent in - a light went on - I remembered that bent rear bumper I took off a couple months ago.

I looked at the tail light panel and sure enough it was bent in down on the bottom edge. I bent it out quite a bit and then hinged the front end of the car up and down a few times and finally it came in some.

The floor pan is still back about 1/4 of an inch from where I think it needs to be. I may have to take out the tail light panel or just bend it some more at the bottom. The car lined up with the jig after some more work up front, but I am not sure about the last 1/4 inch. It is tight at the back of the inner wheel house to trunk floor corner.

I had to call it quits tonight and will study my situation for a few days and hit it this Saturday.

It is not the 90%, but the last 10% that always causes all the trouble.

If it was easy, everyone would be doing it, right?

Here are the pictures:

1st photo is the car coming down onto the floor pan, nice and easy.

The next photo is showing that the car is level from side to side and the rocker panels are level. Each of the stabilizing bars I put in were level. All of these were level before and are level now.

This photo shows the jig points are lining up, I also checked the jig points on the new floor - 62 inch X 62 inch diagonally so it is square. Same as my old floor pan.

This photo shows my inner fender well at the front near the floor pan junction and the 1/4 or so inch gap.

Here is the before shot on the inner fender well to floor pan. You cannot see it very well, but there was a bit of a gap and the spot welder pinched each weld. Then the assembly line workers applied copious amounts of sealant - which was removed during the dipping process.

The last photo is the car on the jig, I did add the cowl jig points at the lower door hinge mount location after this photo and it lined right up. As you will notice I still need to get the front of the floor pan into position a little higher up, but I figured that will wait until I get the floor pan back another 1/4 inch.

 

[Ryan Miller]

The fit issue at the tail light panel was due to some bullet holes.

The arrows are where there are dents, the small arrow is a bullet dent where the bullet did not go through the car - shot from the front. The top two dents do not seem to be enough to have moved the top line of the tail light panel.

I am probably going to have to undo some of the jig and get the body up to move the floor pan - it was not easy to get everything on the jig.

Another note: some of my gap issues are probably from when I took the old panel out and had to get in between the panels and then I did bend them in a little toward the bottom of the inner fender wells to help make sure the new floor would slide in and not catch.

FLOOR PAN IS IN! View attachment 118048

My ma and pa came down for Easter weekend. Dad helped me pull the body back up off the floor pan and the jig and we refit it/lowered it back down.

I don't know if it is because I have done this a few times now or if having an extra person to help did it, but it was much easier this time around. Dad tapped a few places as it was going down and helped to push it in place while I was working other areas- something I could not do by myself.

In retrospect, it is a two person job.

Lowering the body onto the frame (while it is setting on the jig) was the best way to go - I forgot to mention that when I took the floor pan out of the crate onto the jig that is is a little floppy (like dead weight). I cannot imagine trying to push up evenly on the floor pan from beneath to get it into the body.

I reattached the front end to the jig and then we worked on getting the front of the floot pan in.

I took a jack and a piece of a 2X4 and then started at the back of the inner rocker and jacked up the floor pan a little section at a time - vise gripping along the way and did both sides. The floor pan went up nicely and so did the frame extensions, they did not even need to be tapped up.

There is still more of a gap at the inner wheel well where I showed you guys last time, but it is better - if they would have left a little more of a lip projecting downward, that would be great to bend up and take up the left over space. It will bend up, but there is not much to spot weld to so I may doa small fillet weld to the inner wheel house there and put in seam sealer.

I also checked again to make sure the body is level along with the frame jig pioints from side to side.

Here are the photos.

First photo is after the fact, but I put the jack up there for demonstration.

Next 3 photo shows the level references rechecked. See arrows. I also used a laser level to check from side to side and if the floor pan assembly was squarely down the middle of the body.

Last photo is a rear shot. I reattached the side cowl mount at the lower door hinge location and it lined up.

This is the corrosion resistant weld thru primer I am using on the surfaces that will be spot welded.

 

[Ryan Miller]

May 2013
My thoughts on the floor pan assembly from Throughbred GT are:

Pro:
1. Detailed - make sure you are specific on year and what you need on the floor pan- early vs. late (brake/fuel line routing), type of rear axle, dual exhuast, convertible or fastback/hardtop, etc. Stampings were good and matched the original close - not exact but close.
2. quality primer - not DP40, but a good basic red primer
3. Fit - seemed to fit realatively well - pan was square and level


Cons:
1. bad spot welds - about 1 in 10 were bad and I had to weld them up - I am told by others they have since fixed this issue.
2. needs primer coating inside the frame rails
3. save your seat brackets, rear brake line bracket, you will need to properly locate these onto the new floor pan - but that is not a big issue.
4. outer passenger seat belt backing on both sides is a threaded block of steel instead of the original style bracket.
5. some of the flanges could have a little extra metal to help fill small gaps between panels at the rear of the inner rocker panel

I have done the floor pan patches up front and in the trunk. I have also done the one piece floor pan up front and in the trunk. Compared to these this complete floor pan assembly was overall easier and saved time.

If you are on a lower budget and have lots of free time/experience then the individual pans might be a better option - if your frame rails are good.

Would I buy this again - yes and I would mention the issues I had before buying to make sure they can try to provide a better product.

I think this is a good product and would rather do it this way now that I have some experience with it.

Time on this was:
Floor pan assembly removal - 5 hours
Inner rocker panel removal - 3 hours each
torque box removal - 1.5 hours
Fitting the floor pan back onto the body - 8 hours (now that I have done it I think the next one will take more around 4 - 5 hours)

Part of what saved time was having the body dipped for removal of rust, paint and sealer. With the car being 100% rust free now it saved time cleaning up panels and evaluating where rust might have eaten through.

I hope this helps some of you out, it is not as hard to do as it looks, just requires a few extra tools to move big heavy metal precisely in small increments (I don't think having 6 guys holding up on the body or floor pan for 30 minutes to several hours would work).

 

[Ryan Miller]

June 2013
So progress on the Mustang has been slower since I got back from my Army Mission in central America - they piled it high on me at my job when I got back too.

So far I have got the new floor pan assembly welded in at the inner/outer rockers and the inner wheel houses. I did not weld the tail light panel or rear quarter panels to the floor pan assembly because new sheet metal parts will be forthcoming.

I also got the driver side torque box primed inside and out and then welded it back into its original location.

I have the passenger side torque box clamped in place and I will weld it in after test fitting when I get to the firewall.

Last weekend I took out the radiator support and lower frame piece as one unit. Then I looked inside the frame rails. Driver side looks good and clean just needs some primer to prevent corrosion. The Passenger side not as good and has some pin holes on the outer edge between extension bracket mounting holes. I cut the 5 spot welds that hold the bumper extension bracket and pulled it out of the frame rail. The rust between the bracket and the frame rail are still present so I scraped it some and may shoot it a little with a small portable sand blaster and replace part or a section of the frame rail.

Photo 1 - passenger side torque box.

June 2013
I took off a section of the front frame rail, repaired the area and then after cleaning, primer, painting the inside of the frame rail I welded back in the bumper extension bracket and the frame piece I took off.

I fit the new radiator support and it fit fairly well, but the hood bumper brackets on it are crooked (thanks Dynacorn) so I will adjust those later.

Next I took off the passenger rear bumper bracket and adjusted it to fit the tail light panel (then tacked it into place for now), the driver side bracket was good.

This last weekend I took off the upper/lower cowl and after the July 4th holiday I am going to take out what is left of the firewall. The new Dynacorn firewall and lower cowl panel (in grey weld through primer) came in the mail yesterday.

Cowls have the usual rust around the hat channels, not as bad as some I have seen. I am going to try and reuse the upper cowl panel.

Before the cowl goes back in I am going to work on the dash panel rust.

First photo is the passenger torque box I split, painted and then welded, clamped into place.

NOTE: when I took the export brace off, the brace without bolts in it at the firewall is more toward the rear of the car and the holes are off about 1/4 or so of an inch - 0.4 - 0.7cm for you guys. I lowered the front of the frame jig and stood on it and it improved a little, but not perfect. I probably should have waited to weld the driver torque box in. I am thinking that with a 390 engine up front, if I get it up on a lift it will go on without trouble. I was still able to use a screw driver to apply leverage in one of the holes to move it into place, which is what I had to do before.

 

[Ryan Miller]

July 2013
Firewall is out and I have the new firewall and lower cowl panel.

I am going to fit the cowl panels back to the cut spot welds using the holes on the cowl top panel to line up with the drilled spot weld marks.

I test fitted the new firewall, and drilled 1/4 and 3/16 inch holes in locations to plug weld. The firewall slide under the front of the floor pan. To fit the new firewall I had to make several relief cuts in the hump of the floor pan, which I can weld/grind and will not be seen once the carpet is in.

First photo is the car without firewall/cowl panel - I am going screw everything together and then test fit with the new hood and front fenders.

Second photo is of the new and old firewall for comparison. I will get better photos and photos of the new lower cowl panel.

Overall the new firewall seems to be a good fit and the stamping is fairly close to the original. The sheet metal is a bit thicker, which cannot hurt. The new panel also comes with reinforcement at the area where the pedal support caused flexing before.

OK so for an update:

I have fitted and welded the firewall in place and then I fitted the two halves of the cowl on the car, then used sheet metal screws to hold them in place and welded them together.

I also used an old partial dash panel I had and welded in a patch and dash pad support to fix all the dash rust.

I am going to order front fenders and the hood for fitting purposes prior to final welding of the firewall/cowl.

I made metal patches for the rust section on the top of the inner fender splash panels and welded them in after cleaning things out.

It has been slow lately, some bills came up and diverted my funds - Air condtioner at the house and a few other things.

I will try to get a few photos up, but overall it is not very dramatic at this point.

OCT 2013
So it has been a while since I posted an update.

I worked on:
dash and dash pad support.
Intall new firewall
Fitted and welded the lower/upper cowl together
Fitted the cowl assembly to the car
Repositioned the outer door X brace I put on to the inside of the car so I can hang the doors for rear quarter panel fitting.
Fixed the rust on the top of the inner fender/engine bay aprons at the overlaps
Bought rear quarters, decklid, outer wheel wells

The dash pad had soaked up moisture from the broken windshield and rusted. I had part of an old original dash and cut it to fit, then welded it in place. I also took the dash pad support of the parts piece and had it dipped for rust/paint and then welded it to the dash.

Here is the firewall fitting/welding. To get the firewall in with the floor pan there I had to make some strategic cuts to pull it back a little on the floor pan transmission hump and then reelded.

Here is the fitting of the cowl and export brace. I had to loosen up the front mounts on the jig to work the brace back into place. I used clamps and small sheet metal screws to hold it in place for now.

 

[Ryan Miller]

Figured I would post a photo of my restoration crew.

Well, you all know how hard it is to find good help these days, but these guys work for pennies and candy (literally).

Some days they are more help than others, but overall they try really hard.

 

[Ryan Miller]

NOV 2013

The reproduction decklid did not fit at all - found a guy with a good rust free/dent free original and it should be coming in the mail. I also ordered Ford Tooling fenders and hood.

While waiting on some fenders, hood and decklid.... I welded on the rear seat brackets and picked up some parts from the platers (window channels, door latches, etc.) I had some cad plated and then the hood hinges/springs phosphate and oil.
I also welded in my spare tire bracket. I am reusing as much original parts as I can.

I also had the door latches replated - cadmium with gold sealant.

 

[Ryan Miller]

DEC 2013
OK, so while waiting on a better decklid - supposedly this next one is thicker metal and improved fit. Time vs. money right ( I am still eyeing that 90's Ford manufacture decklid for $1000 -

). I should get the Ford tooling fenders/hood and the improved repro decklid in the next 2 weeks.

I welded on the brake line bracket at the back of the floor pan and then fit the old doors. These doors have been off the car for 20 years and are fairly beat up with the passenger side having a bullet hole and some nasty dings on the main door line.

HOWEVER they fit pretty darn well - 1/4 inch gap except in a couple spots in narrows a little in a couple spots from dents and on the passenger rear the door sticks out a little, but I can probably bend it in a little. It did not take much time/effort to line them up. I rebuilt the hinges last month so everything is tight.

SO ...... I am thinking about getting the doors dipped for rust/paint removal, fix the rust rot in the front lower corner of the shells and reskin them.

I could get new door shells and cut/weld/bend and probably not have as good of a fit. Will spend about the same money either way.

I also took off my old E-brake brackets and welded them onto the new floor pan after taking measurements for locations.

 

[Ryan Miller]

JAN 2014
I will give a brief update....

I got the used decklid and the good news is that it has no bondo, major dents or rust, but needs the primer removed - soda blasting in the future.

Bad news is that the guy that boxed up to ship it did not put anything on the corners so the driver side got dog ear bent upward at the driver side front corner and driver side rear lip bent in some.
I carefully bent the corners back, but the front corner is also bent inward a little so the decklid fits great everwhere but the driver front corner is low.

I am going to probably cut the reinforcement at the back side with a dremel and bend it back then weld up.

NEXT

I put the hood/fenders on to fit up prior to cowl welding. The hood was way off - at first I thought it was the old hood hinges so I orded new ones. After installing the hood fit exactly the same - pointing off to the passenger side.

Then after two weeks of tinkering (measureing the front end for square to itself and the car and the hood for square) and sleepless nights to figure out where I went wrong a light came on.

I had pulled the front frame rail down a bit to fit the export brace but had not rechecked to see if I was level. The torque boxes are not completely welded in and the cowl is not either. The firewall is welded onto the front aprons and the toweboard to the floor pan and that is it.

The firewall to side cowl and upper/lower cowl are only screwed in place.

Well the driver side had come down an extra 1/4 inch more than the passenger side (confirmed with laser level). I move it back up and presto the sheet metal came into alignment.

I will post photos tonight. Now I am concerned that once I weld her up that the frame rail has flexed enough that it will want to put downward pressure and once off the jig I may have to take it to a frame shop.


SO I pushed the very front of the driver frame rail up past level after making sure the car was secured to the jig. It wants to settle near laser level now.

I have not welded in the torque boxes at the frame rail drop off - see photo and I have not welded in the cowl or the firewall to the cowl sides.

The frame rail is now set at dead level from pass to driver and all points are within less than 1/16th inch back to the rear frame rail.

The fenders/hood/cowl line up great and gaps are good. Fenders and hood are original Ford tooling. Fenders needed some tweaking - will post again with what they needed, but it was not bad.

I think once the torque boxes, cowl, firewall and radiator support are welded in that should keep the rail level. I will know quickly once I have it off the jig if the hood/fenders/cowl still line up.

here are the photos. - photo of torque box rail drop off and the driver frame rail jig point - can't see the laser line very well in the photo and the car level with the front sheet metal on.

I played around with it a little and as much as 1/4 to 1/2 inch above or below level can make the hood swing over either fender at the front and make it angle off from the cowl at the center line.

After welding up the torque box, the frame rail sits level on its own. Next I welded up the cowl/firewall after taking all the front sheet metal off for the 8th time.

FEB 2014
I had today off, so I cut the battery tray apron and welded in a patch, then finish ground the welds. I marked the holes and will drill the hole and weld in the reinforcement backing after I get the new battery tray I ordered yesterday.

I also finished fitting the radiator support and front cross frame piece and welded them in. I have to dress the welds and I still need to spot weld a couple more spots, but not bad for an afternoon.

I also cut off the crooked hood support brackets and welded the originals on. Then put the hood back on to the radiator support piece. After grinding welds and shooting some primer in bare spots i put the fenders back on.

Right now I have the tail light panel screwed with a reproduction and I am in the process of cutting the spot welds on the driver side rear quarter for a full quarter panel replacement.

I will add more photos when I get my new computer as my current one is barely holding on.

 

[Ryan Miller]

Here are the photos of the new rear quarter panels:

 

[68GT500KR_Vert]

Nice progress

 

[horse sence]

Check those quarter ends with a pair of end caps, Dynacorn welded the ones in my convert panels way off .I had to drill the spot welds, move every thing and re weld them to make the end caps fit right .

 

[Ryan Miller]

Horse Sense,

I cut to the end cap backing panel off and will use the original - still on the car. I forgot to check to see if the end caps fit better. I think you are right in that the backing is welded in wrong and so the mounting holes do not allow the quarter extension/end cap line up correctly with the contour of the rear quarter.

I just got my new computer and will have some time this weekend to post photos.

 

[Ryan Miller]

It has been a while since my last update. I have done some work on and off over the last couple months.

BIG NEWS: We are moving back to Kansas. View attachment 117669

BAD NEWS: I will not have a place locally to work on the mustang. I will keep it in storage at Dad's and work on it occasionally until the transition is over and I have a shop - hopefully 1-3 years. It will be a 3 hour drive from mom and dad's to where we will be living.

Here is what I have done over the last month and this weekend I plan to get the passenger rear quarter panel on.

First photo - lead removal - after I had all the other spot welds cut on the rear quarter panel - driver side first.

Next photo shows the driver side rear quarter off, the outer wheel well was rotted more than shows in the photo. I did keep the original trunk gutter and quarter to tail light intermediate piece.

The next photo shows the new outer wheel house with a fresh coat of primer. I had to cut the rear part of the new wheel house and work on the exterior curvature to get everything to line up. I made sure it was well seated at the front where it fits into the rocker panel.

This photo shows the new rear quarter for fitting. I will have to do the cut on the rear quarter to trunk panel as Kerry has shown in (No Back Fastback). I also had to do a small cut down at the front of the wheel well at the rocker as the wheel opening was flared all the down and it stuck out a little at the rear of the rocker panel.

I will also need to make the rear quarter lines along the rear window more prominent - Kerry suggested a body file so that will be forthcoming.

The final photo shows the pass rear quarter panel off, I did cut the outer wheel house.

This weekend I am going to clean up spot weld cuts and get the pass rear quarter fitted.

I still need to fit the rear quarter fender extensions too - more work.

BOTTOM LINE: I need to get as much done as I can this weekend and some next week as we are packing now and moving in May. I am also working on fresh paint, etc for selling the house.

PS: I also cut the back reinforcement on the driver side of the decklid where it was bent during damage and got it lined up with the rear quarter prior to removal.
Will post a photo later...

Also here is a photo of the old rear quarter panels - goodbye bullet holes, only a couple left on the car now.

 

[Ryan Miller]

Here are the photos of the mods for the front fenders.

NOTE: These fenders are the Ford Tooling by Artiflex - $$$$
Quality control has been lacking some from what several venders tell me

Recap: The fenders look pretty good, but the driver side was low when compared to the cowl and the passenger side was high. I checked the cowl and it is level and I put it right back to the original spot welds.

So I cut three spot welds on the inner reinforcement which allowed me to tweak the fenders for a more perfect fit to the cowl and doors.

I then drilled a small hole and put in a self tapping screw to hold it in place for now until I do any final fitting tweaking after reskinning the doors.

 

[Ryan Miller]

OK, So I tried to get a head start last night and ended up quitting about 1 AM in frustration.

I just got off work today and have been thinking on where to go next.

So I tried to fit up the passenger side rear quarter. It does not want to fit at the lower front at the door/rocker panel area so I don't know if the quarter is not on the car or if it was not cut/bent there correctly (the driver side wanted to do that some too, but I got it down by pushing down and putting a screw in the back side).
I have pushed down and can get it close, but cannot seem to get the panel lines to line up with the door. The door gap is not bad. When I pull down to get the quarter-rocker gap in front closed it sucks in the panel and the panel lines are in too far to meet up with the door. I may be able to stretch them back out some with the top of the panel unclamped and leave the bottom screwed down.

The deck lid gap to fender is not very good either. The quarter is up a lot higher than the old panel. I don't have it clamped here, but it is not easy to push it around.

Here is the deck lid at the tail light panel - it is level.

Here is the unclamped driver side quarter - not a bad fit, the decklid could come down a bit.

The rear quarter end caps still don't line up well, but I think the panel can be adjusted to fit the end caps better. I can get some more photos of that - right now I am trying to get the pass quarter to fit better.

Any ideas? I had to walk away last night... View attachment 117617 maybe I should have kept the trunk gutter on the rear quarter. Maybe I should start over and get Dynacorn rear quarters?

 

[horse sence]

I think the rear frame rails are sagging ,that is pulling down on the rear of the quarters and lifting the front .