More rear valance help needed

[65Rob]

I was staring at it today and starting to make a template but it just doesn't look right. I was going to add onto the valance assuming it was the offending part but my quarter panel doesn't look right. It was also replaced prior to me getting the car and I know it was put on poorly in some areas, I already replaced the bottom of them between the door and wheel well.

Anyway, shouldn't the seam that runs between the valance and the quarter be basically a straight line? The bottom of my quarter curves in a lot, I'm now thinking I need to add on to the quarter so I'll have a seam that follows the very near to straight line on the valance? Does that make sense? I wish I had a nicely restored one near by to look at for reference constantly.

 

[gregski]

went looking on the web for you for some pictures

 

[PoppyMod]

I was staring at it today and starting to make a template but it just doesn't look right. I was going to add onto the valance assuming it was the offending part but my quarter panel doesn't look right. It was also replaced prior to me getting the car and I know it was put on poorly in some areas, I already replaced the bottom of them between the door and wheel well.

Anyway, shouldn't the seam that runs between the valance and the quarter be basically a straight line? The bottom of my quarter curves in a lot, I'm now thinking I need to add on to the quarter so I'll have a seam that follows the very near to straight line on the valance? Does that make sense? I wish I had a nicely restored one near by to look at for reference constantly.

Hi Rob,
This area usually requires a lot of massaging. The ideal situation would have been performing a mock-up of the both rear qtrs and the valance before final assembly. However, that's wishful thinking now. So, you could entertain the idea of a combination of trimming metal and building out the profile with welding rod or similar.
Some of the repo panels are pretty bad. My fit looks very similar to the 1st pic displaying the bumperette and same color too
Good Luck!

 

[65Rob]

went looking on the web for you for some pictures

Wow, that was incredibly nice of you. I see some very nice cars with really big gaps that they just live with. I'm not able to do that, it just makes me nuts, the fit on this white 67 is what I will be shooting for

Thanks again for doing this

Hi Rob,
This area usually requires a lot of massaging. The ideal situation would have been performing a mock-up of the both rear qtrs and the valance before final assembly. However, that's wishful thinking now. So, you could entertain the idea of a combination of trimming metal and building out the profile with welding rod or similar.
Some of the repo panels are pretty bad. My fit looks very similar to the 1st pic displaying the bumperette and same color too
Good Luck!

Yeah that would have been ideal but the quarters and valance were done before I got the car. I've had to redo most of the previous work done on it along with a lot that should have been done while they were at it. Not that it matters as I would have had to do re-do that anyway. All in all I would have been way better off getting one that had never been touched to start with, oh well.

 

[gregski]

I see some very nice cars with really big gaps that they just live with. I'm not able to do that, it just makes me nuts...

I think you worry too much, the only ones who will be looking at it, will be the guys in their Chevys behind you, LOL, jk, I know what you mean

 

[65Rob]

I think you worry too much, the only ones who will be looking at it, will be the guys in their Chevys behind you, LOL, jk, I know what you mean

Unfortunately things like this bug me too much, nobody else may notice but I'll know.

I got started with making the patches today, I'll be adding onto both the valance and the quarter. Lots of fitting left to do but you get the idea, trim and shape the pieces on the outsides to fit and then weld them in

 

[gregski]

hey bud show us a photo of the other side so we can get some perspective please, from what I'm hearing is that one side is worse than the other because that quarter was replaced, right? two three pictures from a couple angles

 

[65Rob]

I haven't chewed into the other side yet so I'm not sure what it really looks like, this side looked fine until I started grinding all the filler out. I'm away for the weekend but I'll take some pics when I get back. Both quarters were replaced so my guess is the other side sucks too, we'll see.

 

[Bitter]

Okay.... Now you've got me interested. I'm not going for concours so I was going to weld and fill mine but now I'm interested in how this turns out. Post lots of pictures as you go, if you don't mind.

 

[2+2GT]

Okay.... Now you've got me interested. I'm not going for concours so I was going to weld and fill mine but now I'm interested in how this turns out. Post lots of pictures as you go, if you don't mind.

OK, then, this is the "concours correct" just-sold-for-over-$100,000 rear valence gap you are looking for:

 

[65Rob]

Well at least the "concours correct" gap is even, mine is lemon shaped. As mine isn't a Shelby or anything of particular value, not even numbers matching, I have the luxury of making repairs better than original. It's mild restomod so I get a clean slate

As far as the repair, there isn't much to it, I bent some 90 degree blanks up and put some relief cuts in one side so it would bend to the curve. Trimmed the other side to fit and welded it in. One side is roughed in, still need to clean it up after I do the other side. Already looks way better.

held in place with a magnet

 

[EP429]

Looking good

 

[gregski]

well there you go, you're getting there, looks like it's not your first Rodeo

 

[RXTbone]

This thread is kind of humorous - I think like you do. All gaps should be perfect. Shows you how spoiled we are by modern cars. I don't have your skill - so, I've had to live with it. I was running a gauge down the door gaps, and my Dad (who's 70), said, 'Son, what are you doing?' I told him I was trying to make the door gap perfect. He laughed at me, and said, 'I owned three of those Mustangs, brand new - and wasn't a one of them that came out of the factory with gaps the way you're working them...' Doesn't mean we shouldn't try...

 

[65Rob]

Looking good

Thanks, should look good when I do the same to the valance side

well there you go, you're getting there, looks like it's not your first Rodeo

No it isn't, been doing this foolishness for quite a long time, but it's a different car each time so there's always new problems to deal with.

This thread is kind of humorous - I think like you do. All gaps should be perfect. Shows you how spoiled we are by modern cars. I don't have your skill - so, I've had to live with it. I was running a gauge down the door gaps, and my Dad (who's 70), said, 'Son, what are you doing?' I told him I was trying to make the door gap perfect. He laughed at me, and said, 'I owned three of those Mustangs, brand new - and wasn't a one of them that came out of the factory with gaps the way you're working them...' Doesn't mean we shouldn't try...

That's very true, factory fit on most of these older cars is terrible. Makes me crazy trying to get even gaps everywhere.

 

[PoppyMod]

Well,
I have quality story or lack of. When restoring my early model CVT, I found the left rear floor and back panel and driver's side panel without body color. It's if though, the lunch whistle blew (or perhaps a Fri/Mon thing) and upon return, the guy just started shooting the next body in-line. No quality checks, at all.
I too, believe we tend to over restore our cars. That's why, I don't get all "jetted up" when some neophyte makes a negative comment about my body panel fitment. I just tell him it's OEM of the era.

 

[2+2GT]

I told him I was trying to make the door gap perfect. He laughed at me, and said, 'I owned three of those Mustangs, brand new - and wasn't a one of them that came out of the factory with gaps the way you're working them...' Doesn't mean we shouldn't try...

Funny thing is, Ford had the best body panel fit in the industry back then. This laser-guided robotic stuff was only in the movies, then.

 

[PoppyMod]

Funny,
I don't re-call "Bond", "James Bond" being amused at the time!

 

[65Rob]

I find it odd that we became so tolerant of what amounts to nothing less than poor factory/engineering standards, call it what you will, when generally speaking we aren't like that. I realize that something special needs to be restored to the exact same condition it had in the show room, poor panel fit, overspray in all the correct places, grease pencil markings here and there, because that's what the collector wants. I find none of that even remotely visually appealing, but it's done for different reasons. Personally I don't think you can over restore a plain jane, I'm not knocking myself out adding material everywhere to make things perfect, but when I do have to make a repair, like the one in this thread, I can make it near perfect with the exact same effort as it would take to make it OEM terrible. I make no apologies for that, to each his own.

 

[palerider94]

Man and I thought I was picky