Camaro repro quarter to tailpan problems

[nkopper]

It's been a while since I've posted here, mainly because I'm finally making some good progress on my '69 Camaro. The problem I'm running into is the passenger side quarter to tailpan fitment. I've spent several hours trying to get it to fit, but the quarter almost seems to be about 1/4" too long. Any suggestions on how to get it to fit better? The rest of the quarter pretty good. This is a repro quarter, so I figured on a few fitment issues, but this one has me baffled.

Nathan

[1973tpi]

Hard to tell from pictures. But it looks good. Is the tailpan welded to the trunk? Is the tailpan welded to the inter panel? Is the door gap right? If so I would say pull the tailpan out to meet the quarter, clamp it , and weld it. Good luck.

[nkopper]

All other panels are factory and haven't been removed or replaced. I've tried to pull the tail pan out a little to meet the quarter, but I'm afraid of putting a wrinkle in it. The door gap is pretty good, about equivalent to the factory gaps. It seems that the quarter needs to twist a little, go forward on the bottom and back about 1/8" on top by the rear window filler panel. I just can't figure out where to bend/cut the quarter to make it do this.

Nathan

[bretcopsey]

This is a 68 build, but it may give you some ideas on how similar issues were addressed. I think around page 10 gets into 1/4 & rear panel.

http://www.camaros.net/forums/showthread.php?t=121480

[63SW]

Im sure theres a few ways to address this but heres what i did.

If you have good alignment at the door gap , the roof & rear window area , and the bottom where the rocker & 1/4 meet your where you should be.

REMEMBER - This isnt GM Quality or prices so you gotta deal with bad stampings.

At the rear window panel area where the 1/4 meets at the back by the deck lid... YOU DONT NEED TO MOVE IT BACK ..ITS STAMPED AT A BAD ANGLE ... .
I took a piece of sheetmetal , bent into a 90 and welded in to fil the gap for a nice fit ... you could also make a cut and ad a pie shaped piece in there .

AT THE BOTTOM where th tailpanel & lower 1/4 meet...THIS WAS A PAIN ... With the quarter in place , I marked ( ON THE FLAT SIDE OF THE 1/4 with a SCRIBE) at the distance it needed to go in...
I removed the 1/4 and hammered & dollied the 90deg bend that tucks into & behind the tailpanel flat ___ I then made a NEW BEND where i made the scribe line and refit...

ITS THE PART BETWEEN THE FLANGE THAT TUCK IN AND THE OUTSIDE OF THE 1/4 that is WIDE and wont allow it to set in flush.

( Or you could cut the flange off and reweld it back at the required depth....- Take back off to finish weld & clean up both sides.)

[nkopper]

That's what I needed to hear--the problem is the flange that goes behind the tail pan. I tried bending it numerous times in different directions with little sucess. I'm not sure which would be easier, cutting the flange off and rewelding or hammer-forming the bend where it needs to be. Guess I'll figure that out tonight.

I put my deck lid on and the gaps look good with the exception of the area highlighted by 63SW. You're right, the angle of the stamping is off compared to factory, the quarter can't go back any further.

Nathan

[63SW]

Glad i could help bud.

The car is still in my garage and bare metal till tuesday or wed , If you need any pictures , i can take some better shots for you , or maybe scan some of the 35MM pics i have on hand .

Good luck.
JC

[nkopper]

Pics would be great. Do you have any of the flange you rebent? I think my best bet is to cut the flange off and reweld, but I'd have to borrow a plasma cutter to get clean enough cut. I'm afraid that I won't be able to hammer form the bend without damaging the cosmetics of the quarter.

I wanted to smooth the tail pan to quarter gap anyway, so I may just cut off the flange, put a piece of welding rod in the gap, and weld the quarter and tail pan together. I really need to get a TIG and learn how to use it!

Nathan

[63SW]

That pic i dont have since the car is together and i didnt take one at that time ...I just didnt take time to stop and shoot while i was working .

What i did was used a dolly and hammered the bend where it tucks in behind the tail pan , and trimmed aprox 1/2 to 3/4 of a inch off( ONCE I STRAIGHTENED - and yours may be more or less )
THEN I TOOK A PAIR OF WELDING PLIERS that have a 4 inch wide grip and bent the lip back into the metal to tuck back in...ONCE I HAD A ROUGH BEND , I HAMMERED & DOLLIED TO THE CORRECT FORM...
Never really got near the outter edge of the 1/4 that shows...

IF YOUR GOING TO SMOOTH THE PANEL OUT BETWEEN THE 1/4 and the tail pan ...( MY OPINION ) You dont need a ROD to fill it in ,,, You should be able to get a nice tight fit and just weld it up ( AND A MIG IS OK , i have both Mig and Tig and i do all mine with the Mig - JUST BE SLOW and PATIENT When welding sheet metal.