After laying eyes on the sketch drawn by artist Ben Hermance, we were real antsy to get our ’68, known as Project Track Rat, to look as it does on paper. So, getting from our rather raggedy point-A to the finely finished point-Z of the rendering was going to be anything but quick.
We shelled out $5,900 for our project car and could tell that even though it was fairly solid, it did have a few issues. It turned out that under the innocent-looking tan primer lurked more than a little bondo and a whole lot of bad workmanship. Oh well, such is hot rodding. We often have to fix the sins of the past as well as the ravages of Mother Nature. In fact, about the only way to skip having to deal with bodywork would have been to buy a car as cherry as the rendering. But, if that were the case we certainly wouldn’t have paid $5,900 for it. That’s the catch 22; pay up front, or pay over the course of time. The big benefit to doing the work ourselves, or having it done under our watch, is that we’ll know it was done right.
Replacing quarters is one of the trickier endeavors one can tackle when it comes to panel replacement. After all, a new fender or hood is a bolt-on deal and even a door isn’t very tough to replace. But, a quarter panel is a whole other animal that requires special tools, practiced technique, and most importantly, a good eye. Do it wrong and you will have wasted more than just the cash you spent on the parts. You will have squandered something even more precious; time.
We know our limitations so we took our ’68 project car over to the crew at Best Of Show Coach Works in San Marcos, CA, to handle the panel transplant surgery. This way we know it will get done right the first time. While it’s hard to translate over thirty hours of work into a few pages, this should give you an idea of what’s involved and if it’s something you want to try and tackle yourself.
We can’t put on the new quarter...
We can’t put on the new quarter panel until the old one is out of the way. Here Dick Kvamme, of Best Of Show Coach Works (BOS), starts removing the main section with his handy Miller plasma cutter. He says it’s best to “sneak up” on the panel by removing the large sections, then carefully trim off the rest. If you try to do it all in one pass you’re likely to take off too much and just make more work for yourself than necessary.
Fire in the hole! Looks like...
Fire in the hole! Looks like our Track Rat project car was, at one time, home to a real rat. The rat’s bedding was stuffed between the trunk drop-off and quarter panel. Needless to say, it stank up the whole shop when the plasma cutter lit it up.
After using a variety of...
After using a variety of tools, including a plasma cutter, the main portion of the quarter panel comes off the car. It felt like we had done a lot, but getting to this point was actually pretty easy. We were then able to inspect other areas of the car, like the inner wheelhouses and the trunk drop offs, for damage and rot.
We found more evidence of...
We found more evidence of a hack-job on our poor camaro when the quarter was removed. The slackers that previously installed the quarter didn’t even bother to weld the c-pillar support to the wheelhouse. We also found that the same was true of the package shelf. Let’s hope they found another profession after working on this car.
Since the inner and outer...
Since the inner and outer wheelhouses were installed so poorly, we decided to bite the bullet and just replace them with fresh metal. Sometimes you have to go backwards to move forward, and we want this car to be right when it’s finished.
One of the harder pieces to...
One of the harder pieces to remove is in the doorjamb area. It’s tempting to leave this in place and make the new quarter fit to it. Don’t do it. Take the time and do it right. The extra effort put forth here will save us a lot of work down the line. Besides, more seams means more places for cracks and failures over time. The first thing we did was to find all the factory pinch welds and grind them down. Several of them are located around the area of the door striker. If you look closely you will see more evidence that this section is from a ’67 since it’s missing the doorjamb vent hole. We will cut a new one down the line.
With the main parts gone...
With the main parts gone we could start trimming off the excess metal using a variety of 3M cutting and grinding discs. If you’re planning on doing this yourself, make sure to budget in the cost of materials as they can add up in a hurry.
Since the replacement panel...
Since the replacement panel was attached incorrectly the leaded factory seam between the roof and quarter panel was still there. The best way to get rid of the old lead is with a torch and wire brush. Remember, lead isn’t good for you or the environment, so take the proper precautions.
After trimming away all the...
After trimming away all the excess and removing the inner and outer wheelhouses, this is what we were left with. If you look in the trunk you’ll notice a section of angle iron. This was tack-welded in place prior to removing all the panels to help keep the car from sagging with so much support removed. We also have the new trunk drop-off mocked up into place. Due to more bad workmanship we had to go ahead and remove the rear panels. As they say, “In for a penny, in for a pound.”