It looks great, coming together nice.

Some major work going on here. :yes: It's starting to come back together nicely. Keep up the good work! :thumbsup:

When I first saw the new body panels clamped to the car it made me nervous.

I guess you could say the body lines and gaps were in the same zip code from part to part but it was more than obvious a lot of massaging would be needed to get everything better than new.

Kevin and the rest of the gang at V8TV didn't seem at all surprised that the trunk lid did not match the tail panel which also did not match the quarters very well.

They first reminded me that in 1969 cars varied from each other when they left the factory plus over 40 years of use and abuse leads to a lot more variations in any one car.

They assured me they have seen worse and that they knew how to cure all the issues we were looking at.

Of course the goal of this build is to make everything fit even better than when the car originally left the factory.

Look at the "new parts just clamped together" body line mismatches between the deck lid, tail panel and quarters...

http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/...sc540f8d8.jpeg

http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/...s38f5d182.jpeg

Here are just some of the tricks Nick and Nathan had up their sleeves..

First the desired deck lid gap behind the rear window was set. (Those miserable corner gaps will be fixed later by reshaping the deck lid corners).

http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...2.03.12_44.JPG

The quarters were clamped on while paying close attention to the door gaps. (The door gaps will be further improved later too).

http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...2.03.12_35.JPG

They decided it would be worth transplanting the rear drip rail from the original tail panel to the new tail panel in order to get the best results. Here it is tacked in place after numerous trial fits.

http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...2.05.12_03.JPG

Since we wanted a tighter than new gap between the deck lid and the tail panel across the back of the car, the corresponding height of each quarter panel had to be adjusted.

http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...2.05.12_23.JPG


To do that, each side was measured and marked where the new folds needed to be in order the effectively "lower" the quarter panels to the height of the deck lid.

http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...2.05.12_36.JPG

A little cutting and notching was then done to allow reshaping things as needed to achieve the proper gap between the quarters and the tail panel.

http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...2.05.12_34.JPG

To make the body lines and gaps between the tail panel and the quarters match up better required similar marking, notching and reshaping was needed.

http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...2.06.12_12.JPG


http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...2.06.12_10.JPG


http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...2.06.12_20.JPG

It all started coming together better and better..

http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...2.06.12_22.JPG


http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...2.06.12_24.JPG


http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...2.06.12_29.JPG


Now that things were looking good the tail panel could be prepared for final welding in place.

http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...2.11.12_21.JPG

After a little more detail work, the quarters will be removed once again, prepared for final welding and then reinstalled permanently.

Amazing to watch but I don't think you are supposed to be giving away all those "secrets".... :_paranoid



Jeff-

We'll have to see if Kevin reels me in for showing some of their "secrets" but generally, V8TV's whole philosophy is to show people how things work in the real world so they can either better do the job themselves or at least know what to expect in work they have done by others.

For me, it's one thing see their secrets but quite another to be able to replicate them. It takes serious skill and experience like Trevor, Nick and Nathan's to actually execute.

Glad you are enjoying the tread!!

looking good :hail:

Nice Job on the Tailpanel,coming out very nice :cheers:

The car is coming together nicely.... especially like the close up shots of the right way to fix things. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

I will be adding quarters this summer so it's nice to see how it's done.

Thanks!

Very nicely done, I wish my tail panel fit that good.:thumbsup:

Thanks for the kinds words, and thank you Lou for continuing to post the story and the pics, your doing a great job!

We're not concerned with divulging any "secrets", like he said, we just want people to see what goes into these kinds of projects so they know what to expect on their own, or aren't blindsided if a shop tells them that their parts didn't fit perfectly straight out of the box.

We've been working on the cage and some additional sheet metal work, and I'm sure Lou's updates will continue to do a great job telling the story. We've also got more videos coming soon!