1967 Firebird Convertible - Project "LEGACY"

[Sonar Chief]

Nice to hear you are winning the war with the quarters!!! My driver's side AMD quarter came in yesterday ..... so here goes, well I'm only doing one side at a time, for my reference THE OTHER SIDE!

Good luck getting it back together ... test of patience fer sure.

[Firebird-Geek]

Originally Posted by Svegliato

Hey, did you ever get that LQ installed in your Firebird? How well does that work? Much work, etc?

Actually its is Both Quarters, tail panel, wheelhouses, rear valance, trunk fill panel and drop offs...

I am about 98% there with final fitment, then I will remove 1 quarter at a time to prime/seal the inner structure and back of the quarters, then WELD away!

Originally Posted by Sonar Chief

Nice to hear you are winning the war with the quarters!!! My driver's side AMD quarter came in yesterday ..... so here goes, well I'm only doing one side at a time, for my reference THE OTHER SIDE!

Good luck getting it back together ... test of patience fer sure.

Yes, once side at a time is DEFINITELY going to help! I just had SO much metal I was replacing and I REFUSE to sandblast inside of my shop, so I stripped everything and started from scratch.

I have managed to get everything where it should be, and it is starting to come together nicely... but DAMN, it has been A LOT of work! And yes, patience is a MUST! There are so many variables, that a person really has to concentrate and make sure that fixing one area doesn't screw up 3 other areas! Is it the panel that has issues? The adjacent panels? the inner structure? The car itself?...

[Firebird-Geek]

Well, thought I would check in with everyone... still working the quarter panels!

If I was writing a book... the chapter for my quarter panels (especially the inner bracing) would be labeled: "The Black Hole" or "The Bermuda Triangle" for I can go into my shop for hours and hours... and yet very LITTLE work seems to actually be happening. Move this, measure... move that, measure....

BUT, I am SLOWLY moving forward. Most of the panels are starting to play nice... Clamps coming off, screws going into place... For me this is progress!

I can not believe how many clamps I have had to use on this project...


Panels are starting to find their rightful home... Screws then get placed!


I have started to say a little prayer every time I go out to work on the car... IT WORKS! Things are starting to FINALLY line up and getting close to getting welded on! (still need to prep the panels first)


For a bit of a break, I got the welder out and welded the front of the wheelhouses and braces together. Feels great to see things actually becoming permanently attached!

[KPC67]

Hey nice work, love following your progress

[Sonar Chief]

Car is looking great ..... another reason I'm only doing one side at a time? I don't have that many clamps

I'm watching you Nice welder too!

[Firebird-Geek]

Just checking in again, Still working on the quarters... BUT, progress has been FINALLY moving in the right direction... (FORWARD)!

I have had my quarters on and off WAY more times than I can count... BUT over the last few weeks they have been in a semi-solid state. For I have been dialing in their final position. WELL, I think I have finally found it! And what a wonderful feeling that is!

I was a bit nervous about pulling them back off since they are where I need them, but with the tail panel screwed into location, and locator screws strategically placed, I should be able to line everything back up.

Looked everything over another few hundred times before pulling the quarters for cleanup/prime/seal.


I will fine tune the gaps during mockup, but I am pretty happy with the drivers side. Passenger side not this nice, but easily correctable.



Off they come 1 last time! Will fix any imperfections I see while I have easy access to both sides of the quarter with a little hammer/dolly work.


Welded my door jamb back in... I had removed it to take it out of the equation when I couldn't get the quarter to fit worth a damn.


Inner structure being welded into place, AWESOME to see things becoming one structure again.

[Firebird-Geek]

When I started working these quarters WAY back in the early summer (yes I have been working these panels that long) it would be a MAJOR achievement to just get this quarter to sit on the car half ways decent. Plus it required more clamps than I ever thought I would ever own.

BUT, again thanks to God looking over my shoulder (I say a small prayer before every session out in the garage and IT WORKS! ) I was able to re-hang the quarter with 1 clamp and it was almost in perfect alignment! (This was only to see how they fit now that all the inner structure has been welded into place)

Just to check fitment... look 1 clamp...

[Firebird-Geek]

With all of the internal braces and panels welded into place, I started to clean up the inner structure for primer and seam sealer. At first it was kind of nice to be out in the shop and working without having to measure something every 5 minutes, BUT, after a few hours of doing this it became a bit tedious taking the structure back down to bare metal in preparation for the epoxy primer. All those nooks and crannies!

During the process of cleaning up the inner structure. I forgot to grab a photo of this area once I was finally done and it was all back to shinny metal. (after 6 hours of cleanup)




Inner structure sprayed with epoxy primer. Something GM didn't even seem to bother priming at all from the factory.

[Firebird-Geek]

Drilled out the Quarter Panels for final placement. NOTE: I located my plug weld holes further in on the wheelhouse lip. This is due to the fact that I plan on cutting the lip down so as to clear the larger rear wheels, plus clean up the area.



Quarter panels getting taken down in preparation for epoxy primer. Again forgot to get a final picture of this process... I was in a zone that day!

[Firebird-Geek]

I then applied 2k seam sealer to all areas where 2 panels joined together or where there was overlapping joints. Keep moisture out of the seams, and seal everything up.