1967 Firebird Convertible - Project "LEGACY"

[Firebird-Geek]

Just for fun... looked through my tear-down photos...

BEFORE: (Notice all the bare where GM didn't coat anything)







AFTER: MUCH BETTER! (atleast I think so!)

[bdahlg68]

Looks great and should never rust!

[214Chevy]

Originally Posted by Firebird-Geek

?... (Notice all the bare where GM didn't coat anything)

GM wasn't thinking about 50 years down the line. Looking good as well.

[makoshark]

Excellent work! That is a text book example of 'well put together.'

Don't have to worry about any rot there for a long...long time

[Sonar Chief]

Looks really good .... it is kinda cool to go back and look at the mess you started with and the car today!!!!

Keep up the good work .... I'm right behind you!

[Firebird-Geek]

Originally Posted by Sonar Chief

Looks really good .... it is kinda cool to go back and look at the mess you started with and the car today!!!!

Keep up the good work .... I'm right behind you!

Yes, going back and looking at just what a mess it was before seems to help me... shows me that ALL those HOURS in the garage are actually paying off! For there have been times when I wonder why in the hell didn't I take up an easier hobby!

Yours is looking great! You will probably pass me up! Which is great, because then I can follow your lead! I am a visual learner!

[Firebird-Geek]

With all of the inner structure primed and seam sealed, I am ready to do final fitment of the QUARTER PANELS! I have gotten so use to pulling them off and putting then on, that it has almost become second nature. Anyone starting this journey, the more you work with these panels, the more you will understand their placement, faults and just how they want to sit on the car. With that being said, I will NOT miss fitting these panels!

The beautiful thing is that with the inner structure FINALLY in its correct location in relationship with where the quarter panels need to be, re-fitting the quarters back on the car was MUCH different than when I started on these panels in the early summer.

Started to hang the quarters for FINAL FITMENT!



A HUGE sense of relief seeing that after moving this much metal around on the car, things actually were lining up and the structure is LEVEL! Thank You GOD! (See those prayers DO work!)

[Firebird-Geek]

Unlike mock-up stage, this fitment was more of a fine tuning session.

I first started by getting the quarter to return to where they needed to be. In the past this was a HUGE nightmare, but now with the inner structure in place, it was much easier. The porta-power in the rear was there just to fine tune the body line and tail panel location. It isn't doing much, other than acting like a second set of hands. The ratchet strap is putting a bit of pressure on the quarters in order to pull them in along the trunk fill panel and trail panel. Again, not much pressure, but another helping hand.

Again, not wanting to go by any guessing or inner structure locations, I used my string lines to make sure everything was lining up where it needed to be! I also used a 6ft level to sit along the top of the quarters in various locations to make sure they are also level with the rest of the car.




This shot makes me the HAPPIEST! For I have stressed, anylized and dumped TONS of HOURS into this quarter panel in order to get it to sit level with the car. (Never cut the quarter, all done through HOURS of fitment) FINALLY laser straight!

[Firebird-Geek]

[rickpaw]

Looks great. You had a lot of work in there. When I did mine, I asked a couple of old school body guys about body lines/panel gaps not lining up, and they said if I were to restore it to when GM had it, then leave it alone. Which I did.