[GREATGTO]

Does anyone know if all the aftermarket 1970 gto full quarters are from the same manufacturer? If they arent then who has the best quality? They all seem to look the same to me. I did a search on here didnt really find any info on the newer full quarters now available.

[gto406]

Always thought they were from Goodmark? Sold by different companies, but always the Goodmark brand.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/GM...-70L/?rtype=10

[2manyponchos]

The full 70-72 repop panels are manufactured by Golden Star Auto from what I have seen and distributed by many. The 68-69 panels are done by Dynacorn. With the cost of stamping dies, it is fairly safe to assume that only one company tooled the part (in most cases). I am not sure that Goodmark does much of anything besides distribute anymore. I would recommend buying from our host. Save shipping and pick them up at a show.

[GREATGTO]

Ok thanks.

[71 lemans sport 455]

How is the fit compared to NOS? Has anyone installed them?

[GOAT WHORE]

I have not installed the 70's nore do I have experience with installing NOS how ever I have installed after market 69 quarters and I can tell you there is no way they could possibly fit even close to NOS! There is so much work to get them to fit right.

[russosborne]

Mikes2nd on here told me that the full repro quarter is not too bad, but stay away from the skins. But nothing beats the original metal. I've seen his, and they look good to me, but they did take some work to get that way. But the body lines are pretty accurate.
Maybe he will see this and give some more details.
Russ

[marxjunk]

the 70 1/4s are pretty good, they have to be massaged in the rear glass lower corners a little, but other wise they are pretty nice...

[GREATGTO]

I think we are going to give one a try, our RH 1/4 is pretty rusty, will post results when we get to that point.
Got a GTO hood and rear spoiler today for another car I'm working on, they both are very good quality. The hood fits really nice but the body line in the center of the hood does fade slightly, hardly noticeable, easy fix if we even decide to mess with it.
Hood was from dynacorn, rear spoiler from Ames and excellent fit as well.

[GREATGTO]

Originally Posted by marxjunk

the 70 1/4s are pretty good, they have to be massaged in the rear glass lower corners a little, but other wise they are pretty nice...

Just a side note to this for everyone to take under consideration, I have a contour finder and even on factory original quarter panels the passenger side near the rear window corner sits slightly higher than the driver side, the contour is also slightly different.
This proves these car were not perfect side to side even when brand new. Iv checked other areas as well and found varying differences from passenger to driver side, yet there are some areas that are exact from right to left. I think this might be the reason why its hard to get a perfect fitting parts sometimes, might fit perfect on one car but be off a little on another.

I see a lot of cars that have been over restored, meaning they were made near perfect fit wise, better than they ever would have been new on a mass production assembly line. Nothing wrong with this but dont get discouraged on how your car looks compared to these show winners. They are not the norm as far as how these cars were really built.

[gtomike72]

Sorry to bring this back up, but any updates? Also, is this something that's pretty straight forward? I worked in a body shop doing blocking and filler work but never had the chance to weld. My friend has a welder I can borrow, if it's just spot welding, will I be on? Or should I pay the $2800 in labor the body shop wants to do these?

[GREATGTO]

We decided to use the original 1/4 for now, I will be working on it today actually, the lower section is pretty rough but with some time I think I can work it out.

As far as you replacing yours I think you can do it. It will be spot welding for the most part if you put it together at the factory seams and get a full quarter not a skin.

One trick we do to help eliminate warping when welding sheet metal especially butt welding sheet metal is we take an old towel/rag and wet it, after each spot weld just lay the towel or rag on the weld to cool it instantly, also move it to surrounding areas near the welded area to keep it cool. Heat will spread out over the entire area thats why its good to keep the whole are cool. I always do this and I dont have any warping.

[marxjunk]

I have an NOS right 1/4 panel, and its the latest edition that was available from GM, and its ruff..very wavey, especially low...ive intstalled some after markets, and they are actually nice than the GM one i have, except for the rear window lower corner...if ya know that going in, your set.....you should always test fit molding before ya weld panel on..even newer cars...its a high production thing..tolerances are not as tight as one would believe

[gtomike72]

Is there any pics of a reproduction installed before finish work done? ESP the window area?

[GREATGTO]

After further inspection yesterday we decided to replace the 1/4. It was just too much work to save it when a new one will be quicker and will probably never rust with proper protection we just cant get with the original, it was rusting from the inside out, a pick hammer revealed thin spots throughout . I will post pictures when we get the quarter,outer wheel well and trunk extension. Should be here in a few weeks.



here is my restoration thread where I post all the progress

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=688299

[jarretts70]

I put NOS 1/4's on both sides of my '70 that were the latest GM stampings, and they took a lot of tweaking, same as marxjunk noted above. They cost a fortune, and from what I've seen are no better than the repro's. I've found NOS stuff from late in a production run tends to be less crisp, I guess because the stamping dies have lots of wear and tear. Still about a thousand times better than patch panels if you have any sort of serious rust issues, tho.

[gto406]

I am going with the skins on my 72. Order screw-up got me the skins (too much hassle to ship em back over Canada/US border). So i kept them.

PaulAtFast notes they are doable with some work on the lower rear section (behind the wheel opening). I am leaning towards panel bonding them.

I will be updating my project thread when I get to that point. Right now, working on fuel system and getting the car running so I can re-hang the front end. Set my gaps, and have a baseline prior to any cutting.

Cheers,
Brian.

[marxjunk]

panel bonding is a mistake..people rave about it being the fix all, and to be honest its the lazy way out..if it delaminates you are screwed, and piling product on top of it just makes a permanent line you can always see when it all shrinks down in amonth...

there is a place for panel bond..its in the door jambs etc, but was never designeed to GLUE a half 1/4 on a car...and there a lot of panel binding going on in the newer OEMs and most bodymen abuse it and use it improperly...i would never use it on a car i was going to restore/keep..its trouble...

[gto406]

Mark, have you seen the way the new cars are built? All the panels on the new Aston Martin DBS and DB9 are panel bonded! That is one hell of a stiff car!!

If you have 'hard proof/facts' on panels that have delam'd then I would definitely re-consider (I have a very good Miller 210 and can weld decently enough to butt-weld it if need be).

http://www.3m.com/us/auto_marine_aero/au0222b.html

The chemical makeup of these new adhesives are so good, I just don't see it happening (if the surfaces are properly prepared and you are not welding close to it).

There is more than 1 way to 'skin a cat' (or a goat in this case) 8^)

BR/Brian.

[marxjunk]

This subject is right in the heart of what i do for a living..i have this discussion about 20 times a week...I know some of the OEs use it to put cars together, but you probably arent aware that the bonding of metal is used in conjunction with resistance spot welding...Ford F150s use 130 linear feet of bonding and welding in the sides of their truck...and thats a truck...its strength for side impact collision...and it make the truck tuff as heck...its even more complicated for a car... bonding composites to metal is a whole different process, and you are 100% correct they make the car stiff.

If you ask a good tech they should tell you no horizontal bonding, only verticle, because if you tear an edge on the horizontal, the panel will delaminate and pretty much fall off in a collision..

I am not an oponet of panel bonding if its done right..and if i where using it, im sure i would glue the wheel house and any verticle seam...the corrosion protection is amazing..

even the vendors of the product warn about horizontal bonding, they (i dont know who they are) say to spot/mig weld the corners/ends so it wont tear off..also...if you weld anywhere near the glue, you must have weldable, other wise the heat cures it so hard and fast, it fractures and the bond is weak...

30 year body man here....although i'm not on the line anymore, im knee deep with the car manufaturers..i get probably 100 times the training now than an average bodyman..i get to talk to engineers, and deal with product providers....

mig your panel..i have a product i will post a pic of for the worries of welding its a spray on, and its amazing and control warpage very well..


the only bonding agent i use on my personal stuff is Lord Fuzor..

http://www.lord.com/products-and-sol...roduct.xml/289

some of the OEs say you must use their approved prduct, and you follow their recomendations..

I know many techs that glue the crap out of everything...and they get away with it, but their days are numbered..one bad wreck, someone dies and the party is over...