1967 Firebird quarter panel replacement
 

The Goodmark delivery is scheduled for Tomorrow.

2 Full quarters
Tail Panel / Inner Panel
Trunk Lid
Outer Wheel Wells

This is my first car which my brother and I are attempting to do the work ourselves. I would appreciate any tips or suggestions, what to be careful of or just anything that you feel may be important.

I will update progress with photos and any details that may be helpful.

Wish me luck!!!!!

Steve

The Goodmark outer wheel wells dont fit worth a darn....will require alot of trial fitting and trimming etc. Plus make sure that before you weld up the quarter panel or the outer wheel houses that you screw or clamp the outer wheel house in place and then try to fit the quarter panel. You will most likely have to finaggle the outer wheel house around to get it to meet up with the quarter wheel well lip properly.

Also, dont weld anything until you have everything clamped in place (I used small sheet metal screws to hold my panels in place while fitting) and fitted properly. Fit the tail panel up to the quarters with the quarters clamped or screwed on. Everything will require alot of trial and error fitting and some trimming to get perfect....unless your lucky. The key is trial fit, take apart adjust, trial fit, trial fit trial fit until your satisfied.

I would replace the those trunk drop down pieces (these go behind the outer wheel well and inside the bottom back of the quarter dropping down from the trunk pan) while you have the quarters off....not saying yours are bad just that they are fairly cheap and will be nice to have em replaced if your replacing all the other stuff.

The inner wheel houses will have some rust between the inner wheel house and the shock tower panel/trunk panel (all the first gen camaros/firebirds do) most people just dont know its there unless its really bad. If you grind out the sealer that GM put down between the trunk pan and the inner wheel house (in the trunk compartment) you will most likely see that that whole seam there is full of rust. You'll notice this especially on the passenger side inner wheel house. The drivers side probably wont be as bad. If its bad you might want to replace the inner wheel house and the shock tower panel (the part of the trunk that the top of the shock bolts to) or you could cut off the lower section of the inner wheel house and fab a new lower section inner wheel house and weld it in along with replacing the shock tower panel.

I mention this because I just got done replacing my shock tower panels and lower inner wheel houses. I wish I would have noticed that seam was rusted while I was replacing my quarters and outer wheel houses. Would have been a much easier job with the quarters off. My car wasnt that rusty when I started the disaseembly but once you start opening it up and looking in all the nooks and crannies that GM left unprotected from the factory........you will find rust.

If you are going to have your car that far apart (quarters off, tail panel off, outer wheel houses off)....I would recommend replacing as much as you see feasible given your time constraints etc even if it is a only a little bit rusty. The sheetmetal is cheap as long as you have the time and patience to put it in. Like the trunk pan or the trunk side extensions and trunk drop downs.....if their rusty put new ones in now while you have that thing apart .....dont waste time trying to repair the rust if there is some there and its more than minor

The new tail panel weatherstrip gutter corners dont match up to the original side trunk gutter pieces...you'll have to do a bit of fabbing to get them perfect.

Your going to be doing alot of work and you will be much happier when its all done if you replaced as much rusty metal as possible.

esahlin: Thanks for the advice. The trunk drop-offs were also ordered in case we found more rust.

In the sail panel does the quarter panel need to be installed beneath the roof or can it be placed over the lip and plug welded?

Steve

67-

Here is a link to some info that you can read and decide. the link is to the Camaro body forum. The Camaro body forum is an excellent forum for all of our Firebird body questions. I found alot of info on there that helped me.

http://www.camaros.net/forums/showthread.php?t=107560

esahlin: The link was very helpful.

Steve

Whatever you do, dont remove more then one panel at a time.
That way you can line up the new panel to the original locations(other panels).

:eek: Well...dont remove the inner/outer tail panel till the gtrs are fttd.

Parts arrived, well packaged and no damage. They were ordered through MuscleCarMetal.

I couldnt wait, so I had to place the quarter on. The initial placement looks pretty good.

Cool 67.....take your time and you will have that great feeling of accomplishement when you get it done....there is nothing better than tackling it yourself.

Fitting that tail panel is a real bugger like Region Warrior said probably best to fit the quarters/wheel wells with the original tail panel still on as he suggested.

I am in the process of fitting a new tail panel on my 68 right now....I think I have had it on and off the car probably 15 times trying to get it to fit the best possible. Get a good spot weld cutter for the tailpanel....there are 1/2 million spot welds on that thing.

Are you an experienced mig welder? If not, a professional welder recommended a special mig wire to use when welding sheetmetal...its called "twenty gauge". It helped out my sheetmetal welding tremendously....I used to burn through quite a bit even on low heat settings...I have a cheap mig machine and wasnt very experienced and the "twenty gauge" was a savior for me.


If you do decide to buy a new Trunk pan.....dont get the one from Classic Industries.....the one I bought from them didnt fit very well....the grooves didnt line up with the original grooves on the original trunk.

Ricks Firstgen Camaro parts has a different trunk pan that is better.
http://www.firstgen.com/

Ricks actually carries some sheetmetal that is different than the other suppliers. Some of their floorpans, trunks and others stuff is made in the USA and considered show quality stamped sheetmetal. This is stuff that Classic Industries/Goodmark doesnt have.

Once you get going on the firebird you can cut into your 69 camaro....since you'll be an expert soon on firstgen Firebird/Camaro.

I finished removing the rest of the quarter in the door jam area. This took the most time for me. I found the following tools useful in removing the panel; air chissel (especially around the door jam area and also in removing the panel which was sandwiched in the attached picture), high speed cut-off, right angle grinder and an air saw. The complete removal process took me a few hours, the next time should be faster.

After some DA sanding on the outer wheel well, its surprisingly in pretty good shape. As 'esahlin' suggested I'll now remove all the seam sealer around the inner wheel well and determine if it needs to be replaced.

The car had been rear ended early in its life and Im hoping this doesn't effect the new panel alignment. There was some bronze used on the repair on the quarter and the tail panel, I also noticed in the door jam area internals that a spot weld had pulled due to the accident.

Your outer wheel wells look pretty good! So does your quarter to rocker area.


If interested....Below is a link describing the best rust converter out there if you are looking for something to use on the internal rusted areas. After you sand/wire wheel or sandblast the rust......use the Picklex which removes/converts the remaining rust then you scuff the area and apply a good epoxy primer (no etch primers). A much nicer/cleaner and more effective way of treating rust than POR-15.

http://www.autobodystore.com/r-o-n.htm

Hello Esahlin: I will give the Picklex a try, I do have RUST MORT - but it has a powerful odor, most likely toxic.

As far as the outer wheel well, I may just patch the lower rear section and the front lower lip - Only if the inner is in as good of condition.

Thanks for all the help!!!!

Steve

We decided to attach the sail panel over the roof panel. The alignment looks very good, we are still in the trial stages of fitting and alignment. Would it be wise to use panel adhesive in the area where the panel sits in the drip rail?
I think it may be a good choice for not only sealing the panel but also to help ease the installation.

Here is the area on the tail panel which shows the damage. And the pasenger side for comparison. Would you repair the existing Tail Panel or change it? We are noticing that the passenger side quarter panel is in better condition than previously thought.

Here are some pictures of the new quarter panel, new rear valence panel and new trunk lid. We are still a few hours away from being satisfied with the gaps and alignment but pleased with how easy things are going so far. I have not yet prepped all the inner panels with the rust deterent and paint, but looking to get this done in the coming week. And so far we have had the quarter panel on and off about 15 times.

The fits actually look pretty good from the pictures. You guys are going about it the right way by doing alot of trial fitting....and making alot of progress fast.

THe panel bonding adhesive would be a great alternative especially in corrosion potential areas. I wish I would have used it in some of my repairs.

Another spot that is you might want to think about using the panel bonding adhesive in is bonding the new quarters to the outer wheel houses on the wheel well lip. I didnt use it but wish i would have spent more time trying to use it there in that area.

as far as replacing the tailpanel or leaving the original.....the tail panel is alot of work to remove cause of all the spot welds (at least it was for me but my equipment wasnt the best)....and it looks like you could fix you old one with bondo. If you were to remove the old one and put a new one in you might be able to close up those gaps between the trunk lid and the quarters by using a "come along" with straps wrapped all the way around both quarters and cinch up the straps (to bring the quarters in closer together) to decrease that trunk lid to quarter gap. All the while testing the tail panel fit. I read about guys doing this on the Camaros.net board. Might want to look on the Camaro board if your thinking of possibly trying to close that gap while installing your new panel.

The "come along" deal would only work if you were going to replace both quarters and the tail panel.

Hello Esahlin - Thanks for the "come along" tip;

We plan on using the panel adhesive in a few locations. I did get the adhesive, the gun, and there is a special going on until June 30th for a "Lord Fusor Spray Gun" which sprays wheel well spray/sound deadening material and seam sealer - you get the $224.00 gun for $59.00 when you purchase 6 tubes of the material - each cylinder is about $16.00. I thought it was a good deal and wanted to pass it along, I went to my local paint supply store to get it. They couldnt believe it until they called their Lord Fusor Rep.

I am undecided on changing the tail-panel for now, I did inspect the passenger quarter panel more closely and it is very much usable, it would need 2 small patches one in front of the wheel opening and one behind, the rest is rust free and solid. As far as the seems in the inner wheel wells in the trunk area; they too are in great shape - Im glad for that.

Are there any crucial measurments to take into consideration before we start the welding? I just don't want to forget anything. We have compared the front window pillar to the end of the quarter and its spot on. We also measure from the inner leaf spring to the lower rear part of the panel and it matches the untouched passenger side. The window chrome was placed on and here are some pictures.

Since your welding your new quarter to the original outer wheel house, original roof and original tail panel you should be fine without worrying about measurements. I know there is a Camaro book out there that lists all the measurements and tolerances but I dont know which book it is. If you feel the need you could ask over on the Camaro board......someone there will know.

Yeah, that is a good deal for the Fusor stuff!

This upcoming responses in this thread might be of some interest if you are going to play with the pass qtr and tail panel.

http://www.camaros.net/forums/showthread.php?t=110808

Hello Esahlin,

You guessed it right with your last response. We started to cut out the small patches on the passenger quarter panel and low and behold just more rust. The car now is getting all rear panels replaced. It looks like the only panel which will stay is the lower inner panel which sits behind the tail panel.

The camaro forum has been very helpful. There seem to be hundreds of people online in the body forum all the time. Great resource of information.

I did go to Home Depot today and got the ratcheting straps. We'll get these gaps in line one way or another.

We have trial fitted the tail panel and it needs some tweaking.

Photos to follow.

The passenger side quarter will remain on until we are comfortable with the other panel alignment. We have installed small sheet metal screws to easily reference the known good attachment points on the drivers side quarter panel; this helps in keeping everything easy to install, re-install, re-install, re-install you get the idea.

Here we are inspecting and guarding the tail panel. It was ordered through Frank Pontiac Parts. The box was labeled "The Parts Place" - I was told by Frank that The Parts Place originally manufactured these and the tooling is now used by other venders.

As far as getting the Tail Panel in place it only needed some minor fitting around the new quarter panel. I can see the ratcheting straps definately being used to help get the fit almost perfect. The passenger side quarter panel was cut in the trunk weather-stripping area, by doing this we could line up the Tail Panel on the passenger side without any cutting or manipulation to the new metal.

Wow....you guys are making quick progress.

Using the air chisel to remove the tail panel is a great idea....I wish I would have thought of that when I was doing it.

Yes, from my understanding there is just one manufacturer of the tail panel. All the vendors get it from the same supplier it seems. Its a pretty nice piece except for the weatherstrip channel needing a little work.

I am currently just finishing up welding in my tailpanel. I am welding all the seams between the qtrs and the tail panel because I decided I wanted to fill the seams with fiberglass filler when done. Just a personal preference.

From your pictures it looks like you have some good looking seams and the qtr is fitting the tail panel well. Nice work.

Hello Esahlin, Thanks for all your replies and compliments - I appreciate the time you put in to help us.

The tail panel was removed in about 15 minutes with the air chisel. Have patience with using it and adjust your speed as sometimes the Spot Welds pop easier than you'd think.

The Picklex 20 and the Twenty Gauge Welding Wire arrived today.

We sanded down the inner structure with a small handheld sander and with the 3M 4" grinding wheels - I love them; we applied the Picklex 20 to all the metal, and just for comparison we left some metal with the surface rust to compare - results coming soon.

Also posted is the measurement were getting from the lower quarter panel to the spring. Is this measurement correct?

My brother is modifying the aftermarket outer wheel well, the contour needs some work, as it sat in the quarter panel lip it was a little more than a 1/4 inch to short and the lip did not match - we are patching the original panel in 2 locations previously mentioned.

I'm just finishing up what you guys are starting on so its been interesting to see you guys open your car up and tackle the same work....and I thought I would pass on a few tips I got from other guys who had been all thru it before me.

On the picklex 20.....Wire wheel or sand the rusted metal as best possible (like youve already done in some of your pics) then its best to apply the Picklex 20 with a small brush stiff bristle brush like a tooth brush. Pour some of the Picklex in a small cup and then U can use the brush. Let the Picklex that you applied to the rust set/dry for about 2 minutes......then lightly dab the excess Picklex that is left with a paper towel. Now, let the Remaining Picklex dry for about 15 minutes....you will see a film over the metal/rust form after the Picklex has dried. Then you can lightly scuff the Picklex film....just break the film that has formed over the metal dont try to bear into the metal with the sanding sponge or sand paper. Now you can paint over the Picklex prepped metal with a good epoxy primer. The Picklex is a rust converter/remover so work it into the pittted rusted metal well with the brush you apply it with. A little bit of the picklex goes a very long way so you dont have to use lots of it to coat the metal. Applying the Picklex to clean metal wont do anything it has to be applied to rust so it can convert it. If you get some on some clean metal just make sure you scuff it before epoxy priming.

On the aftermarket outer wheel houses....Yes my aftermarket outer wheel houses were about 1/4 inch too short also and did not fit into the quarters wheel well lip very well either. Thats why I originally said (in response to your first post) the aftermarket outer wheel houses werent the greatest.....since its a hot seller I dont know why the supplier/vendors dont do a restamp?

On your measurement, from the picture it looks like the lower quarter is too close to the spring....that lower last inch or so of the quarter should mate up to the bottom inch or so of the trunk drop down panel. once you get the outer wheel house on there (or once you patch your original)....I think that will probably prevent the lower part of the quarter from extending to far past the bottom edge of the trunk drop down panel. try another fit after you get the outer wheel house patched up. Then I think the lower qtr should mate to the drop down panel better.

Hello Esahlin,

I was expecting some fit issues witht the outer wheel well, you did give me the heads up on them - Thanks. We have made a patch to the lip of the wheel well and are gonna try to make it work - if not I may need to order a new one.

I got some prep work done on the rear panel bracing, I used a thin wire wheel to get in good where the weatherstipping will sit - this worked great.
Sanded it and 3M wheeled a few areas. I cleaned the bare metal with paint prep and was ready to brush on Eastwoods rust encapsulator as my first coat, this can be used as a primer coat too but when I Prime other areas this may get a coat of Epoxy Primer, I then will apply a top coat of Por 15.

I went over the areas better on the side bracing, removed more surface rust then applied Rust Mort on all the bare metal. Fusor Panel Adhesive will be used in the drip rail, where the quarter sits on the rocker panel and the vertical lip of the door jam - the rust mort in these locations is temporary and will be sanded off completely when Im ready to Glue these locaions. The panel adhesive is applied (bare metal to bare metal). I did use the Picklex 20 on the sail panel area where the factory seam is located because I will be welding there.

Esahlin, Regarding the trunk drop down, the quarter panel looked too low becasue I hadn't secured the Tail Panel well enough and it dropped slightly. I have more C-Clamps coming on Monday so this won't happen again. I like using the screws but only when the fit is near perfect.

I drilled out the spot welds on the trunk and lower rear panel - the trunk drop off dropped off. HAHAHA

The trunk floor was straightened slightly as this was another area that showed signs of the damage from the accident.

looking good.....your car actually looks like it is not too bad on rust. Mine was a bit worse.

I am gearing up here to replace my roof in the next month or so. After I get the back half of the car pretty much finished.....will start tackling that. the car had a vinyl top and there are a few holes in the roof up near the front. I patched them a couple years ago but decided that since Ive replaced most everything else might as well do the roof too.

I am not a big fan of POR 15 since I applied a bunch of it to my car about 5 years ago. Applied it to the badly pitted and rusted roof after I removed the vinyl top. I was trying to take the easy route and sidestep replacing metal and hence went the POR 15 way. But anyway just this past year I decided to remove some of it and it basically peeled off with ease and the rust underneath was alive and kicking. I did use their metal ready product and followed their process....but all that i have removed didnt seem to do anything to slow the rust underneath. Now I cant stand the stuff and have spent more than a few hours removing all that I applied 5 years ago. Now that Ive found Picklex and I now spray a good high quality epoxy primer I wont go back to POR. But I do know some people love it and stand behind it.

I caught this post a little late, but it looks like you're doing just fine. esahlin has already noted most of the problem areas. I did this a couple years ago now and have some pictures posted here:

http://john.my67.net/Body%20Progress.htm

You started with the easy side as the passenger quarter quality is not as good as the driver side.

Dont suppose you'd like to come to Indiana for a weekend.
My 67 needs qtr's.
You' guys have done in 2 days!

Hammered: Thanks for your Link! I enjoyed reviewing your pictures - Very Nice Car!!!

Region Warrior: You pay air fair and food - keep watching and you'll be able to do it your self.

We were very unhappy with the fit of the outer wheel well so I located both NOS outers and picked them up Saturday morning. Here are some photos of the wheel well lips major difference. I couldn't waste any more time on fitting the patches from repo to the exististing panel.

The pictures below are from left to right:

pic 1 ( NOS left )
pic 2 ( NOS bottom )
pic 3 ( NOS top )
pic 4 ( NOS top )

I initially had some reservations on cutting off the remainder good metal of the outer wheel well but it had to be done the right way with the best panel available. The pictures show how we cut off the outer wheel well. We are not going to install the inner lip of the NOS wheel well between the side supports and the inner wheel well - I dont see the need to cut into all the other metal, the old lip which is rust free will remain on the car. The NOS wheel well rotated right into place, the fit is so much better and the metal is noticably thicker too. We did get the quarter panel back on and there are no fitting issues. We are happy.

Sweet job on scoring the NOS outer wheel wells.....Where did you find them so quick?? Amazingly, I can see from your pics that the stamping of the NOS is different than the Taiwan one.

Another suggestion before you weld on your quarter.....see the "hinge support" area for your trunk lid? See how that whole trunk lid hinge support mess there is kinda rusty......well now that you have decent access to it with the quarter and outer wheel well off and the tail panel......I would remove the rust there and Picklex it and epoxy prime it (if you have the spray gun etc). I spent alot of agonizing painful time laying in my trunk area trying to wire wheel the rusty trunk lid hinge and support pieces with both quarters already on the car. I just didnt have good access and did a poor job.

Also think about wire wheeling and treating the rust on the bottom of the package tray area....if you were laying in the trunk and stuck your head under the package tray area and looked up.....all that rust there. With the tail panel off and the quarters off it might be a good idea to get at all the rusty areas in the trunk treated/sanded/wire wheeled etc. No tail panel on the car makes it more comfortable to lay down in the trunk if needed.

Also, When you weld on the new outer wheel house to the inner ....there will be a gap there that is exposed inside the wheel well right above where the tire would be. You might want to consider using a good 1K or 2K seam sealer to fill that seam between the outer and inner. Most of the good seam sealers (not the brushable ones) can be applied over primed metal and can be painted over. I used the Fusor 800 1K sealer that can be used in a standard caulking gun.

Esahlin - I purchased the NOS wheel wells locally. I remembered I saw them forsale in a weekly publishing. I think Im going to give that job you mentioned to my brother, clean the underside of the package tray metal and rear valance panel. hahaha

I will get some of that seem seeler and give it a try. - Thanks.

I have posted the inner wheel well, cleaned and wiped with Picklex. I am now working on the underside of the the trunk floor near the trunk drop off. I need a suggestion on what special tool to use in getting in the tight spots there and below the inner wheel well especially in the seams - the wire wheel works well but I can't use it in those spots.. I do not want to sand blast. Has anyone tried soda blasting? I hear it works well but makes a mess. My brother has filled in all the spot welds on the trunk lip where the tail panel attaches. I like new panels so much better.

I havent done any soda blasting so its a tough call on cleaning those areas and seams. Ive used paint remover on the painted areas that are hard to get at then it only takes light pressure from the wire wheel (on the end of an electric drill) to remove the paint that can be stubborn and hard to get at.

Those seams your talking about on the trunk above/near the drop down.....those are tough. I replaced that panel there (trunk extensions I believe they are called) with new. Since you have that roll bar welded to the bumper/tail panel brace that make things tough.....cause I would recommend just replacing that panel and the bumper support brace.....would be an easy job with how far apart your car is.....but that hefty roll bar welded to the bumper to trunk to tail panel brace makes things complicated.

http://www.parts123.com/parts123/yb....Z5Z5Z50000136d

You can sandblast those structural panels without any problems and it will make less of a mess than soda. You might consider buying a siphon feed blaster from HF or Sears because you have so little to do. Plus, it's virtually impossible to damage any metal with a siphon blaster because the pressure is much lower.

Esahlin: Hello, I looked at both panels you mentioned, other than the minor rust on the seam - its in great shape. I do like the galvanized coating on the original bumper support brace.

Hammered: Hello, I do have a siphon feed blaster, I have used black beauty before - but I feel its too abrasive. I went to a media blast company today and they suggested silica, which I purchased. I will pull the car out of the garage and blast those hard to get spots. I will be back on track next week and hope to get most of the prep work completed.

http://www.dawson-macdonald.com/product.html

Thanks,

Steve

We finally had some time to get the sandblasting done on the drivers side. I still need to do a little more on the underside of the trunk pan and above the differential. For the time involved it took I may use the sandblaster more than I wanted to initially, it made quick work of the rust removal. Now we can get some paint on these pieces and be done with them for now.

We used plastic bags and tie raps to cover the exhaust,fuel lines, fuel pump and rotor. Very little sand ended up in the car. A quick vacuum and we were ready to apply the Picklex.

Steve,

It's looking good. The media blast company gave you good advice. Brown silica sand is cheap, it breaks down easy (less aggressive) and it's not too big a deal if it gets into the yard. I like to lay down a big tarp and collect and reuse the sand.

It is much slower going with a siphon blaster, but you can't hardly do damage either. You will be glad you did this. I'm looking forward to more pics!

John

Hello John - Thanks for your input!!! Much Appreciated.

I placed my brother in the trunk and held his beer hostage until all the sanding was done for today. It was a sobering day for him. HAHAHA He used the small right angle grinder with 3" sanding pads, a flap wheel attachment and a lot of complaining to get the majority of surface rust removed from the inner panels located in the trunk. He will need only a few more hours to get all the rust removed - Can't wait until he reads this.

THANKS ED!!!!

Steve

While my brother was sanding in the trunk, I was removing all the undercoating and paint from the underside of the trunk floor and frame rails. I used a wire wheel to get most of the light undercoating off and then went over most of the metal with the 3M grinding wheel and DA sander - 80 grit paper. To remove the heavy undercoating I used brake cleaner in a spray bottle, let it soak for a few minutes and scraped off the loose material with a gasket scraper - this worked great. I think another full day and most of this work should be done. Of course the Weather forecast was wrong, we were going to sandblast again but the rain came awefully quick. We were 5 minutes away from having the car get soaked.

Poor brother Ed...I think that is one of the worst jobs Ive done yet.....sanding under the package tray especially with the quarters and tail panel still on the car.

Hello Esahlin - My brother made up for the trunk work today - His day was floating in the pool.

I brought the car outside again and had it up on jack stands to get the remainder of the rear under-carriage silica blasted. What a long day - I think about 10 hours today were spent underneath the car. I can only emphasize to everyone the importance of having the right mask for blasting - as I did not. Spend the money and get a good sealed face mask.

I applied Picklex to all sandblasted metal.

Here are pictures of the rear frame rails, trunk pan and fuel tank opening. My brother may not have been helpful today but he had a nice new custom jack-stand so I thought I'd give it a try; holding my car up - the 722 Jackstand was solid and held the car right in place.

Lookin mighty clean under there!!! When I stripped my underneath...... laying on my back in the driveway..... I used 1/2 a million wire wheels and burned up two power drills.....not fun.

I spent most of the day today removing my roof and the underbracing. the underbracing was kinda rusty so I spent time stripping the POR15 off that I had applied 5 years ago. Also removed the seat braces and subframe bolt braces from the floorpans. getting ready to install new floor pans. Amazing the hidden rust under the seatbraces....you cant see it until you remove them. The floorpan under the seat brace is just bare metal....thanks GM for treating the metal in the factory :(. Those subframe bolt braces (under the seat braces) are galvanized (I think) and are actually rust free but the cage nut for the subframe bolt had a good amount of surface rust. Vinyl tops suck.

Spray some epoxy primer on your underside/bare metal soon. Here is a link for the best epoxy primer for the $. Ask around and maybe post on their message board....call the owner Barry Kives to ask questions about his products and receive incredible customer service. plus, if you need more info about learning to paint, paint guns etc.....Barry is a great guy to ask. His is a smaller paint company catering mainly to the restoration market.....very high quality for great prices. Check em out if you interested.
http://www.southernpolyurethanes.com/homepage.htm

Hello Esahlin - I new I should have purchased the car tilter for working on the undercarriage, next time I'll change the trunk pan instead, my back is so sore. We took your advice and removed the rear inner panel (behind the tail panel) to see what rust may have been lurking there. It wasn't that bad but the braces for the gas tank where rusting badly, only a small portion on the end, so Ed fabricated the brackets and we were able to sand the surface rust out on the trunk pan - At first we thought we went to far remnoving this panel, but with A welder I guess there really never is a too far if you have the patience to work on it. But futher inspection on the gas tank brace we were glad we removed it. The metal used for the brackets came off his 69 Camaro original rear panel that we changed last year - I knew his Camaro would be good for something - HAHHAHA

Steve

P.S. Thanks for the advice on the paint.

We did get the undercarriage stripped of undercoating, original paint and just about all the rust. What came in Handy today were dremmel bits (aluminum oxide) for the Die Grinder, this helped to get in all those small and tight spots, especially in the leaf spring pockets. We did finally get 2 coats of Eastwood Rust Encapsulator on the metal. I had used a combination of Rust Mort and the Picklex for the metal prep, for the few days the undercarriage sat without paint it had both rust inhibitors to coat the metal. I did resand only a few spots and then applied the paint. Top coat to be applied in a few days.

You guys are making great progress.

I'm only a little bit ahead of you guys and i have been working on this car for 5 years.

Esahlin - It feels like all I do is work on my car, although my 5 weeks in the garage has aged me so much!!!! Thanks for the pictures. 5 Year - WOW! Keep at it, I bet its looking great!!!!

Here were trial fitting the inner panel and tail panel. There is a huge gap in the middle of the inner panel were it should meet the tail panel. Has anyone else come across this? And recommend how to fix it. The inner panel is listed for 67/68 Camaro Firebird, so is the problem that its basically stamped for the Camaro and Im stuck with this gap?