[67'7F6'Bird]

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.

[67'7F6'Bird]

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.

[esahlin]

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.

[67'7F6'Bird]

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?

[esahlin]

I have the same gap on my new tail panel that is mated to my original GM "inner" tail panel. I left the gap as is. I just made sure that my new tail panel was "square" from left quarter to right quarter panel.

I believe there is a US stamped inner tail panel available (Classic industries or Ricks first gen camaro has em).....it looks like yours is the Taiwan reproduction (not that there is anything wrong with that). I do not know if the US stamped one is a better fit or not. Since my original GM inner produced a gap with the repro tail panel I doubt the US stamped inner is an improvement .....but I do not know.

http://www.rickscamaros.com/cgi-loca...258+1185004548

5 years is a long time but a few of those years I wasnt able to work on it much.....Ive been able to go gangbusters on the bodywork starting this past May.....so I have made the most progress this summer. Of course, when I started the car I began with the most fun part......the engine. After that the body work took a back seat for awhile.

[67'7F6'Bird]

Esahlin -I am gonna look into the USA made Inner Tail Panel - Thanks! Can you post pictures of your inner panel also to show the gap with the original GM inner Panel. I think my original inner panel fit tight below the license plate - I didn't take any pictures of it though.

We have made our best 4 week effort on panel alignment, here are the photos. We have used screws on the drivers quarter panel, rear valance panel, inner tail panel and outer Tail panel. All these were mated to the original passenger side quarter panel.

Some minor trimming and grinding was needed is some areas, mostly where the quarter meets the tail panel and the rear valance panel.

[67'7F6'Bird]

More panel alignment photos.