[TransAmRIP]

Originally Posted by njsteve

For things like the interior wiring harnesses they are like a plastic material. Most of the others are paper. The sheet they sell is simply color printed on sticky back label sheets, nothing special. You have to use a razor and cut them all out yourself.

Once I found out they were not going to send me an updated sticker I created my own using a scanned image of the ones I bought and brought it up in a power point type progam. I was then able to recreate the correct labels by using the same fonts and color table I needed and printed it out on 3m sticky back paper similiar to the stuff the sell. The colors are an exact match to theirs (who to say theirs are 100% correct thou). I used full sheets 3m sticky back paper from office depot. For some of the shiny labels I used clear shipping tape laid over the label to give it the shine and sprayed matte finnish over the rest. Since I receated my label I am able to print what I need at any time. I actually left them out in the weather no rain or anything just the morning dew and they hold up really well.

[pmdclassics]

There are plenty of threads here on how bad of a company Inline Tube is. Customer service is not there forte!

[njsteve]

Bub, I sent you a PM.

[njsteve]

Some more recent progress on the car. They are hanging the doors and pre-aligning the front end sheet metal. Looks like a whole lotta block sandin' going on.

[njsteve]

Some work on the right side trunk to rear quarter seam. Looks like he didn't like the taper to the gap, so he cut and rewelded the edge section to get it straight.

[njsteve]

The rear, lower, tail panel area, after the dented section was undented and welded back in.

[keith k]

Originally Posted by njsteve

Some work on the right side trunk to rear quarter seam. Looks like he didn't like the taper to the gap, so he cut and rewelded the edge section to get it straight.

Nice to see that level of attention to detail going into it -- few people go that far. Unfortunately these cars just didn't have really good body dimensional quality when they were new, and it sometimes takes that kind of work to get them perfect. I know my T/A will be seeing some of that when it's time for the resto and paint job...

[x-bird2]

did you go with part of a repop quarter on driver's side and most of your original on passenger side? reason i ask, looks like he's having some fun with the door/quarter body line on the driver's side. nice work through and through.

[njsteve]

If you go back a few pages on this thread you will see what he did. No reproduction sheetmetal other than the trunk floor center section. The drivers door has an NOS 1970-73 doorskin installed. The pass side is all the original sheetmetal from the car. They spend a lot of time getting everything perfectly straight.

[njsteve]

Here's an underside shot of the smoothed out trunk floor repair. Ready for the red oxide primer.

[njsteve]

The passenger side lower rear quarter had a rust hole in the lower section behind the wheelwell. Since I didnt want to be worrying about what exactly was inside there for the next 20 years, my bodyman did the right thing and cut the outer skin off in an example of automotive exploratory surgery.

I'm glad he did, since the trunk extension was very scaly and needed to have a good sized area replaced, even though it looked perfect from the outside. He ended up using pieces from the donor quarter I bought for the drivers side front quarter repair and a reproduction passenger side Camaro trunk extension, to make an accurate repair.

The outer skin repair comes next.

[njsteve]

I stopped by the shop today to bring him the rear window trim so he can set the lower back window/upper trunk panel in place and match the curve of the trim properly. Here are some photos. It's looking more and more like a car now.

[njsteve]

Well she is home now. I picked her up a couple days ago so I can put the exhaust, gas tank and lines etc., back in. And also to let the body work set and shrink a few weeks too.

[njsteve]

I spent the past couple of days working on fitting the front polyethylene valance to the car. These things were a crappy design back in 1972 and 99% of them were replaced under warranty with a different looking steel valance when new.

I wouldn't call it planned obsolesence, more like catastrophic, instantaneous obsolesence.

I spent the weekend massaging the valance and inhaling polyethylene fumes.

(Here is the original link to when I repaired the valance with the plastic welder: http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/show.../fpart/12/vc/1 )

With the plastic welder and polyethylene welding rods, I added 3/8" to the drivers side turn signal area at the top and it fits flush now to the bottom of the urethane bumper. There was a 3/8" gap before.

I also made a solid 1" thick mounting pad on top of both driver's side top mounting pounts so that when the screw is tightened the tall pad locks into the recessed area under the rubber nose piece at the exact moment when the valance edge mates with the lower part of the bumper curve. The stupid factory design of this setup has the mounting pads for the ends of the valance too short to reach their mating point under the bumper. The result is that you tighten the bolts to get it to mate with the bumper, the mount itself breaks off and then it touches down but the valance edge never moves up. Dumb design.

I am also using a portion of 1/8 steel barstock to add as a load distributor for the outer 2 mounting bolts so the bolts aren't just pulling against plastic - kind of like the small block chevy valve cover bolt load spreaders. It will be hidden inside the upper valance area.

I also had to heat the outer edges of the valance to get them to more closely conform to the lower fender edge. There was a 1/2" gap before, where the valance ended but the fender kept going. Another great design feature of this valance, it was an inch narrower than the area it had to cover.

I also added 1/8" to 1/4" of material to the outer edges and filed and sanded until they mate perfectly with the lower fender edge, with no gap.

I also had to add about 1/2" on the lower edge of the valance at each bolt hole, which didnt line up with the existing bolt holes in the lower radiator support. That is one of the reasons these things shattered to begin with - instead of simply making the hole longer and/or wider, the assembly line guys would just try to stretch the heck out of the hard plastic and stress it to such a level that one good pothole and the whole valance would explode. I welded closed the original bolts holes in the valance and made new ones that mount up perfectly without stretching or stressing the valance. I also bent the lower radiator support edges where the speed nuts mount, so they align with the valance without bending it.

I probably spent about 24 hours total doing all this. Just so she has the pretty, little face she was originally built with, instead of that gaptoothed, slack jawed, look of the warranty replacement valance. (No offense to you guys with a 70 or 71 Firebird out there that came with the "other valance" originally

[keepat]

Nice job, looks awesome!
Pat

[fodder69]

That's going to look great when you are done. But I am a little offended, I think my nose turned out pretty good with the old steel valence. I still have that1/8 to 1/4 inch gap on top but I have seen some with 1/2-5/8 gaps that look pretty bad. Pictures over here.

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=558650

[Norwood]

Fodder69, I just love that silver.

Steve, I don't know how many times we can say it, Great Job

Here is the gaptoothed, slack jawed valance on my 70...( really I am just trying to get my car in Steve's thread). I think it looks pretty good..

[njsteve]

LOL. I was just trying to get a rise out of you guys. It must have been the polyethylene fumes doing the talking. :-)

[cdoggy81]

Wow, I'm so used to seeing the gaptoothed, slack jawed valance I thought that was the way they came

[Tellyshavilli]

I hate that slack jawed look . Good job Steve , looks very good Was it a original piece you started with ?