[67'7F6'Bird]

We received the USA made Inner Tail Panel - Great piece!!!!! - Thanks Esahlin!!!!

The metal is noticably thicker, the center hole is cut out more precisely and the forms on all the impressions are of greater detail. The lower middle fit perfectly (below the license plate) where it meets the outer tail panel, compared to the 1/2 inch gap on the GoodMark one I previously posted.

I would suggest this piece (ordered through RICK's Camaro Parts) as as the only choice when replacing this panel.

USA Made panel - not painted (Bare metal)
Taiwan panel - Black

Steve

[67'7F6'Bird]

More pictures of the inner panel, where it meets the trunk drop-offs - The fit is very good there too.

[67'7F6'Bird]

We have made some more progress on the fitment of the passenger side wheel well and trunk drop-off. We just need to get some more time to final fit the quarter panel - This will be soon.

[esahlin]

Cool!! Glad the US piece made a difference for you and fixed your gap.

If you end up looking at a Rick's first gen catalog you'll notice that they do not carry some of the repro/Taiwan pieces that other parts places carry. They try to carry the best pieces if possible whether that is US made or NOS GM. They are also good people to call (Ive heard) most of the time you can ask them on the phone what the best fitting pieces are or what they would recommend to buy based on what you need.

I heard Rick's was instrumental in getting new US made trunk lids reproduced. Apparently Rick's has some influence.

[esahlin]

Some pics to share of rusty drivers side floor....rusty underside of roof with hole patches....and about done with drivers floorpan replacement. Gotta get started on the passengers side soon. On the Drivers floor....I used the Goodmark/Taiwan (bought it from a local Goodmark supplier for $70) 60" long floor pan. Fit was OK....but it did require cutting slits into the new pan at the curved corners. Needed the slits so that the corners would match up to the curved areas in the original pan. I saw that there were some US made floor pans that already have the slits in them so the corners would fit. This was the reason I shyed away from them.....but now I see why the slits were originally stamped into the Sherman Associates US made floor pans. The Goodmark pans also included about 1/2 of the toe board section which was an added plus. That deviates away from the original construction/look of the toeboard to pan mating process. But for me it didnt matter.

See how the center part of the original floor pan (underneath the seat/subframe bolt/nut brace) is clear untreated steel from the factory. What were they thinking? My rec to anyone, Dont replace just the front and rear section of the floorpan.....cause if your front or rear is rusty your center underneath the seat brace is for sure rusty. Thats an important part since the seat brace is welded to that center section.

[67'7F6'Bird]

Hello Esahlin - Great information on the flooring. You've done some great work there!!! My floors are in very good condition, one less thing I need to do.

Just a quick update here. I've been working at a new company this past week and haven't got my schedule fine tuned yet. So no new progress to report.

I am looking to order rear brake lines, probably go with stainless, and all other miscellaneous parts, frame bumpers, exhaust hangers, and any thing else I can think of. Once we get the underside top-coated we'll install the differnetial and get the car rolling again. I was considering the split mono-leafs by Calvert-racing, but aftere talking with them there, they suggested I stick with the current Rancho Springs I have and use my Cal-tracks with them. I will do more street driving than racing - I think.

As for the trunk lid - I have the original in my basement but after an ispection of it - the cellar seemed to have gotten the better of it. I am now looking for NOS or may buy the US made trunk lid through Ricks. I am hoping to get some final fitting on the passenger side quarter panel this coming weekend.

[esahlin]

Spent most of the day today working on the passengers side floor......I got a bum new pass side Taiwan floorpan.....it was 1 1/2 inches too long. Had to cut a trim it. What a poor stamping. Oh well.....I'll make it work.

On your original trunk lid.....seriously try to resurrect it. The new Ricks lids are Camaro stampings that dont have the underside frame spaces/holes the Firebird lids do for the Pontiac letters and 400 emblem.

I purchased a repro trunk lid or Goodmark Taiwan lid a few years ago......It actually fits very well. I am surprisingly happy with it. But the underside does not match the Firebird lid. So I plan to resurrect my original lid in the near future.....use it for an original look and put a spoiler on the Goodmark lid.


My original lid had some rust holes in the bottom corner near the 400 emblem and was actually quite rusty.

Here is what you can do to maybe resurrect your original lid.....the top of the lid is a skin like on a door and The bottom portion is a frame.....what you can do is remove the skin or top portion.....clean all the rust off of the underside of the skin......fix any holes etc. Then you can do the same cleaning/rust removal of the frame portion. Once you get all the rust off of the two components then you can weld (via bending the skin's metal tabs back over the frame portion then make a series of tack welds of the metal tabs to the frame) the skin part back onto the frame.

I'll post a pick of my original trunk lid....Ive already removed the skin portion from the frame part. I did it a few years ago and didnt do the best job but I think it is salvageable. My pics might better illustrate how I got the skin/top portion off.

Post a pic of your original trunk lid......and I will see if I can give any ideas.

[esahlin]

Heres a link to the rust removal method I am going to use on the underside of the top skin to my trunk lid. Lots of surface rust on the underside of that skin.

http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/secr...t=rust+removal

[67'7F6'Bird]

Hello Esahlin - Here are pictures of my original Trunk Lid which has been in my basement for about 14 Years. When I first looked at it a few days ago it looked worse. I finally decided to bring it out of the basement and take a better look. The lid did have some severe surface rust. Take a look and let me know what you think. I may have thought that the peeling paint on the underside was an abundance of rust all around the lip - so I thought.

[67'7F6'Bird]

I did spend most of the day sanding the top of the original trunk lid. 80 Grit paper and the 3M wheel - very slow speed for the edge. I applied the Picklex 20 after I got it to bare metal, which if you look close there was still some black spots(rust) I couldn't remove, I hope the Picklex will do the trick on this piece. I did spray on 2 coats of Rust Encapsulator. There are a few dings in it and I will work on them after I get the underside clean. Esahlin - I will follow the directions you had given in the previous link -Thanks once again for your Help!!!!!
My brother took some measurements of the trunk lids and the middle of the Goodmark Trunk Lid is about 3/16" to narrow compared to the original. I think the original Trunk Lid found its way back on the car after so many years.

[67'7F6'Bird]

The first picture is the original attachment point for the Trunkl Lid. We tightened the bolts according to the paint that was on there making sure of the original attachment point, Im glad in the repaint many years ago before I owned the car that they didn't remove this piece - great guide for us to use. We did not do any fitting yet in these pictures using the orignal trunk lid. We were very happy though as you'll see the fit looks great - so our long hours in fitting all the other panels have paid off - the gaps are great and they will come in a little more when we ratchet the quarters together. You'll notice that I had to elongate the holes which held the Taiwan panel I used 14 years ago. I will fill those holes in better.

[esahlin]

Your original lid is in much better shape than mine. It actually looks good from the pics. Mine had rust thru holes near where the 400 emblem is located.

Your gaps are looking great with the original lid. Ahhhh....the beauty of original parts.

So, am understanding it correctly that you do have a new repro Goodmark Taiwan trunk lid? I didnt realize you did. Did the Goodmark lid look like it fit bad when you first tried it or did you have to measure it to figure out the difference? I havent done any measuring of mine. I was expecting a very poor fitting Taiwan piece when I bought the new lid so I was quite happy when the Goodmark lid looked like it fit well.

I will get some pics of my original trunk lid skin and frame that I seperated. Its at my parents house sitting in their basement so it will be a number of days before I can get some pics.

If you do end up removing your trunk lid skin, those dings might tap right out with a hammer and dolly.

[67'7F6'Bird]

Esahlin - I have a Taiwan Trunk lid that I purchased in 1993. I have a new Goodmark Trunk Lid that I received 2 months ago. It seems even after all this time the Taiwan Lid still has some issues where it is a little too Narrrow in the middle along side the quarter panel.

[esahlin]

Hmmm.....well looks like I am going to be bolting up my Taiwan lid here in the next couple of days and take a closer look at how it fits.

A little birdie told me that the quality of the Taiwan parts you buy DOES depend on where you purchase them. I dont know if I believe the birdie but it does make some sense. Anyway, some of the places like Rick's for example MIGHT have an inside track with Goodmark etc in that Goodmark gives Ricks some of the best Taiwan stampings. Kinda like the GM factory back in the day using the best stamped qtrs, hoods etc for the special show cars or the cars that were to be painted black.

Anyway, my local Seattle Goodmark supplier sold me that piece of junk pass floor pan, I have gotten other poor fitting Taiwan stuff from him too. Ive ordered from Classic Industires and gotten some good fitting stuff and some poor fitting Taiwan stuff.

Ive also ordered some sheetmetal from Ricks firstgen Camaro.....including my Goodmark trunk lid.....everything Ive purchased from Ricks has been excellent fitting....whether US made or Taiwan made.

So, it doesnt surprise me that the US made lower tail panel you bought from Ricks was excellent fitting besides being US made.

Just a thought but maybe my local Goodmark guy might not get the cream of the crop from Taiwan where maybe Rick's does. I wonder if anyone else has experienced something like this?

Now I'll see about my Ricks-Goodmark-Taiwan trunk lid....see how far off it is.

[67'7F6'Bird]

Hello Esahlin: - What were some of the tell tail signs that made you decide to change your roof? It looks like it comes off easy. But how about the reinstallation? The reason I ask is that my brother and I went to a local Restoration shop
http://www.MuscleCarMetal.com and Tony - the owner, very friendly and informative, removed a roof on a car he was working on to show us the rust that is hidden up there and suggested if were going this far in the restoration to go a little futher and do it the right way by changing the roof. I couldn't believe how much rust was there on that car, especially below the drip rail and around the front and rear window.

Steve

[esahlin]

Hi-

Here is an old picture (5-6 years ago) of the original roof after I took the vinyl top off of the car and painted the roof with POR-15. Obviously there were Several holes from rust. The other picture is of the roof as I removed it at the end of this July. Thats the underside and it shows the patches I welded in about 3 years ago trying to repair it. My patch job sucked!!!.....Hence I was dissastisfied with my patch job, so I deceided to replace the whole roof skin.

The underside picture here shows the black POR-15 I painted on the underside since there was surface rust there under the foam backing/insulation which is under the headliner. The roof skin is another one of those things that the factory didnt really paint when assembled....so yes there will be surface rust all over it. But, its a gamble to how long it would take the surface rust to eat through....maybe another 30-40 years who knows.

The bracing under my roof was rusty but it really wasnt too bad considering I had those holes in the roof. it wasnt rusty enough to need replacing. I removed some of the bracing, cleaned them treated it for any remaining rust and then sprayed two coats of epoxy on them.

My new roof skin should be devlivered in the next week or so.

I basically used a spot weld cutter to remove the spot welds on the front window channel and the back window channel. Then I used tin snips to cut the rest of the roof skin off leaving about an 2 inches of it left where it is spot welded to the roof rail gutter and to the quarter panel. I just used a 3" grinder to remove the small spot welds in the roof rail gutter and used the spot weld cutter to remove the spot welds where it attached to the quarter seam.

If your car didnt have a vinyl top then you roof is probably good. But like every other place on these cars....if there was untreated metal from the factory theres pretty good odds that there is surface rust on it or in the seams. Just as you saw as Tony removed the roof on the car he was working on. Your car has been impressive from your pics though in that there wasnt much rust.

I had developed the same train of thought with my car that Tony mentioned to you.....since Ive already replaced so much on my car already....and its taken me so long already.....I might as well do it the best I can and just pony up and replace the whole roof skin and the floorpans. I could have rescued my floorpans.....but I decided to just put new metal in.

I'm still working on getting the pics of my disasembled original trunk lid.....hopefully this week.

Regards,
Eric

[67'7F6'Bird]

Hello Esahlin - Thanks for the explanation, I look forward to hearing about your Roof Progress.

My brother Ed and I spent about 3 hours today on the passenger side quarter panel fitting, it definately isn't as nice a fit as the drivers side panel. But after spending some time it was looking better and better. We used the ratcheting straps to get the gaps tighter at the rear valance panel. We used very little pressure to move the panels inward.

[67'7F6'Bird]

More pictures

[esahlin]

Your Drivers side gaps are looking Excellent. On the passengers side, the gap between the trunk lid and the quarter..... the trunk lid seems a little high.....is that corrected with your original trunk lid? You guys have done great....the gaps between the qtr and tail panel look great.

Tell your brother to get busy with his 69 Camaro.... Man, I love the 69 Camaro....wish I had one. I love the 69 Camaros when they are mini-tubbed with 335 tires in back....they just look like they are kings of the road.

[esahlin]

I was just looking at that http://www.MuscleCarMetal.com website.....that looks like a great place!! He has some pretty good prices too. Very nice website too!