Learning curve. My 72 Firebird adventure.

[KShortell]

I just keep my mind on the finished product that I have in my head. It keeps me going! You're doing great so far. Keep it up!

[HO455]

So far that's been easy as it's just the tear down part. The steep part of the learning curve will be down the road a bit, when parts actually have to go back together again.

Fortunately my expectations are low. I've been watching Finnigan and Freiburger.

[Tempest67]

when it comes to installing metal panels, check out Jonathan at the Vinyl Village Garage.

https://www.youtube.com/@VinylVillageGarage

[HO455]

Originally Posted by Tempest67

when it comes to installing metal panels, check out Jonathan at the Vinyl Village Garage.

https://www.youtube.com/@VinylVillageGarage

Actually I have watched a bunch of his videos. The ones on the 69 GTO as I have one of those in the que.
I also have been watching the Maverick Mod guy and his restomod 72 Firebird. I don't agree with some of his choices but I like how he explains things.


https://youtu.be/4nHb0FUL5Tw?si=VAXQNuenbaeTDA6F

Thanks for the link!

[HO455]

I carved out half a day to work on the Firebird. I got most of the tail panel cut out. Still to go is the bottom strip of spot welds and the spot welds on the little filler pieces on each end.

Those filler pieces are not available so I'm taking my time. I know that the car has been hit in the rear but now I'm thinking it's been hit more than once. On the drivers side the filler piece has been brazed to the tail panel in a couple spots and the passenger side the lower part of the filler looks to have been soldered to the quarter panel.

Unfortunately I didn't get a good before photo to show how normal it looked. But with the panel off you can definitely see how deformed the back is. Most of that will go away when the trunk floor gets replaced. Hopefully I can save the bumper mounts. (Photo #4 shows the worst two) At least I can cut them out and remove the spot welds and clean them on the bench along with the trunk latch bracket and the license plate bracket.

[raggedjim]

You're into it now! Are you going to replace the trunk floor with aftermarket metal? If you do, take good pictures! I have a 79 TA that will need a new one (eventually).

Good luck, Rg

[HO455]

Originally Posted by raggedjim

You're into it now! Are you going to replace the trunk floor with aftermarket metal? If you do, take good pictures! I have a 79 TA that will need a new one (eventually).

Good luck, Rg

I am going to replace the floor. Taking good pictures isn't something I'm good at.
You might check out a guy called Double R Restorations. He's got 2 second gen Camaro restorations that he has documented quite well. I've spent way too much time there lately.

https://youtube.com/@doublerrestorat...dPrapu58nv6oWl

[HO455]

Another 4 hours and about 100 spot welds later I got the rear cross sill removed. Then I removed the rusted out truck floor pan. (Photo #3) After some basic cleanup I have a good idea of what is good and what is iffy.

The good news is that the frame rails are solid. (Photos #1&2) The less encouraging news is the fuel tank supports are not in very good condition. (Photo #4&5) Now I have to decide whether to fix the supports or to spend $150 bucks on reproduction ones. Either way it's probably the same about of work.

[Tempest67]

looks like you are making progress, be sure to keep some reference marks for the new metal.

keep at it

[HO455]

Thanks! I haven't messed with the trunk lid so I will be able to match the old gaps and the vertical measurements I made to at least be in the ball park.

Last night's project was removing the extra pieces from the bumper mounts and I determined I can reuse one and rebuild the other one. From what I've read it should be the same amount of work as making repops fit. But without the excitement of buying parts that don't fit. Both of these had no spot welds instead they had weld beads in 3 spots around the edges holding them in place. My guess they were replaced at some point. Judging from the rust around them the shop likely just coated them with trunk spatter paint afterwards.

[HO455]

Made some forward progress today. I removed more of the original floor and I think I've got it cut back to where I want it. After so initial trimming to make it easier to wrestle in and out of the trunk. So with fingers crossed I set the new floor in. I found that the metal stamping isn't the same length from side to side. My guess is that the sheet of metal wasn't centered in the die when it was stamped. (Photos #1 & 2)

I started trimming off everything that looked wrong. to an idea how bad things were going to be. Aftermarket parts and a previously wrecked rear end oh boy!

About an hour later I had a good handle on the fit up. The drivers side is lining up nicely. Both in the trunk and where the new cross sill meets up with it and the original sheetmetal.

Please forgive the poor photos.

[HO455]

The passenger side is going to need a lot more work to make it look reasonable. The original floor needs to be pushed up at the back edge. (I'm guessing it's distorted from one of the wrecks) See the 3rd photo where I've circled the 1/2" gap and the arrow shows the direction it needs to be raised to remove the gap.

The new floor doesn't accurately follow the original floor contours and want to sit higher in some areas than others. That problem gets worse when I push the back edge the original floor up where it needs to be. Hopefully the photos show this better than I can explain it.

The last two photos are of the first fitting of the cross sill.

The next steps are going to be lots of fine grinding as I try to sneak up on the final fitment. I've never had a panel like this have one side fit this well this early on so, I'm kind of wary of trusting it to stay that way as I continue to trim things.

I'll be nailing things down with some sheet metal screws and way more clamps for the next steps so the process will get much slower from here on out.

[Tempest67]

its coming along and looking good

[raggedjim]

I don't know how many times I've been trying to put on a panel and thought "I gotta be doing something wrong!" but sometimes it's not me, it's the panel!

Nice work, Rg

[HO455]

Thank you gentlemen! I appreciate the encouraging words. I've got a lot of moves to go.

[Tempest67]

to cut the old floor out and get the new one to fit, it's time for Fitzee's 'Cut and Butt'


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Fvjq9Xie8Y&t=1430s

[HO455]

Originally Posted by Tempest67

to cut the old floor out and get the new one to fit, it's time for Fitzee's 'Cut and Butt'


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Fvjq9Xie8Y&t=1430s

That's pretty much what I was planning to do with some slight differences. But I've still got a bunch of clean up to go yet. I have decided to take the $150 new gas tank brackets would have cost me and buy a shrinker/stretcher and repair the brackets I have. I hope the learning curve on that won't be too steep.

[HO455]

I spent a couple hours pulling the rear window. I needed to see how bad it was before I started sandblasting the trunk area to prepare it for primer and welding. It wasn't great, but I'm happy it wasn't much worse.
And bonus I didn't break the glass! Woo Hooo!

[Tempest67]

always good news when it is not as bad as you thought

keep it going


Hope to see that trunk floor in soon

[HO455]

Originally Posted by Tempest67

always good news when it is not as bad as you thought

keep it going


Hope to see that trunk floor in soon

Me too but, I've decided it should be far easier to fix the window area without the trunk floor installed. So it will have to wait for that to get done.

[HO455]

I started piecing in new metal to the bad areas. I started with the two small areas below the hinges. (Photos 1 shows drivers side.) Once those were fitted I moved to the passenger side rear outer bumper mount area.

The metal in the center of the U-shaped bracket was wasted so to replace it I cut the mount in two and replaced the bad area. After replacing I reattached the two haves of the bracket.

I kind of jumped around a bit. I did the smaller ones first in hopes of getting my fit up skills honed in before I venture in to the larger pieces. I then moved to the area below the bracket as it is a out of the way area that currently is easy to access. A good place to test my, new to me, welder and get it dialed in. I feel it's best to get ones skills up to speed where mistakes aren't the end of the world.

The welder is a Millermatic 135 and seems to work well. I was running. 023 wire. I can't remember the rest of the wire specs. I will try to get them tomorrow. (Last photo) The tacks don't lay down as flat as I would like but they grind down easily. I may be able to get the tacks to flatten out as I use in more. The one annoyance is the trigger spring on the gun is much too soft and as a result the slightest bump on the trigger causes wire to pay out. I'm pretty sure I can disassemble the gun and tweak the spring.

[Tempest67]

looking good, keep at it

[HO455]

I got the other bumper mount area done as well as the bad spots under the trunk hinges. Actually I still have some welding to finish up on the driver's side. I may wait to do it once the trunk floor is installed as needs to be welded from the bottom. I'll take a second look at it at the start of the day not when I'm tired.

I was been able to get the tack welds to lay down more. At this point I'm not sure if it is the wire or possibly the 120 volt machine. I'm used to using my old 220 volt Miller 200 circa 1988. It has a markedly different feel when making tack welds. One thing for sure is I will get an opportunity to try some different wire before this project is done.

[franken]

Looks good. Keep at it.
I was going to ask what the press was being used for til I realized it was weight. Duh.
I have a 71 Camaro that needs work...

[Tempest67]

those patches look good. Nice work


remember, "1 piece at a time",


you are getting there