'69 Coupe Ground-Up / Rotisserie Resto " Now's the Time! "

6781camaro · Jan 30, 2011

Re: '69 Coupe Ground-Up / Rotisserie Resto " Now's the Time! "

Oh boy!... just be careful. This is (public) ransom info ya know!

6781camaro · Jan 30, 2011

Re: '69 Coupe Ground-Up / Rotisserie Resto " Now's the Time! "

6781camaro said:
...Will post pics of progress right after a quick shower, launching the rust cakes out of my nostrils, and a nice hot meal. STARVING! LOTS of NEW pics!!!!!:yes::yes::yes::yes:

I was just re-reading some of my earlier posts from page one and couldn't stop laughing at this one above. l

Man-- I don't miss those rust cakes at all! :noway: I can still smell them now....

l

(eh,... um... this was before I discovered the beauty of a simple respirator) Oye!

Tomorrow should be a nice day for progress. I have complete clearance to spend the entire day out there...:hurray: Most likely going to solve the issue at the ends of my outer rockers where they meet the 1/4 panel lips.

More pics coming soon....

6781camaro · Jan 30, 2011

Re: '69 Coupe Ground-Up / Rotisserie Resto " Now's the Time! "

So..... just out of sheer excitement for tomorrow, I went outside, dug out the driver's side fender and did a quick test-fit.

Pretty happy overall--being that the core support is not even installed and the fender is just hanging there on three bolts. The gap to the door is just about there. This is a GM fender that needs a small patch at the front of the rocker panel area (down low), so it's not dead-on, but close. This was just out of curiousity to see how the door is positioned in the door opening and to give me an idea of how the fender gap will look.

Just think-- my Camaro hasn't worn fenders since 1996! :yes: Check it out... (remember--it's just a quick test-fit)

69z28freak · Jan 30, 2011

Re: '69 Coupe Ground-Up / Rotisserie Resto " Now's the Time! "

It's a car I tell ya! It's a car!!! :hurray: :thumbsup: :beers:

tjgimp · Jan 30, 2011

Re: '69 Coupe Ground-Up / Rotisserie Resto " Now's the Time! "

Looks great. I can't wait to see this weekend's "episodes.":yes:

6781camaro · Jan 30, 2011

Re: '69 Coupe Ground-Up / Rotisserie Resto " Now's the Time! "

69z28freak said:
It's a car I tell ya! It's a car!!!

tjgimp said:
Looks great. I can't wait to see this weekend's "episodes."

Thanks Mike and Tim! This is getting exciting for me too...

Well-- I started today by doing another quick test-fitting on the passenger fender to see how it compared to the driver side. It's just about the same, but has a tighter gap at the top of the fender which I think I can adjust out with shims without issue. I don't think anyone can effectively mock up fenders w/o the core support installed anyway...or at least quickly like this... Today's goal was strictly to check the door's position in the hole while watching the fender and door gaps. I am happy with the amount of adjustability they now have after playing with them a little more earlier today. I did have approx. 5/16" worth of shims used on the top firewall fender mounting bolt. Is that typical?

Next was to start tackling the outer rocker patches to make them meet the quarter lips again (since I slid both quarters back that 1/4").

I started by marking out the line where I should slice the end of the outer rocker off. After slicing it off (pass side only so far...) I mocked it up using magnets so I can create a paper template for the patch needed. And that's where I am now after taking a well-needed lunch break...

PICS!

***I was curious to know what you guys thought on what appears to be an NOS sticker impression left on the inside of the pass side fender. Looks like this one was an NOS replacement? Is that where the GM part # sticker is usually placed? That would be too cool.... It does still need a lower front patch panel though....

***VERY clean fender inside and out. I may use it instead of my originals-- not sure yet...

* I know I do have the fender sitting a little too high here, but again, it is solely for gap-testing purposes right now. It needs to drop down about 1/16" or so to be just right at the body lines I think... I can see that compared to the other panels, fenders are an altogether different animal-- able to be peaked out at the body lines, slid around, shimmed, etc.... It's kind of nice in a way. More adjustability here for sure! Still, I sense that aligning the front end after I get the rear nailed in, will be a nice challenge for me...

....and here's where I started on the pass side outer rocker patch panel I need to fab up.

I had some new 16 gauge stock which is a perfect match for the outer rocker thickness. I'm on my way back out for more fun. Stay tuned!

6781camaro · Jan 30, 2011

Re: '69 Coupe Ground-Up / Rotisserie Resto " Now's the Time! "

Okay so here's the patch I made. It went quite smoothly I must say!

I will let the pics speak for themselves (this time)

.

I chose to fill in (with weld) the spaces between the welding flanges at the end of the outer rocker to give it a cleaner look. ***OH and pay no attention to the sloppy welds that connect the inner wheel well to the outer in the background . I plan on cleaning up all my older work before the final epoxy priming later on. It is eating me up inside like you can't imagine. If only I knew what I know now, back then. *say that 5 times fast! ha ha......

I will try to get the other side done tonight; if not, later this week for sure...

anickel-67cpe · Jan 30, 2011

Re: '69 Coupe Ground-Up / Rotisserie Resto " Now's the Time! "

Nice job on the rosker extentions.

69z28freak · Jan 30, 2011

Re: '69 Coupe Ground-Up / Rotisserie Resto " Now's the Time! "

Hey Todd. Very Nice fab on the rocker. Not sure if you have all of the gap tollerances but I found them in the AIM and in the Camaro Restoration guide. I had no issues at all with my front end going on, but it was all original. But you are right, you will need to have the subrame in place, then mount the rad support. Good news is all of that is also adjustable, which should give you enough play to make sure that everything lines up perfect.

allanjs · Jan 30, 2011

Re: '69 Coupe Ground-Up / Rotisserie Resto " Now's the Time! "

Todd, Nice job on the extension. Hell of a place to get to in order to
weld isn't it ? Just a suggestion, you may want to just tack it in place
and finish up the weld once it's on the Roto. I am doing that in a number
of places just for convenience. Keep on keepin' on. (that shows my age huh?)

6781camaro · Jan 31, 2011

Re: '69 Coupe Ground-Up / Rotisserie Resto " Now's the Time! "

allanjs said:
Todd, Nice job on the extension. Hell of a place to get to in order to
weld isn't it ? Just a suggestion, you may want to just tack it in place
and finish up the weld once it's on the Roto. I am doing that in a number
of places just for convenience. Keep on keepin' on. (that shows my age huh?)

Thanks Al... I was pretty proud of that fab after it was done. The driver's side patch should come out even better now that the planning for it is already done. Plus I have a model to look at now.

and yes,,, That's a great idea and great minds think alike.. (exactly what I planned to do)... One of the reasons I have the RotoSS. Can't wait to use it!

6781camaro · Jan 31, 2011

Re: '69 Coupe Ground-Up / Rotisserie Resto " Now's the Time! "

69z28freak said:
Hey Todd. Very Nice fab on the rocker. Not sure if you have all of the gap tollerances but I found them in the AIM and in the Camaro Restoration guide. I had no issues at all with my front end going on, but it was all original. But you are right, you will need to have the subrame in place, then mount the rad support. Good news is all of that is also adjustable, which should give you enough play to make sure that everything lines up perfect.

Thanks Mike. Unfortunately, my garage is a too crowded at the moment for me to have the room to install the subframe and front end. I need to do some re-organizing and shuffling to make it happen. It will be interesting to see the RotoSS in action in this small two-car garage...

6781camaro · Jan 31, 2011

Re: '69 Coupe Ground-Up / Rotisserie Resto " Now's the Time! "

anickel-67cpe said:
Nice job on the rosker extentions.

I appreciate the kind feedback on it. I had a good time making that piece. It's like therapy for me.

I had to cut the evening short so I wasn't able to start the driver side patch, but it should be even easier having already fabbed this one.

Before I tack them in place, I need to coat them in epoxy--along with alot of other parts too. I have some grinding and smoothing to do too, on many of the recent panels that I've welded in lately. (drop offs, cross rail, outer cowl boxes, etc... ) It's easy to get behind on that since we've hardly had any painting weather lately. This weekend was perfect, but again... I wasn't prepared to paint. Wah wah wah wahhhhhhhhh... next weekend! :yes::hurray:

Leadfoot1 · Jan 31, 2011

Re: '69 Coupe Ground-Up / Rotisserie Resto " Now's the Time! "

Hey Todd,

Nice project you got going on there.... Moving along nicely too!

I was looking at your welds. You seem to be using a shielded wire (flux) type of wire no? While looking, if i may, i would suggest lowering your heat a little and really taking more time to put down the metal in. It looks like your pulling real fast on the gun and that would explain all the puddles. If you take your time and go in a rouny round motion with the tip of the gun, you wont go thru (even better with lowered heat setting) and you will fill much better and get an much flatter weld. You will SEE it welding together, take your time and really look at what its doing...

Just my 2 penny's while passing by, hope it helps!

Keep on weldin! Its looking good!

Lead.

6781camaro · Jan 31, 2011

Re: '69 Coupe Ground-Up / Rotisserie Resto " Now's the Time! "

Leadfoot1 said:
Hey Todd,

Nice project you got going on there.... Moving along nicely too!

I was looking at your welds. You seem to be using a shielded wire (flux) type of wire no? While looking, if i may, i would suggest lowering your heat a little and really taking more time to put down the metal in. It looks like your pulling real fast on the gun and that would explain all the puddles. If you take your time and go in a rouny round motion with the tip of the gun, you wont go thru (even better with lowered heat setting) and you will fill much better and get an much flatter weld. You will SEE it welding together, take your time and really look at what its doing...

Just my 2 penny's while passing by, hope it helps!

Keep on weldin! Its looking good!

Lead.

Thanks for the compliments on the restoration. Having fun and learning lots....

Yea-- I actually turned up the heat lately for my butt welding... using a heat setting of "C" and a wire speed of 3.8 usually. I used to use a setting of "B" and a wirespeed of 3.5 and had even taller puddles, so this is better, but you are right-- I need to slow down. I am using argon/co2 gas and solid mig .023 wire since day one. --never inner shield gasless wire...

I do tend to move the torch a little too quickly when butt welding in fear of blowing holes. I hate when that happens! More work...using more roloc discs too... I appreciate your advice and I will give it a try when I make the next patch. Thanks for the tips! :beers:

blee62 · Feb 4, 2011

Re: '69 Coupe Ground-Up / Rotisserie Resto " Now's the Time! "

todd getting ready to install new roof panel. are you going to install dynamatt under the entire roof panel ? bill

Z282NV · Feb 4, 2011

Re: '69 Coupe Ground-Up / Rotisserie Resto " Now's the Time! "

Looking great Todd :thumbsup:, you are exactly 800 days :yes: into the build, Happy Anniversary. :beers:

6781camaro · Feb 4, 2011

Re: '69 Coupe Ground-Up / Rotisserie Resto " Now's the Time! "

blee62 said:
todd getting ready to install new roof panel. are you going to install dynamatt under the entire roof panel ? bill

Most definitely. I will be installing it before I weld it in place too. I just have to be very careful with controlling the heat from the welds to not loosen the adhesive on the Dynomat. (I may use a different product though.. still undecided on that.) Hushmat, etc...etc... there are many out there. I will be using sound deadener on most of the outer panels surrounding the interior to minimize all exterior noises or vibrations. I want to hear and feel my music--even at high rpms... :beers:.. which there will be quite a bit of I'm sure... Otherwise, without the sound deadener, I'll bring new meaning to the words "rattle can".

This Chevy's gonna ROCK! :yes: :boxing:

6781camaro · Feb 4, 2011

Re: '69 Coupe Ground-Up / Rotisserie Resto " Now's the Time! "

Z282NV said:
Looking great Todd :thumbsup:, you are exactly 800 days :yes: into the build, Happy Anniversary. :beers:

WOW! Thanks man... glad someone else is keeping track, 'cause I lost count:wacko: a few $1,000 ago....:clonk:l

Do you think I'm at least halfway?

That's a cool stat. I had no idea honestly... Let's just hope that my thread post count remains at the same ratio to that total. haha! Good times...good times.:beers:

69z28freak · Feb 4, 2011

Re: '69 Coupe Ground-Up / Rotisserie Resto " Now's the Time! "

Nice one Todd AKA Dr. Feelgood! Sounds like your neighbors will be shouting at the devil!!!

'69 Coupe Ground-Up / Rotisserie Resto " Now's the Time! "

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