68 quarters, good? bad? very confused

dukemd66 · Sep 10, 2006

I have been waiting patiently for 12 months for a local body man to do my rear quarters. He now has time but I am not sure if I am ready. Reading all of the posts on quarters here I am not sure if I should wait for all of this "retooling" people are talking about or start hunting for originals. The body mans skills are excellent. Are the reproductions that bad?

Rick (68)

BelAirBob · Sep 10, 2006

Rick, No "retooling" is occurring-its just that some suppliers are running short of inventory. A more accurate assessment is that a restocking is at hand. If you are waiting for retooling,then don't. Yes,all repros require some work and tweaking for the best possible fit. As I've said ad nauseum,so do original GM pieces. No panel "falls" onto a car. Its alot of work no matter the level of expertise.

Bgonz 69 · Sep 10, 2006

BelAirBob said:
No panel "falls" onto a car. Its alot of work no matter the level of expertise.

Some just fall better than others

bob

mxquattro · Sep 10, 2006

BelAirBob is right on. Ive done both original GM and repro, and they both needed a significant amount of fitting to get right. However the only advantage of GM is the gauge of the metal... all the aftermarket ones seem really thin and just dont have the nice feel to the GM kind. They also dent and ding a *LOT* easier.
bob

BelAirBob · Sep 10, 2006

METAL GAUGE: GM VERSUS REPRO

Not sticking up for repro metal here, but I have used a digital micrometer on the stuff we sell versus original GM pieces, only to find a mere 3.5 THOUSANDTHS of an inch variation,so its hardly thin metal that dings easily. Also keep in mind that the new metal is of a lower sulphur content that that made in the 60's and 80's,meaning that it is slightly lighter yet stronger. I suppose some repro stuff is paper thin, but again,I tested ours for myself,and 3 1/2 thousandths is about the width of a piece of hair.... not much to write home about. Go to Sears,buy the micrometer,and do the test. I think you'd be surprised...I know I was!

Reality does not always line up with perceptions. :hurray:

mxquattro · Sep 10, 2006

I remember leaning a broom against a fender rather agressively and it leaving a dent on a repro, I was stunned. Sheetmetal is also part of the safety system in a car so off it came and I hunted out GM fenders. Youre probably right BelAirBob, it depends on the mfr, and I honestly dont know who made the ones I was talking about.
But that being said, 3.5 thousandths is not trivial, 3.5 thousandths is about what a good heavy foil or tooling foil would be. So I think if I added that much to the fenders I had, it would make a substantial difference. Isnt that about 10% or more??

Im just pulling these numbers out of you know where, but going by memory, so apologies if not correct.

Bob

BelAirBob · Sep 10, 2006

Not quite that much. Original GM (fenders measured) .00620,repros .00585. About 5% variation, or put another way 95% as thick as the GM stuff.

Satatic · Sep 10, 2006

No robots were used in the 60s right?

sjp · Sep 10, 2006

Actually they have re-tooled the 67-68 q-panels. We do a lot of test fitting for OER/Classic Industries and a new set of q-panels are on their way to us. Since SEMA last year we have test fitted two pairs which didnt meet Classic Industries or American Muscle Cars Inc. standards and were rejected.

Sal Perez
American Muscle Cars Inc.
www.americanmusclecars.net

ProdigyCustoms · Sep 11, 2006

Wait for Classic to finish the panels. The ones that are out there are bad, and require many extra hours of sectioning to make a panel out of them. When Classic gets them done, they will be right

balljoint · Sep 13, 2006

last reply my photo did not work. Try this one. How would I fix this?

3speed400 · Sep 13, 2006

balljoint said:
last reply my photo did not work. Try this one. How would I fix this?

I have the same EXACT problems with my drivers side quarter panel, it seems like every repro quarter panel has the same problems.

hope this helps:
http://john.my67.net/Passenger Drip Channel Sliced.JPG
http://john.my67.net/Passenger Drip Channel Sliced (2).JPG
http://john.my67.net/Driver Quarter to Tail Gasket Channel.JPG
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/12/web/2220000-2220999/2220489_106_full.jpg
http://www.cardomain.com/member_pag...emimage.cardomain.net/member_images/12/web/2220000-2220999/2220489_120_full.jpg

Hammered · Sep 14, 2006

Here is the main page on my site that 3spd400 posted:

http://john.my67.net/body3.htm

We got the gutter as close as possible and then cut some metal to fill in the gap. comparing repop to old metal, the problem appeared to be shared between the tail panel and quarter. You can also see how we fixed the passenger side being smashed down.

Bgonz 69 · Sep 14, 2006

balljoint said:
How would I fix this? /quote]

I'll tell you how i'm gonna fix it on a 67 i'm doing...........

QUARTER SKINS :thumbsup:

I have a set of full 67 convertible quarters and i think they were made for a pinto :angry:

And i might GLUE em on for good measure :clonk:

sorry Frank.

bob

dukemd66 · Sep 14, 2006

I would love to see more pics of peoples projects involving the quarters.
I will try and have a pictorial of my project that my body man is doing. Looking at the drip channel of the trunk does not look exciting.
Is that what all repro look like?

Rick

68 quarters, good? bad? very confused

dukemd66

BelAirBob

Bgonz 69

mxquattro

BelAirBob

mxquattro

BelAirBob

Satatic

sjp

ProdigyCustoms

balljoint

3speed400

Hammered

Bgonz 69

dukemd66

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