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1969 Firebird Convertible

304K views 722 replies 56 participants last post by  Birdman68  
#1 ·
I was bidding on a car last night. I did not think that I would win. From what I can tell from the photos and talking to the owner, it needs the following in body parts:
Quarter panels
Tail panel
Rear bumper
Complete Trunk pan
Complete Floor pan
Fenders
Possibly a firewall
Front valance panel
Door skins
New convertible top

The owner says it runs but it will not stop. (Brakes are bad). The convertible top works. The gauges and speedometer work, headlights work, radio has no sound.

The next morning, I got an email telling me that I won! What am I going to tell my wife? Should I send flowers? I will have to get the car shipped to me.

I hired Get-Ur-Dun Trucking Company to deliver the Firebird. The driver, who was president and CEO of the company, loved the car. He said he has hauled other cars in worst shape.

Four sets of neighbors came out of their houses to see the one-ton pickup with a long trailer parked in front of my house. All of the men neighbors loved the car. All of the women neighbors hated the car. One man wanted to buy my car on the spot. Another one wanted to buy one like it but his wife told him that he could not. He wants to help me work on the car. The six-year-old neighbor twins were fascinated with the manual window handles. They never had seen a car that did not have electric windows.

The driver was an interesting character. It is a shame he lives in another state. He talked about splurging that night and getting a hotel with a shower because he slept in his truck for two days. He had many stories. One of his previous customers refused to pay him because he did not like the used car he bought sight unseen. Another one only viewed one side of the car on Ebay. Later, when his car arrived, he found out it was wrecked on the other side. We talked maybe for two hours and drank some homemade beer on the patio with a few of the men neighbors. My wife was inside with the women neighbors. She kept staring at us through the kitchen window and talking on the phone. I think she called everyone she knew to tell them about our new car. Later, I found out she hid her jewels and money in the house because she thought I was going to ask the driver to spend the night at our house. He got a call from the dispatcher, his wife, and left to pick up a car on the other side of Houston.

The convertible top flew off during transit. It was old and dry rotted. You need a screwdriver to open the trunk. It needs many body panels replaced because of rust. The engine runs good and the transmission works. The points and plugs are new, the oil was new and the radiator coolant was green. There is no telling the last time the engine was started before the tune up. The engine was pressure washed possibly to hide an oil leak. I drove it 200 feet and the wheels did not fall off.
 

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#53 ·
After a lot of measuring of the old trunk, the frame rail is too short from the rear shackle hole to the end of the frame rail. It should look like the driver frame rail. I have read that a lot posts about frame rails that are too long or the shackle hole bracket is in the wrong position, but I have never heard of one too short. I bought the frame rail from a third party. Maybe a restoration shop or the person I bought it from cut it too short and dumped it. I guess this will be next week’s project.
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Notice the large flat washers I used to pull the trunk to the pan. It is easy to distort the thinner trunk pan sheet metal.
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I welded the holes in the trunk pan to the frame rail. I stopped welding at the bumper bracket because I might have to move it considering all the other problems I ran into.
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Weld the floor pan to the trunk pan.
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This is the best that I could get the trunk pan to meet the driver frame rail. The photo exaggerates the gap. Two sheets of paper will not slip through the joint. Notice the scratches and missing primer from the assembly. My drill motor chuck was rubbing on the frame rail. I stitched welded some of the areas to make sure the joints were strong. This was not done at the factory. Todd suggested that I will need a BFH. This is the area I might try to use one. The other side of the frame rails is tight against the trunk pan.
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#54 ·
Patrick,

Looks good. Good idea with the large washers in the trunk. I did distort my trunk. I started grinding down the welds and I'm having a hard time. The welds are lower than the surrounding metal and the trunk is not smooth. Splatter paint and filler in the future for me? We'll see. Keep up the momentum.
 
#57 ·
Glad to hear you're okay Tim! :beers: What a mess up there! We left Sunday night from Philly after driving from Jackson, NJ--right near the coast. We left just in time since the airport closed right after we left...
 
#58 ·
Keep up the great work Patrick! Looking awesome!
:yes:
 
#61 ·
Mr. Truss,

The photos are not necessarily in chronological order. The planned time line for my project is the following:
1. Cut out Driver rocker panel
2. Replace driver A pillar
3. Repair cowl panel
4. Replace firewall
5. Replace driver shoulder cowl panel
6. Repair driver b pillar
7. cut the middle out of the car
8. position frame rails
9. install floor pan
10. install trunk pan
11. install trunk rear inner valance
12. replace driver rear wheel house
13. install passenger rocker panel
14. replace passenger A pillar
15. Repair passenger B pillar
16. install convertible floor pan reinforcements
17. replace passenger rear wheel house
18. replace passenger shoulder cowl panel
19. install tail panel
20. install quarter panels
21. install rear suspension
22. remove from jig

I am just a shade tree mechanic. So my order of changing parts is probably incorrect. Basically, I started from the front driver corner and worked my way out to the rest of the car. I replaced the parts in the above order becase the first ones were so badly rusted they did not provide any support to the rest of the car. I did not start with the frame rails because they were still strong.

Before I cut anything out, I made notes in a notebook with hand drawn illustrations and measurements. I cut the car in chunks. Where two panels meet, I did not separate them. An example would be the trunk pan with the frame rails still attached. This method proved to be valuable because I still have an example of how the two parts are joined together and I have the exact dimensions in case I forgot to jot them down.

Your order will be different from mine. I stared at the body on the jig for days before deciding what to do. It was intimidating to me when I made the first cut. But after making it and sliding the replacement rocker in place, I could tell that it was going to be possible to join it to the old metal.

I think that most professionals replace both rockers first. The rockers are the main supports on the unibody. I guess another method would be to keep your car intact and build a replacement body on the jig. That way you have a complete example for reference. I did not have that much room. My rear axle is in my wife's flower bed behind the garage. One tire is almost flat.
 
#62 ·
Honestly looks like you did an awesome job. I am getting ready to tackle mine and feel the same as you in terms of the daunting task. I did think the pics were in order but my mistake. So you did do rockers first. I kind of thought that would be the way to go. But you know I am at that unsure place right now. I do know that the jig is the way to go....my plans should be here fairly quickly I hope....then i will build the jig to put the car on. I think I have all the parts now with the exception of a full trunk. I ordered everything seperate then people started telling me that the best way is as a unit vs piece by piece...I agree. I think i have alittle more room than you but not much...the only down fall for me is that before I got this car i had completely renovated my garage with new cabinetry and checkerboard floor. Thanks so much for being patient with my questions
 
#63 ·
Mr. Truss,
I have always wondered if anyone actually took the time to study the photos. I am happy to see that you noticed the timeline of the photos were not in order. This tells me you are serious about your upcomming project. I hope you are following several build projects on this fourm. Take the best ideas and procedures out of each one and use them as a guide and reference. If you have any questions or need more photos of a certain area I will be happy to help.

I spread a tarp down in the back part of my garage to help from ruining my unsealed concrete floor. Dirt gets between the tarp and floor. When you start tearing your car apart, rust will fall on your floor. When you start to put your car back together, weld slag will fall on your floor. At the end of the weekend I use my leaf blower to blow out the dust. The driveway has turned a redish brown from the metal filings turning to rust.
 
#65 ·
Thank you Byran. It has been fun so far.

Fix Frame Rail
The passenger frame rail was too short where it connects to the rear inner valance. There are three flanges at the end of a frame rail. I cut off one of the vertical flanges that was bent outward. This flange is normally welded to the inner valance. I made an extension out of scrap angle iron. Two angle iron pieces made the sides and the upper flanges that connect to the trunk. The bottom of the extension was made with some flat stock. I made the patch a little long. That way, I could cut the patch a little at a time until it was the right length and the angles where it joins to the existing frame rail and valance was correct. It was difficult to weld inside the little hole where the patch meets the frame rail flanges because the mig tip was too big. I welded the outside to get better penetration. I proceeded to grind the weld down. I wasn’t paying attention and ground down some of the new metal. I then had to fill the cavity with weld and grind it down flat.

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I added a cap to the outside of the patch to mimic the frame rail flanges. I did not see any reason to weld three flanges. The flat square piece sticks out from the frame rail just like the flange that I cut off earlier. Once the inner valance is in place, all anyone will see is part of the cap that mimics the flange. The cap fits flush with the rear inner valance.

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#68 ·
Patrick, no problem. It happens...

Your abilities and your work so far are inspiring. I will be following this thread, and honestly I like 69 Firebirds just as much (somedays maybe more) than Camaros.
 
#69 ·
Looks like you solved the ol' "short frame rails" dilemma well. Curious to know if your rear trunk vertical surface that the tail light panel welds to is bowed or not. Looking at it from the side of the car. Mine needed a little "attention" to make it fit correctly. Keep up the good work!:beers:
 
#70 ·
Oh Todd, now I am worried again. The lip on the trunk pan bends up at what looks like 90 degrees. Should it be bent a an angle? When I installed the tail panel, I had to pull it back to line up with the quarter panel. I installed the trunk lid and the gap was too large between the quarter and trunk lid. The trunk lid seemed to close correctly but the weather stripping channel was missing and obvisiouly the weather stripping was not installed.

Brandon, I want to see your car when it comes home. Hurry up, get that garage clean!
 
#71 · (Edited)
Silly question... only because I don't see it in your pics,.... but did you install the cross rail (inner tail panel) before the tail light panel? Silly question I know... but I have to ask. Also-- did you test-fit both quarters, cross rail, and the tail light panel before welding? Was there such a gap then? Test-fitting is the key here.

*If you did test it with the cross rail panel, you may have to slide the cross rail panel back more so that the top edge of the tail light panel will lean forward more and meet the quarters. You mentioned you had to pull the tail light panel forward to meet the quarters properly... just an idea. If that's the case and sliding the cross rail back more helps, you'll need to trim the rear edge of it so the tail light panel meets flush to the rear trunk edge. There is sometimes extra metal left on these repro panels that will need trimming to fit. Mine did...
 
#72 ·
Rear Inner Valance or Inner Tail Light Panel Brace:
I did not buy this panel with my initial order of parts because I did not know it existed. I had a revelation when I pulled the tail panel out of the box and there seemed to be something missing. Oh well, another $65.00. The old one had seen better days.
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The new panel did not follow the contours of the trunk pan. I drilled a hole in both pieces and pulled them together. I drilled holes in both the trunk pan and inner valance so that I could temporarily fasten them with sheet metal screws.
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I spot primed the previous welds and primed the new panel. I screwed the inner panel to the trunk pan.
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I took the panel back off and punched holes in the new brace along the surface that meets the trunk pan. I originally wanted to drill holes in the trunk pan. That way, I could weld from the top. The trunk pan has little braces in the top that would prevent the welds from being ground down. Therefore, I had to weld the panel upside down.
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I reinstalled the quarter panel and tail panel to see if the new inner valance will line up. It seemed to fit ok after a little work.
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One thing that I noticed was that the factory shifted my original tail panel to the right. The bumper bracket bolts that fasten to the trunk pan are 3/8”; but the holes are drilled ½”. This allowed for some wiggle room for adjustments. It was easy to see when you look at the area behind the license plate. I wanted to try to make the car as symmetrical as possible so I used ½” bolts to align everything.
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I plug welded the valance to the two frame rails, the two trunk pan braces, and along the seam where the valance meets the trunk pan. I welded the hole closed that I made earlier to pull the two panels together. This was one of the easier pieces to install.
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If you are replacing the complete trunk pan and tail panel, don’t forget to buy this extra piece.


 
#74 ·
When I ordered the tail panel, I asked for one that had the holes drilled for the letters. What I got was one of the first tail panels made. The first ones did not have holes drilled for the Pontiac letters and they still had two extra bolt holes the Camaro bumper. I plan to install the letters and weld shut the holes so that no one will confuse it with a Camaro.
 
#75 ·
Passenger A pillar:
The passenger A pillar needed to be repaired like the driver side. The repair process was the same.
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The replacement rocker was fitted in place. The first cut was made below the hinge bracket holes.

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More material was cut off because the first cut was too low. The hinge support bends at a slight arc towards the center of the car. I wanted the new patch seam to fit snuggly against the hinge support bracket. A second cut was made just above the bottom bracket holes. The bracket is flat in this area. Sorry for the photo being sideways. I rotated it but this forum insists that you tilt your head on some photos.

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Not shown, but the rocker was reinstalled and the new patch was put into position and bolted to the jig. I used some masking tape to mark where the patch needed to be cut.

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Once the patch was cut it was fitted in position. I did not take a photo but I installed bolts with flat washers into the hinge support to pull the patch flush with the original metal.

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Weld the two together and remove the hinge support bracket. Then grind down the welds.
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I cut some of the metal from the patch panel that I did not use. I welded the little pieces to the back side of the patch to reinforce the joint.
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Prime the panel.
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#76 ·
Post 1 of 3:
Passenger A pillar Repair Part 2 and Passenger Rocker Replacement
This is a photo of the backside of the passenger lower door hinge bracket. Obviously, this photo was taken before I sandblasted and painted it.

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I replaced the rocker beam at the same time that I was working on the A pillar patch. It was easier to do both at the same time. One thing that I noticed on both driver and passenger rocker panels is that the front triangle metal was not securely welded to the rest of the beam. I drilled holes and plug welded the two pieces together. The red square in the photo shows the two pieces I am talking about.
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The passenger rocker seemed to be too long when I test fitted the quarter panel. It stuck out about 3/16” behind the quarter panel. The rocker is the grey metal the quarter panel is the black metal in the photo.

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The rocker beam did not fit flush with the firewall. The only place it seemed to fit correctly was the rocker panel reinforcement (triangle metal). So, I moved the rocker forward. Now, it fits the quarter panel and the tabs on the rocker bump up against the firewall. The “A” pillar patch measures 4” like it should. The rocker panel reinforcement is too far forward.

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#77 ·
Post 2 of 3:
Passenger A pillar Repair Part 2 and Passenger Rocker Replacement
I think that maybe the rocker panel reinforcement was welded onto the rest of the rocker beam out of position. I decided to go ahead, weld the rocker to the rest of the car, and fix the triangle metal later. The rocker was leveled and pulled into position.
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Let the welding begin!

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