AMD QUARTER FITMENT ISSUE

[duster-z]

I have a full quarter skin I'm putting on my 72 duster and I also did a rocker since it was farther gone than I thought.

The problem is the top door gap it is alot bigger than the rest and I'm trying to figure out what might be holding it out.

Overall the rest of door gap is barely bigger than the original.

Here are some pictures.

The quarter seems to be lining up fairly well every where else and the body lines seem to be good.

I did not get the car as braced as I probably should have since I didn't know I was going to end up doing a full rocker as well and i did have to brace the front door post after the fact since it was trying to move.

Let me know if I need to post any other pictures and I do have some from before as well if that will help.

 

[GeorgeH]

Support the car as if it was sitting on it's suspension. Anything else will give you a false reading. If you get the gap looking good then set the car down the gap will close. Supported in the center the front and rear hang low opening the upper door gap. If you put a full rocker in, it goes between the inner rocker and the inner front quarter piece. That may have moved as well. In the pic below the line of at the top of the rocker. Drilling that panel and the door post loose will allow everything to move and the rear to drop significantly if you did it that way. AMD stuff is far from OEM also.

 

[duster-z]

Support the car as if it was sitting on it's suspension. Anything else will give you a false reading. If you get the gap looking good then set the car down the gap will close. Supported in the center the front and rear hang low opening the upper door gap. If you put a full rocker in, it goes between the inner rocker and the inner front quarter piece. That may have moved as well. In the pic below the line of at the top of the rocker. Drilling that panel and the door post loose will allow everything to move and the rear to drop significantly if you did it that way. AMD stuff is far from OEM also.

View attachment 1715195937

I have the entire frame supported and I did not take panel attached to the rear door post loose I just drilled the welds across the rocker.

 

[GeorgeH]

Ok, so you lifted it on a lift with the ends sagging and then made sticks to support the sagging ends? Rocker is already welded in? Set it up with jack stands on the rear end and front control arms or somewhere along those lines and lower the lift. Set it down and the upper door gap will close up like magic. Plus this will give a little additional room to slide the quarter around. On the suspension the car is at it's at rest state supporting it's own weight. Weld the quarter on in this state. I would at least check it that way before going alternative routes. These cars are flexible and it does make a difference.

 

[Dubob]

I have read on here in other posts before that there have been some issues on the upper part of the qtr to door missing part of the extension on the qtr so to speak. Not saying that’s your issue but compare the drivers side in that area closely. Another problem I have noticed with the replacement quarters is the upper part along the window channel (with pop out windows) is not as wide as original and may need work. If you push the door closed look at the width of the top door along the window vs the qtr you may see a noticeable width difference. Hopefully on yours they are the same width. If not it’s going to take some extra work to make right. I am by no means an expert but just things I have read and seen.

Here’s a good posting which may help. I know it’s a 70 but it addresses a couple issues I’ve seen and read about. And I’ve followed some of GeorgeH posts. He will give you good advice.

Advice needed on installing AMD full quarter on 70 Duster

 

[GeorgeH]

I have read on here in other posts before that there have been some issues on the upper part of the qtr to door missing part of the extension on the qtr so to speak. Not saying that’s your issue but compare the drivers side in that area closely. Another problem I have noticed with the replacement quarters is the upper part along the window channel (with pop out windows) is not as wide as original and may need work. If you push the door closed look at the width of the top door along the window vs the qtr you may see a noticeable width difference. Hopefully on yours they are the same width. If not it’s going to take some extra work to make right. I am by no means an expert but just things I have read and seen.

Here’s a good posting which may help. I know it’s a 70 but it addresses a couple issues I’ve seen and read about. And I’ve followed some of GeorgeH posts. He will give you good advice.

Advice needed on installing AMD full quarter on 70 Duster

oh, that was a mess!

 

[Dubob]

Yes sir. Just trying to give the guy a heads up. You’re sharp and are way more knowledgeable than I.

 

[GeorgeH]

Maybe it's inherit with some of those quarters, I know the e-body ones are way off, but I would support the car and see what it looks like before cutting the panel to pieces to mod it. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do to get decent gaps. The gaps were far from perfect on these cars when new so some of it comes down to what level perfection is acceptable.

 

[duster-z]

Ok, so you lifted it on a lift with the ends sagging and then made sticks to support the sagging ends? Rocker is already welded in? Set it up with jack stands on the rear end and front control arms or somewhere along those lines and lower the lift. Set it down and the upper door gap will close up like magic. Plus this will give a little additional room to slide the quarter around. On the suspension the car is at it's at rest state supporting it's own weight. Weld the quarter on in this state. I would at least check it that way before going alternative routes. These cars are flexible and it does make a difference.

So my original thought was to lift it from the frame rails, then before I removed the rocker I put the "sticks" of metal in to make sure the far ends did not bow the middle when i removed the rocker.

But if i am understanding what your saying is that the car sagged a bit as soon as I lifted it from the frame rails? It makes since to me my only problem is I measured the old door gaps after the car was already in the air.

Door gaps shown below with old quarter and car already on the lift.

As for the rocker and quarter nothing is welded I decided to put everything together first to make sure it all lines up. Then take it back apart fix a couple of rust spots. Then paint the insides and weldthru primer the seams.

 

[GeorgeH]

Yes, set it back on the tires or support it via jackstands in the same locations as the suspension does. Either on the rear end if it's still in or the rear frame rails back in that area and up front close to the control arms/suspension.

Just to give an example, I worked pretty extensively with Car-O-Liner frame and measuring equipment. On their frame spec data sheets there are two sets of measurements. They measure actual production vehicles 2 different ways to obtain the measurements. With the car in frame clamps on the rockers similar to a lift, or with the engine/transmission in or out. So we could put a car on the lift and measure it. Ok, so at the end of the frame rail there might be 5-6mm(1/4?). Picture an imaginary right triangle. One line follows the door gap(let's just say it's a straight verticle line that goes straight up and stops at the top where the door/qtr gap is.) The 90 angle, which is constant and never changes, follows the length of the car out to the end of the frame rail(Let's say it's parallel with the top of the rocker) As the frame rail drops when you lift it, it draws the top rearward opening the door/qtr gap. Cut the quarter off with it hanging and it drops even more. Every piece including the quarters is structural on a unibody. Even with high-tech measuring equipment that's in excess of $30k it's still better to sit them on their suspension to weld the quarter on because the door gap will close up every single time. Old car or new car they droop to some degree when picked up in the middle. If we measured on on it's tires the measurements would all be off because the measurements change at both ends when you set them on their tires. It might not be 100% of the problem but you will gain some ground picking up the ends of the car.

 

[lenky1]

I ran to the same issue on my drivers side. After alot of measuring and checking old panle vs new. The very top corner was stamped wrongit was rolled in and because of it i was 3/16 off

 

[lenky1]

Hard 2 see but here was a photo b4 i fixed it

 

[barbee6043]

I am always SOooooo glad when I do not have to replace a quarter, for the above and other reasons,!!!! those small patches make me happy!!!
I say pay attention to Mr. GeorgeH , he has been there, done it.

 

[duster-z]

Yes, set it back on the tires or support it via jackstands in the same locations as the suspension does. Either on the rear end if it's still in or the rear frame rails back in that area and up front close to the control arms/suspension.

Just to give an example, I worked pretty extensively with Car-O-Liner frame and measuring equipment. On their frame spec data sheets there are two sets of measurements. They measure actual production vehicles 2 different ways to obtain the measurements. With the car in frame clamps on the rockers similar to a lift, or with the engine/transmission in or out. So we could put a car on the lift and measure it. Ok, so at the end of the frame rail there might be 5-6mm(1/4?). Picture an imaginary right triangle. One line follows the door gap(let's just say it's a straight verticle line that goes straight up and stops at the top where the door/qtr gap is.) The 90 angle, which is constant and never changes, follows the length of the car out to the end of the frame rail(Let's say it's parallel with the top of the rocker) As the frame rail drops when you lift it, it draws the top rearward opening the door/qtr gap. Cut the quarter off with it hanging and it drops even more. Every piece including the quarters is structural on a unibody. Even with high-tech measuring equipment that's in excess of $30k it's still better to sit them on their suspension to weld the quarter on because the door gap will close up every single time. Old car or new car they droop to some degree when picked up in the middle. If we measured on on it's tires the measurements would all be off because the measurements change at both ends when you set them on their tires. It might not be 100% of the problem but you will gain some ground picking up the ends of the car.

Ok that makes sense to me I'll give it a try when I get back out there.

Should I take the rocker loose when I do it?

Also should I leave the new quarter mostly loose like it is right now or should I clamp it more before I do it?

And when I do the other side is it ok to do the rocker like this (I will leave the quarter on still as much as possible) then put it down to do the quarter? Would it also be better to remove the engine and rear end?

Thanks for all the info and explanations!

 

[duster-z]

I ran to the same issue on my drivers side. After alot of measuring and checking old panle vs new. The very top corner was stamped wrongit was rolled in and because of it i was 3/16 off

When you fixed it were you able to bend it like it was supposed to be or did you cut it off and weld the old piece on?

 

[lenky1]

I was lucky enough that it was just a bad stamping. I went in from the backe side and reshaped it by hammer and dolly. Got it very close then built the very top edge up with one pass of stitch welds. Ground it smooth and done. Im fortunate as i am a body man by trade. Good luck 2 ya

 

[duster-z]

Well I got a chance to set the car back on its suspension the other day. The gap on the side of the door did correct itself to what it was before I started Thankyou GeorgeH for the advice. Here is a picture of it.

As for the top gap it did not fix it, so lucky i still had a chunk of the old piece in that area so i put it back on and it lines up perfectly as shown in the pictures below.

So I contacted my amd distributor and they contacted there amd rep and they said it is an issue they are aware of and that people have been splitting the top and patching it where it needs to be.

My plan is to cut the old piece down and patch it in to the new one it just kinda sucks since the whole reason I did the full quarter was to avoid weld seams through the middle of pannels.

My plan was to cut it like the red line in the picture below does any one have any advice of the best way to cut it.

 

[lenky1]

Exact issue i had

 

[deviledchin]

Exact issue i had

Yeah same here as well. Glad to hear! We thought it was just us.

 

[barbee6043]

The problem with quality , fitment of repop panels makes me love my virgin metal slant cars more and more. I will remember my statement next time I have one for sale and all I get is lowballs and BS!!!
Try finding any decent patches for 66-7 B Bodies!!!!!!