BFH and a block of wood. No problem.
Trunk gap problem after new 1/4's
- Thread starter rcdals
- Start date
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Given the original post, are we sure that all efforts to adjust the gaps were taken?
Ironracer
Gearhead
Hey Now, that's getting into Carpenter Territory.... don't be steppin' on my Hustle, Yo? Lol. Just kidding Brother
65TerrorCuda
Well-Known Member
I bet they did a lap weld install instead of butt welds. Neighbor had the same treatment to his camaro with similar results. Hope it gets straightened out
Thems universal tools. Lol
Ironracer
Gearhead
Right On Brother! They WORK on All Kinda Stuff! (Evil Grin Included)
Dartswinger70
Well-Known Member
in my area its difficult to find someone to do resto work. They are into collision and insurance work on late model vehicles. You end up doing it yourself out of necessity. Guys I know are always wanting to know where to take cars for the work. One guy had to go into Philadelphia to find someone to do the floors in his 68 Chevy convertible.
ir3333
Well-Known Member
You are almost always better off to do it yourself.
Not sure why the OPs first call wasn't to the repair shop, and still curious why no pics of the complaint fitment. Anything here is just clipboard, mirrors and a lab coat.
mopowers
Well-Known Member
Have you called AMD?? It's been two days since you started this thread. No one on this forum is going to be able to help you like AMD can.
harrisonm
Well-Known Member
I have seen high end shops do that. It actually works well. Get it really close and then use a little filler.
Agreed. I have always only heard good things about their installation center. I bet they help you out
Not everybody can. I am guessing that less than 10% of us can do that level of work.
It's really hard to give advise without being well informed or actually touching the vehicle. Looks like the door is part of the problem.
ir3333
Well-Known Member
I think a lot of guys could but just lack confidence or facilities. But still, i'm sure a lot of guys just are not interested
in that part of the hobby and that's OK. It's not for everybody
Yes I am resurrecting an old thread. Perhaps those thinking of doing this work will find this info useful. The AMD quarters look great when you unpack them. The idea of slapping them on and having everything fit with the existing panels is apparently a fantasy. I'm working on installing a set and have the same door fit and trunk fit issues as the OP. The door fit you can fix by clamping or prying the quarter to match the door contour. Another member here has a thread mentioning this too. You have to leave the door on through this process to get fitment correct before welding. I used #6 Tek screws to hold the quarter in place before welding. On mine the trunk gap gets too small on the driver rear just like the pic the OP posted. This misalignment seems to be build into the quarter stamping. I'm down to zero clearance at the extension to trunk lid lower rear corner. There is no fixing that as far as I can see. All I can think to do is trim the trunk lid down most of the left side to match and weld up the seam again. The trunk gap on the other side is much better. One of the other things I noticed (there are other defects too) is that my door gap is 1/8" bigger on both sides of the car after installing the quarters. I measured them before cutting the original quarters off and wrote the numbers on the door in felt. The car has frame connectors so nothing moved. The number of hours to get everything fitting well and get good gaps will be staggering. If I had to go back in time I would have seriously considered just doing the lower quarters.
I still don’t understand how people think that any replacement panel will be a perfect fit to a 50+ year old car that didn’t have perfect gaps to begin with. The era these cars are from is not known for its careful, exacting construction. They were slapped together on an assembly line, and poor panel gaps and body tolerances were noted straight from the factory.
Factory tolerances were loose, 50 years of wear and tear, accidents, rust, and sag make every car even more unique, and there are tolerances on the replacement parts as well. It would be more strange if a replacement panel fit perfectly.
Factory tolerances were loose, 50 years of wear and tear, accidents, rust, and sag make every car even more unique, and there are tolerances on the replacement parts as well. It would be more strange if a replacement panel fit perfectly.
That's why you assemble the car with al the new panels to adjust the fit, tack the welded panels, and disassemble to finish the welding. Speaking of welding, lot's of spot and stitch. No continuous beads.
The problems don't have anything to do with the fact that its a 50+ year old car. Its a stamping quality issue. Without serious bodywork the panel fits will be much worse than factory. The Mopar logo'd rockers fit nice though 
Ironracer
Gearhead
The
Saw of Your Choosing. I'd go with a Gas Chainsaw, personally... but you're a Marine, I could probably mail you one of my old drywall key hole saws and you'd cut it up with that. Or a K-Bar!
Ironracer
Gearhead
Amen Brother! Old Jerry from J&J down in Stark (he's a Mopar Man from way back) he had a super be out there in the yard for sale many many years ago over 30 years and someone hacked up a quarter like that man the warpage was Unreal I know for a fact he didn't do it he probably acquired it that way he's been in the Parts thing for a long time. I actually sold some anybody stuff years ago good guy man
Boy, the OP sure has been forthcoming answering all the questions after he asked for help. <rolls eyes>
The problems don't have anything to do with the fact that its a 50+ year old car. Its a stamping quality issue. Without serious bodywork the panel fits will be much worse than factory. The Mopar logo'd rockers fit nice though
Whatever you have to tell yourself.
The panel fits on these cars were NEVER perfect, not even when new. Body measurements could vary by as much as a 1/4” from the factory. What fits one car might need significant adjustment on the next, and the gaps sure as hell were not all the same. And no reasonable person should ever expect any replacement panel to fit without bodywork, that's not real life. And that's not just Mopars, that's universal. If you need your replacement panel to fit perfectly out of the box you're destined for failure.
The door gap widening an 1/8” requires something moving. The quarter panel just has a flat fold that gets welded directly over the door pillar upright. So, in order for the door gap to change, the door pillar upright had to move. And subframe connectors won't stop the door pillar upright from flexing back an 1/8", or even a 1/4". Not what subframe connectors do. Maybe the panel pulled the door pillar upright, but that happened as part of the installation. Since you said you had the doors in place when you did the quarters, I assume you had the gap right before you started welding. Which means your welding process pulled the panel. Otherwise, the time to address that 1/8" difference was before you welded the quarters on.
If you want your car to have perfect gaps after replacing a substantial amount of structural sheet metal, it will require a ton of work and adjustment to get it right. Even perfect panels won't change that.
Started doing body work professionally in 72, even the new cars require a board and a hammer sometimes to get the fit you are looking for, sounds primitive but until fortunately it's the truth
Ironracer
Gearhead
Well, at least our Mopars don't have Bolt-on unibodies and shims holding everything together like adjustments to the front end starters stuff like that I mean what kind of junk is that man?
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