Where should I start the body back together?

[DusterDaddy]

OK, I have replaced the floors and have done all of the rust repairs in the panels as well as prime and coat the backside of everything.

Where should I begin re assembling the body? I have new quarter skins that will go on last, as we are not having them wrap into the door jamb but rather but into the old skin 1-1/2 behind the door.

Any suggestions are welcome. I have places the doors on and placed the hood on the hinges to test the springs and man it looks like its going to be a pain in the butt to align all this stuff.

The car is on its wheels, but I can put it on jack stands if need be....

Thanks!

 

[vitamindart]

I believe you want to set the door gap first and then work forward.

 

[Purple Haze]

^^^ This is correct, but I would do the quarters first.

 

[DusterDaddy]

Im not wrapping to skin into the door jamb. Most anyone I ask say not to do it. 2 inches of the old quarter is there so the skin can butt to it.

 

[72bluNblu]

^^^ This is correct, but I would do the quarters first.

Agree.

Also, why did you decide to section the quarters instead of doing a full quarter replacement? With the size of the sections that you're doing, a full quarter replacement would be a ton less welding and bodywork. Yes, it takes more time to set up to make sure everything gets aligned correctly, but then you're just talking spot welds and not a continuous gap to solve. Just at the door it means a couple dozen spot welds vs ~30" of butt welding to do.

 

[DusterDaddy]

Well, I have an ace in the hole old school body man who is going to do the skins on weekends at my place. That's what he suggests and I happen to have seen a few how to quarter panel skin replacement videos and that method was prescribed. On top of that, I have been working on this car for a little over a year here and there, and I have no line item in my personal budget to fund this project. I paid $200 for the car, $400 for fresh mild build motor and $100 for a low mileage 904. I got BOTH skins delivered for $260.
I have another $300 in used fenders, hood and new floorpans, and like another $200 in sandpaper paint and grinder wheels.

So I have about $1,360.00 invested in the car. Oh I forgot the $85 used HF fluxcore welder and a few rolls of wire too..

I love the hobby, but my money needs to go to my wife and 5 kids first.

So I do what I can with what I have. SO what I can do now while I'm waiting for my quarter panel guru to return from his vacation is bolt the sheet metal on.

 

[72bluNblu]

Hey no problem, if you've got a plan already and that's the way your body guy wants to do it then more power to him. But I can say I've done plenty of sheet metal welding and plenty of bodywork, and now that the full OE style quarters are available I wouldn't be sectioning that amount of quarter. But that's just me and my opinion.

I understand being on a budget. I certainly don't have 5 kids to worry about, but since I have multiple projects going I definitely have to limit expenditures where I can. Most of the stuff I buy comes out of the wrecking yard or used off of craigslist or swap meets. Probably doesn't help that I'm a cheap bastard too. If I were really smart I wouldn't have half a dozen project cars, I'd have saved all the money I've spent on all my projects and have one REALLY nice car to run around in instead.