so i recently acquired a project. 67 rs 327 4 speed #'s matching car. red with black vinyl top.

here the problem- the body is way rough and rear rails rusted completely through. the project came with mostly all new panels and most everything to almost finish the car. the body has me worried though. the floor needs replaced and with the rear rails rusted in two pieces, i'm worried about gettting the floor installed correctly. the rear panels need to be replaced also. i am wondering if i should do those first, so i know rear of car is sitting correctly before doing floor install. the trunk floor needs replaced, rear rails, floor (i am thinking of going with full floor),rockers are decent shape, but will probably replace.

this body is hardly worth fixing, however with tags being #s matching, seems a shame to scrap it. at least when i'm done, everything will be new pretty much. lol

any suggestions?

thanks,
matt

 

You are talking about replacing the full floor and the frame rails on a unibody car? It really should be done on a body jig. A lot of times when we replace just a single part we brace the car up so nothing moves while we make the repair. With the frame rails rusted thru you can not be sure that the car is standing correctly even before you tear it a part.

You may want to give a restoration shop a call as this type repair is beyond most body shops. You could see what they would charge to assemble a shell for you, it is most likely cheaper to buy a Dynacorn body for all your matching numbers stuff.

Either way No one is going to type everything you need to know about assembling a car in a thread.

 

In a nut-shell....cut the body apart, line the new panels up just like factory (good luck), and weld.
Now, wasn't that easy?
Seriously though, if you have to ask, you might be in a bit over your head. What you want to do is a huge undertaking, even for a pro. Having never done this before, your concern will be hoping the car doesn't look like a pretzel to where only three wheels contact the road once it's done. That's an exaggeration, but you know what I mean. If you still want to do it, then more power to you, nobody was born with a welder in their hand. Measuring, bracing, and re-measuring is something you're going to be doing a bit of. It would be wise to pick up a restoration book and/or video so you know what to watch for. Then do some practice fitting/welding on scrap metal.

 

Using jig would be great, but I'm guessing not an easy find. I have 68 for parts that Is pretty solid that I thought about making a jig off that to use. Just make it referencIng several areas.

I know this won't be easy, but it can be done I believe.

 

Oh anything can be done. But with the amount of rust you're describing, you're looking at replacing literally everything from the door latch jamb on back, and almost up to the roof line (half way up the sail panel). You can pretty much bet the rear window surround will be rusted out too. Basically, you're likely to need to replace close to the entire back half of the car. Of course, we're evaluating sight unseen based on your description, but you don't make the car's condition sound pretty.

 

There is no doubt it can and has been done. As a general rule people that can do it don't ask such a open question like "how do I do it". Is your goal to learn how to do this type of work, or is it to have a nice 1st gen Camaro?

If your goal is to learn to do this then you should do it right and start with a body jig. There are drawing that can be found on the net for the jig. Building the jig will save you time and you know the car will be straight in the end. I have been in or round the car trades for 30 years and I have seen way too many car put together wrong by professional bodymen. In many ways it is harder to fix a car that has been put together wrong then it is to repair a rusty car correctly. A first time guy could easly spent 400-500 hours doing all the metal work. That means if you work 10 hours a week on it you could spend a year just doing the metal work.

If you goal is to own a 1st gen then you are better off finding a body already done in the form of an unfinished project. I have seen some pretty decent roller selling for 5-6K. Sure they would not be numbers matching but number matching on a base model RS is not going to be worth huge money at any point.

 

i appreciate your guys input. i have very little experience with body work, however have always wanted to get into restoring them. i have always enjoyed building things, and think it would be awesome to rebuild a car complete. this is the perfect car for that.

i will do some checking on the web for those jig prints, that would be a huge help. are they for sale or where does a guy look for them?

with not much body experiece, i wonder if i would be better off starting with a simpler project. i also have a 55 gmc pickup that i want to restore. maybe i should tackle that first. there will be a lot less body work in that. get my feet wet with that one before taking on such a major project.

thanks,
matt

 

I think taking on a less involved project first would be a good idea. With the Camaro, you're jumping into the deep end right away. That could easily make you feel overwhelmed, lose interest, and later want to just get rid of that "thorn in your side". You'd hate for that to happen.

 

Do you know how to weld? Then the next question is do you know how to weld sheet metal? Body repairs can be done with mig welding but the main focus is heat control. If you do "normal" welding on a large sheetmetal area you will push a warp because of the metal expanding.

Tig welding controls heat better but you need to have very good fitment of the pannels. The other nice part about tig welding is the welded joint can be formed (hit with a hammer and dolley) Mig weld tend to be brittle and do not like being hit with a hammer.

Have you ever used SmartFlix, the Web's Biggest How-To DVD Rental Store ? There are some nice videos on there. I would suggest the Paintucation series. Kevin can be pretty funny. It would be good to watch as many videos as possible. ANYTHING by Ron Covell is great, he is my hero. It all comes down to what works for you. I am not sure any of the videos attemp to show you how to build a car.

 

i found a firebird body in CA. he says its solid with little surface rust. problem is shipping it to iowa. anyone have much experience buying online, sight unseen, dealing with shipping? i just don't want to get screwed.

thanks,
matt