The Camaro Club (UK)

Thanks Flak, it's pretty sobering to look back and see how bad it really was!

I must have been mad!

So I said I'd post up some photos of the roof repair and here they are.

My original roof was toast, and the bodged sunroof didn't help either, I was lucky to get myself a complete roof from a 79 Trans Am complete with pillars in immaculate condition, all I had to do was chop and weld...

I knocked up a frame inside the car, I used heavy box section to construct a jig inside the car with locating points against the exisitng roof. This was welded to various points inside the body.



The theory being that if the jig was made correctly I should be able to chop the old roof out then sit the new one on the frame, trim and weld! Here's the completed frame, not only did it act as a jig but it braced the body in all directions to prevent any movement.



Damn I was glad to get this roof out...



And of course one open top camaro with the locating points on the jig more obvious, front to back left to right and centre pin...







The frame held the body completely square and because the body was supported on pallets there was no compression loading front to back, measurements confirmed nothing had moved. Bring on the new roof...









I lost count of how many times me and my dad had to lift the new roof off and on, each time trimming just enough off to help the pillars set down and line up with the jig and what was left of the existing pillar stub. The rear came down a treat and I was able to use the original body frame once I'd cleaned it up to tack everything in place.

Got some more shots of welding the pillars up, trust me, plenty of weld went into these by the time I was finished.







And repeat for the other side...



Welding up the back end and then cutting out the frame..





Thats better



Stripped out the last of the interior too, just the steering column left in for moving it about.

wow, great job!

You're not letting anything get past you on this one Then again, what was wrong with a piece of wood holding up the sunroof

Cheers for all the updates! Great to see the progress you're making!

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I am full of admiration for what is going on here!

well done you!

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Kind Regards
TopCat
Secretary
Classic Camaro Club
Member of The Association of American Car Clubs UK
Email :tboles@strathnoon.co.uk Websites: http://www.classiccamaroclubuk.com and:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdhLJtR_ZY4

Cracking job keep plugging away mate Cheers Neil

Thanks everyone for the kind comments, this next installment is about two years old so we're getting there!

I was a bit unsure about the rust on the car, I was sanding, wire wheeling and treating it with rust killer where I could but wasn't completely convinced it wouldn't come back and bite me in the future, so I made a decision about how best to treat the rust...



The rear axle had already received some attention so I stripped that out and blocked up the car.



Let the blasting commence! I got a pro in to do it, all I had to do was set up the car ready for them.



Got the top of the body blasted which came out really nice, bare-metaled the lot, no new surprises here, just had to lift it higher to do the underside of the car.





I know people always comment about the amount of mess shotblasting makes, no joking, these guys really made a mess! Fortunately it wasn't too much of an issue...





I really didn't envy these guys, they earnt every penny of their fee! The body came up really nice, it was clear that it had been rotting from the inside out, the underside was as smooth as can be but the inside, particularly the seat buckets were really badly pitted.







All the new metal I welded in was cleaned too - I welded up new arches which came with the black factory coating (from Taiwan no doubt). I keyed the black paint and primed it and was happy with the finish. When we blasted the car the guys stripped my primer and then the black paint. They called me over and I could hardly believe my eyes, the metal underneath the black paint was completed rusted!

I didn't get a photo but it really bought into focus my thoughts that the factory finish was 'good enough'. I'm so glad I bare-metalled the car, it's given me peace of mind knowing that there isn't an ounce of rust on the car anymore.

Continued...

As soon as we had cleaned up and given the car a blow out with compressed air (the sand gets everywhere) I gave it a coat of self etch...





I then gave it a coat of primer...



And of course I had to get it back on it wheels after painting, with a little help!









Nice solid underside, shame about the interior rotting out...







It was 4 hectic days prepping and painting, at the end of it I was absolutely shattered, but it was totally worth the effort. In retrospect I should have taken out the steering column, I was to find out later that sand loves to hide in the column!

Very good work here, i think many of us wish we could have gone to these depths to ensure our cars have a new lease of life. It's really the only way to get all the muck and rust out of there.
I have always wondered about the quality of the coating on the replacement panels. When GM did them they cleaned, electro plated to a very high standard (hermetically sealed area's?) etc but i doubt the same quality of prep and coating is used on these panels that come from China / Taiwan. I don't know for sure of course but logic tells me it may not be the same. Anyway, glad you found out sooner than later!

Cheers!

Ray

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How to post pics: When writing a message, scroll down and use the "attach file" option. Where possible, a photo sharing service can be used such as Flickr, Imgur etc. The image location (usually ending in .jpg) can be copy and pasted between the ][ brackets that appear when you click the 'Img' button (you can find this button at the top of the message box).

How to post youtube vids: Click on the 'youtubeHD' button at the top of the message box and in the middle of the ][ brackets that just appeared, copy and paste everything from the youtube web address that appears after the = sign i.e if this is the url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2cNqaPSHv0 just copy "K2cNqaPSHv0").

Still amazed by the amount of work you've put in, serious resto...

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“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”