AMD 3/4 Quarter panels short and General alignment questions

[khunter68]

Hello Guys,

Restoring a 68 Charger and im doing the usual trunk,extensions, quarter panels, end caps etc.. I have the Issue that Ive seen on here before of the Quarter panel on the bottom appears to be off by about 1/2 an inch. The top lines up fine around the taillight etc but on the bottom it is not long enough. I remember seeing someone posting having to use a pie cut on the bottom to extend can someone provide a link?? Also When I have everything mocked up the trunk extensions don't seem to come down enough so that the bottom lines up with the quarter panel on the bottom, any thoughts.. If there are any threads pointing to generally aligning all of the components on the rear ie: quarter panel, trunk extension, corner end caps "Its like a rubrics cube LOL" as well as how the Trunk extension connects to the outer wheel well. Thanks in advance Ken..

[Eldovert]

Ken,
Check out Chris Birdsongs you tube channel...he does a lot of metal work on Chargers..definitely a few nuggets of info there ..

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYGXns0Ezqd-qKyxMjH-7Pg/videos

Cheers,Pat

[Mike DC]

 
The pie-cut incident was a guy removing some metal from the lower part of a repro quarter, not adding metal.  The 50yo original valance panel, rear crossmember, and corner cap were all still in place on the car. 

He had to do that.  Not everyone does.  These cars were made sloppy from the factory.   

[hemi-hampton]

Aftermarket parts are usually made inaccurate needing work, unfortunately

[khunter68]

Hey Mike DC,

It was definitley a pie cut that he used to extend the quarter panel.. I remeber he welded a piece in to fill the pie. Ill search and post if i find, thanks for weighing in..

[Mike DC]

 
You might be right.  I'm not really sure now that I think about it. 


We really need to have a permanent thread with these findings about the repro panels.     

[DAY CLONA]

Aftermarket parts are usually made inaccurate needing work, unfortunately

Often times the repros are tooled using NOS components, unfortunately NOS does not assure 100% accuracy (possible vendor/assy line reject), combine that in with Alpha test fitting by various contracted sources and your bound to have issues, along with the fact some vendors today sell discount repro sheetmetal, sometimes rejects from the mfg....but in the long run it's better to have issues with repro sheetmetal, rather than the good ol days when you hand fabricated from a sheet of steel an entire rear quarter on the spot because NOTHING was available new or used...

[Ryan]

I had to cut the bottom of my quarters and extend them out to the corner caps.  I think its pretty common and its a big reason why alot of people think the corner caps don't fit properly (its the quarter panel at fault)

Just cut and move the flange till it meets up with the corner then make your patch and weld it up. 

Aftermarket metal almost always needs to be modified for a proper fit.... hell the NOS front fender I purchased needed to be cut up and welded for a proper fit. Its just part of the game i guess.

Use the original metal of your car as your guide as you know that it used to fit together, modify everything else to fit.   

As far as the trunk extensions go I don't remember having many issues with those but sometimes a little bend here and there can go a long way to making something fit together.

[cdr]

      the 1/4 & cap are fine, it is the installers

[westcoastdodge]

i had to do this,no matter how much pushing and pulling,could not get where i needed so pie sliced the quarters,same both sides

[Ryan]

    the 1/4 & cap are fine, it is the installers

Maybe it varies car to car..... who knows. I know when I did mine I compared the AMD panel to my original panel as well as 2 other cars and the variance was clear as day.

[cdr]

    the 1/4 & cap are fine, it is the installers

Maybe it varies car to car..... who knows. I know when I did mine I compared the AMD panel to my original panel as well as 2 other cars and the variance was clear as day.

When you did yours, did you replace the rear cross member at the very back,?

[Ryan]

No sir I did not.

[khunter68]

Thank You West Coast Dodge this is exactly what I am facing!! You have saved my sanity!! Thanks you all for weighing in and helping me with this issue!!

[Basketcase69]

Khunter,

As I'm sure you are already aware, those corners will show the alignment of all of the other panels.....With the quarters screwed into alignment at the door gap, I used a combination of a floor jack and a piece of wood and ratchet straps to pull the quarters where I needed. them. Keep in mind that the trunk extensions are secondary when it comes to perfect alignment. As long as the welding flanges are roughly aligned, the gobs of seam sealer will cover the fact that they aren't perfectly level at trunk view. If you look at this on factory cars, you can see that there's alot of tolerance there. This allows the rear of the quarter panel to be forced up and in line with the bottom of the rear valance (floor jack). If your quarter panel is still to short after that, you can pound the ends of the rear cross member in to move the trunk extensions back toward the wheel wells (read a thread about this here somewhere that said this was done at the factory) or you can bend the welding flange outward on that extension where it welds to the cross member.

What I learned from doing the same job was that the panels on these cars are under some tension when they're in proper alignment. I did not have to add metal to either the rear quarters or valance corners to achieve alignment, but it was 2 weeks of hell getting them aligned. As others have said, these cars were hastily assembled and tolerance was loose. Do not be afraid to reshape the trunk extensions. They come out of the box with the welding flanges close, but needing work. Weld the valance corners to the quarter panel first and then begin your fight to align the rear valance to that. (and it will be a fight) Use ratchet straps and the floor jack to get alignment and self tapping screws to keep them there until welding to the cross member. And watch the door to quarter gap the entire time....

Keep in mind that when I did this job, the trunk floor and rear valance were not welded down either. If you're dealing with this issue without that benefit, than it's much more likely you'll be adding metal to get the length correct on the quarter panels. Good luck!

[cdr]

Khunter,

As I'm sure you are already aware, those corners will show the alignment of all of the other panels.....With the quarters screwed into alignment at the door gap, I used a combination of a floor jack and a piece of wood and ratchet straps to pull the quarters where I needed. them. Keep in mind that the trunk extensions are secondary when it comes to perfect alignment. As long as the welding flanges are roughly aligned, the gobs of seam sealer will cover the fact that they aren't perfectly level at trunk view. If you look at this on factory cars, you can see that there's alot of tolerance there. This allows the rear of the quarter panel to be forced up and in line with the bottom of the rear valance (floor jack). If your quarter panel is still to short after that, you can pound the ends of the rear cross member in to move the trunk extensions back toward the wheel wells (read a thread about this here somewhere that said this was done at the factory) or you can bend the welding flange outward on that extension where it welds to the cross member.

What I learned from doing the same job was that the panels on these cars are under some tension when they're in proper alignment. I did not have to add metal to either the rear quarters or valance corners to achieve alignment, but it was 2 weeks of hell getting them aligned. As others have said, these cars were hastily assembled and tolerance was loose. Do not be afraid to reshape the trunk extensions. They come out of the box with the welding flanges close, but needing work. Weld the valance corners to the quarter panel first and then begin your fight to align the rear valance to that. (and it will be a fight) Use ratchet straps and the floor jack to get alignment and self tapping screws to keep them there until welding to the cross member. And watch the door to quarter gap the entire time....

Keep in mind that when I did this job, the trunk floor and rear valance were not welded down either. If you're dealing with this issue without that benefit, than it's much more likely you'll be adding metal to get the length correct on the quarter panels. Good luck!

THIS ^^^^^^^^^^^^ I have been saying this & all I catch is flack from people that think they know LOL, my FACTORY rear X member was bent on the ends, SOME are & SOME are not , NO NEED to SLICE the 1/4 OR the end caps