Folks,
I am hoping to get some advice from people that have done some major work body work on 442s. I need it! I have 1970 in which I am in midst of restoring. I pulled the body off the frame and had it blasted and primed. I knew that I had a bad passenger quarter (accident and rust) and that the trunk pan needed work. Unfortunately, the blasting uncovered some major issues in the roof and the hat shelf, and the trunk pan is much worse than I expected, especially in the upward curving lip toward the bumper. I do have a fairly clean 1970 cutlass donor car. I am really torn about what to do. My brother has a body shop and is helping with the project, but it is starting to take on a life of its own. Part of me believes that the best way to tackle the project is to simply fit in the pieces as needed in the trunk and to mount the roof and quarter separately. The other part of me thinks that I am almost better served by taking the roof and entire rear of the donor car and mounting it at this point. Has anyone ever attempted that? What is the best place to section the rear of the car? Any advice is greatly appreciated.
BTW - this is a black interior and black exterior 70 coupe with a Hurst 3 speed.

 

Without seeing what your seeing its hard to give an opinion.

 

In my career, I've cut car bodies down to just the cowl and built them from the floor up. For some one with experience, a rear clip with roof isn't that hard to do. I would put the body back on it's frame and hang and align the doors before cutting and fitting the rear clip. That would insure proper fit. Cuts would probably be windshield pillars and across the floor between the doors somewhere. If your really good you can hide the floor seam above one of the cross braces. ~BOB

 

I tend to agree with Bob ^^. Doing a full rear clip with the roof will save you a lot of work but you'll need to plan your cuts. You will need to cut through the rockers too in addition to the floor since the rear quarters are attached to the rockers ahead of the rear wheels. I would suggest you find a floor seam and drill out the spot welds to hide the floor seam as much as possible as this will be done on a floor brace. You can weld the exterior of the rockers when you fit the other clip and then finish the back side of the rockers when you pull the body back off the frame once the donor clip is installed. Make a template for the windshield opening to mark the cuts on the A posts (windshield posts) on both cars in the same place and to also know the windshield opening will be the same size when you are done. The A posts will be hollow and I would recommend installing a metal dowel inside the posts to align them and to add structure. Install them in the cowl side first and I would drill holes on the sides of the posts so you can weld the dowels once they are down into the posts. Have holes on the sides of the roof section so you can weld the pins to the upper half too. Then weld the posts at the seam and finish it off. As Bob mentioned, fit your doors first so you know when the donor clip is positioned correctly. Measure your door to quarter gaps before starting the clip swap and make sure you get the same gaps when the donor clip is positioned. Take your time, measure a lot of times and this will be much easier than swapping out all the individual parts that are rotted.

Brian

 

Bob and Brian,
Thanks for your advice. First, I am glad to hear that you don't think I am crazy. Secondly, the specifics you added are very helpful. I appreciate your time.

Bob