Kind of a long comment, but want to get all the info up to date. I really want to thank all that have taken the time to check out my post and toss out some ideas. I have been prepping for some time to start this project and finally committed to it around the Christmas holidays. I built a welding table that is about 50 x 56 inches. I built it on a platform and the surface is absolutely square and perpendicular with the heavy 10 inch iron castor wheels. I would have liked it just a tad lower, but had to keep in mind of a good height for a welding table when the body is finished, so it is about 35 inches high. I think the table is heavier than the body sitting on it. It has 1/2 inch steel plate for the top. I thought about putting the car on my lift, but knew it was going to be a long term project so opted for the table with the easy ability to push it out of the way when waiting on parts/money or whatever pops up. After the body was placed on the table, I checked for deflection on the front and rear and there was not any. After the trunk and part of the quarters were removed, still nothing as far as sag. I do have some screw jacks that can be used if there is any sag, but all is looking good at this point. For the start, I am only dealing with the car’s rear door pillars back.
As said in my original post, it will be getting a new trunk floor, trunk extensions, both rear quarters, dutchman panel, trunk gutters, rear tail panel. The wheel housings are quite solid, but one or two of the four will need a small patch. I was going to reuse the rear cross member frame, but after I tore the back apart it was decided to use a new AMD one.
I have been checking around for info and found where a restorer had said the sides of the cars from the door pillar back to the rear of the car vary as much as 1/2 inch from side to side. Others have also said this, but I could not confirm on this build as the right side was quite mangled. I did make a measurement of the good side and will attempt to make both sides equal. Another told me to be sure to measure the trunk re-enforcement braces before complete removal. He had seen where someone had installed a new trunk and welded them back in the wrong spot, which makes it impossible to mount the fuel tank correctly. Trunk opening heights, widths and lengths were also saved for rebuilding the trunk.
After reading the thread about the door lines not matching up with the quarters with the AMD door panels really got me concerned and jimynick supported my concern with his recommendations on having the doors on for matching the body lines with the quarters. I had marked the center of the body lines on the door pillars, but after much thought, I will be putting the doors on for the metal install. This will get me the best available body line up and the best door gap possible.
The floor actually came out better/easier than I had thought, as I left the wheel housings in. The floor has been set in and actually fits quite nice. I still have to remove both quarters, but at least the project has started. I will start a thread over in the members project folder. As this will be a long term project, there will be times with little or no activity, but I will add progress as it happens.
