Plastic Bumpers + Small Tail Lights = Possible?

[nebulous123]

No, with out a frame table, you will screw things up badly. You are going to dress down the parts you need off of it then discard the rest after you have finished the job.

Still sitting at the hand surgeons office. When I can type on my lap top at home I will get more detailed.

Cool. Thanks for the help. I am still a little lost at your approach but eager to see it in more detail.

[der affe]

ok, the roof section is not that important.

you will want to have sheet metal infront of the area that you are going to be cutting away the outer skin (the qtr section).

when you trim or "undress" the sections you are going to use, you trim from the inside out to the sheet metal you are going to use. so you are going to grind away at the back side of the qtr skin so the outer part you are using will have no holes in it. this will allow you to then take a drill or hole punch and place your button weld holes where ever you want or need to, leaving you more options for placement.

the first thing you are going to want to do is remove each qtr on your car 1 at a time. finish the complete side before moving on to the other side.

the reason for wanting the roof is, you want to try to use the factory splice line in the c pillar and if you can, the lap joint for a factory fit. it will also give you a backer for your weld.

since you have not fixtures to align it. keep the rear tail light panel intact until last so you can locate both of the qtr panels correctly using that as a referance.

make sure you fit the deck lid and check the gaps on the doors before you weld them in.

you can check everything for fit by securing the panels with zip screws and vice grips. this will allow you to move it around as you need to, then just weld up the extra holes.

you will probably need to replace the tail light panel also as you will most likely damage it removing the quarters.

now if you get in there and find damage to the wheel house or the trunk floor, the pieces are already there for myou to use from the donar rear half.

since your grandfather has all the experience in doing bodywork, most of this is a given to him, but i thought i would give you an over view of what you will be doing.

you can add the late model lower half of the valance last.

you are going to need an early model rear half since the wheel openings are different, so make sure you get an early not late section.

you can just hack off a late rear valance with a sawzall just above the spot welds at the wreckers and then graft it to the early section once you are done.

i hope this makes sense to you. if you have any questions about it, feel free to ask.