The picture above shows the condition of my Camaro's body when I bought it. I installed a new right front fender including a new inner fender, a new right door skin, and a new right side rear quarter panel. On the drivers side I installed a new rear quarter panel. I bought all the sheet metal from National Parts Depot and the fit was excellent. Installing the new door skin involved grinding the side and bottom door edges down to the door frame and removing the tack and spot welds which held the upper part of the door skin to the door frame. I used a chisel to remove the small strip of the door skin which bends over the frame on the inside. The new door skin was a very good fit and involved bending the inside strip over the door frame carefully so as not to mar the exterior surface of the new door skin. I needed help in pulling the upper part of the new door skin inward toward the window slot. The gap for the window must be as narrow as it was with the old door skin before it is spot welded in place. If the gap is not forced prior to spot welding it will not look very good after the window is installed.
I pressed the new rear quarter panels over the old ones so I could mark the old quarter panels approximately where I should cut them off. A 1967 Camaro has a defined ridge running along the top of each quarter panel. You can see the ridge in the picture below and to the left. The new quarter panel joins the old one about an inch or two inward from this ridge. I measured inward from this ridge and made a mark with a felt tip pen and wrote along side the mark how far out the ridge on the new quarter panel should be to get it very close to where the old quarter panels ridge was. I made these marks with their measurements at many points around the old quarter panel and far enough inward so the marks and measurement numbers would not be disturbed when I cut off the old quarter panel. I also made these marks on the inside of the door jamb so I could work the door jamb to the same width with the new quarter panel as it was with the old one. The marks were a great help and reference point when I was fitting the new quarter panel. I was able figure out from my felt tip pen line on the old quarter panels where I should cut the old ones off. I left a full one half inch of the old quarter panel from where I figured the old and new panel would meet. The new new quarter panel rests on this one half inch flat part when it is place.
After numerous trial fittings and measurements, I cut the old quarter panels off with a sheet metal cutter in my air hammer. The cutter made a nice clean cut and did the job very fast. I bought a sheet metal crimping tool so the old and the new sheet metal would meet at the same level. The crimping tool looks like a pair of vice grip pliers with a stepped flat part welded on the jaws to create a flange for flush joining sheet metal. They did a nice job. I sanded the joint area's and mounted each quarter panel with screws to hold them in place. I also installed the outer part of the inner fender on each side and had them ready for welding also. The Camaro also has a reinforcement plate for the outside bumper bolt which must be removed from the old quarter panel and welded on the new one. I drilled the spot welding holes on the new quarter panels and secured the reinforcement plate to the new quarter panel with a short bolt through the bumper bolt hole. It stayed exactly where it should be while it was being spot welded in place. I hired a welder with a MIG welder to come to my garage and weld everything permanently in place.
I am completely satisfied with the way the body work turned out. If I ever Install new quarter panels or door skins again I will do it in the same way. I plan to paint the car this summer. I am going to paint the car Matador red. Matador red is a 1968 General Motors color.