Classic Ent. Rh Rear Corner Repair Advice

Morning all. I've got the RH tail light panel tacked in and hoping to complete the entire corner today. When I fit up up the corner repair patch panel and the new spare tire brace, the curved hat channel on the brace does not seem to follow the curve of the outer body panel, as there is about 1/2" gap at the front:



Am I correct in examining the OEM one that I removed in that it also was not a perfect fit and was not spot welded to the outer corner? My Jeep body was really hacked up so I'm unsure what was OEM and what was Bubba.

Would you guys weld it where it does touch the corner metal?

The main part of the brace spans the distance from the wheelhouse correctly for the top and bottom bolts that will hold on the spare tire carrier, so there will be strength from that.

 

Aftermarket parts never seem to fit like original, though Classic's pieces are better than most. I would make sure the hat channel brace lays flat on the side panel. 2 holes of the spare tire carrier get drilled through both layers (side panel skin and brace) for the spare tire bracket, so they have to be flat.
The rest of the hat channel/brace needs to fairly closely follow the contour of the rear corner. You may have to make one or more relief cuts in the hat channel to make it fit the contours more closely.
I have had similar issues with fittment. I ended up cutting the brace from the baffle, then recontoured it to fit the fender skin. I re-assembled the pieces in place, and welded them in. I have also purchased a used take-out baffle/brace assembly that I sandblasted clean, and that fit perfectly without having to "adjust" anything.
-Donny

 

Thanks Donny. I might shoot Mark at Classic a picture of how far off it is and ask if he thinks it’s a manufacturing defect. He’s been pretty good with issues I’ve had in the past.

 

Grant
It looks like you could massage that hat channel a little bit for a better fit. I'm
Looking at these pics on my phone, but it does appear a little tweaking of the hat channel would really dial in that fit

edit: I'd talk to mark but at the end of the day it's not uncommon to have to fabricate and fit the pieces he or others make.

edit edit: it also looks the radius part would be more difficult to massage but the end piece of hat channel should be easier. Donny's advice above is solid as always

 

Thanks.

Here's a couple other pics with the two parts out of the Jeep for better viewing:



I think if I moved forward with this piece I'd end up completely cutting out the hat channel at or near the welds and re-attaching it after shaping it to fit the corner panel. Seems silly to have to do that with a piece that should have been built to fit....right?

 

I don't recall the hat channel piece you are talking about being attached to the big square brace at all. You have the two pieces welded together. I'm not sure that is correct. For some reason I remember seeing a gap right there where your welds are. Maybe others can confirm or deny my thought.

 

Huh….These are how they came from Classic - I have done no welding to them.

 

Hello Grant
A few things I came across when getting my side spare tire back on.
First, the side spare tire large baffle and small hat channel I got from Walck’s have the two welded together also ( Just like in your pics) I ended up not using it. I bought it before I looked up in my wheel well, crap! Had the large baffle but not the hat channel.
Second. I ordered just the hat channel and was able to slide it in and have it resting nice on the inside rear quarter panel. It doesn’t follow the curve in the corner perfectly, but it’s a nice flat fit and the factory holes worked.

 

After I'm done with Lunch, I can go out and take some pictures from my Jeeps both are non-rusted and original in that area.

 

OK, here’s the same set up as yours Grant. This one is from Walck’s. Kind of at the mercy that the small hat channel gets welded in the correct spot. The large baffle sets the main location. Having the two welded together, be interesting to see where the baffle ends up

 

Here's pictures of an original one on my '69 Dauntless.

This is where the brace attaches to the inner fender:


Looking up on the outer fender side. You can see the radius isn't a perfect match, but it's not too far off:


Close up of the radius. The flash obscures the gap, but it's probably 50 thou at the worst:


Here's where the channel brace is attached to the cross brace. If they are attached to each other at all, it's only by spot weld:


And here it is from the front:


From the looks of it, you're going to need to cut that weld. The channel brace should be flush with the outside surface of the cross brace. It seems like the pocket in the cross brace it too deep and the channel brace is sunken in. Given the shape of the pocket, that's going to be a little bit of work to correct.

It went and looked at my "non-rusted" '71 and found this. Not as Non-rusted as I thought. The channel brace is completely gone:

 

Thanks for these pics. I think I’ll send some images to Mark and see if maybe he will let me send this unit back and exchange me the two separate pieces.

@Fireball is that Oak in the hat channel?

 

It's a hardwood of some sort. The same as the hat channels on the floorboards. It keeps the hat channel from crushing when you tighten the bolts. It also traps moisture and that's why they are all rusted out. A better solution is welding tubes to prevent crushing where the bolts go.

 

This is the NOS one that I bought from Classic Enterprises. It fits great. Guess there not the same anymore.

 

Realistically if you aren't going to put the spare back in that bad spot where you catch every tree, you can just leave all this out like the left side.

 

I feel obliged to report that when I brought this issue to the attention of Marc at classic, without even asking me what I wanted to do, he sent me a box with two deconstructed Wheelhouse baffles, free of charge. Now that is amazing customer service!

 

I will keep them in mind.
Customer service like that is rare.
I look forward to seeing how they fit.

Aloha!
Andy

 

So do any of you guys have some pointers for me on doing these long lap (flange) welds, along the bottom of the curved panel?

 

position brace on inside of fender
mark outside edge top and bottom with a marker
inside of line 1/4 " up from bottom drill holes , weld from outside . spot weld
same for top edge
and that was great customer service