With its classic styling and impressive performance options, the 1969 Camaro was a sensation upon its introduction; however, by today's standards, the fit and finish of the metalwork underhood allows for significant improvement.
Auto Body Specialists in Manchester, New Hampshire, has a long history of beautifully crafted Pro Touring builds. The owner, Jay Doerfler, aims to make each project a bit nicer than the last. We will follow the build of Pat Floyd’s 1969 Camaro, which showcases remarkable detail work at every glance.
There is plenty of work to be done in the underhood area, and Auto Body Specialists has started with the core support. Here, some unnecessary holes are being filled.
This time, we’ll focus on the exceptional work done on the core support and front wheelwells. While these may seem like simple components, the effort devoted to perfecting the shape, fit, and finish is truly unmatched—as you’ll see in the photos.
The wrinkled metal along the upper edge was replaced with new, thicker material.
The core support had serious issues, so the first step was to repair all the damaged sections. Next, several reinforcements were added and all incomplete areas were capped or boxed in. Finally, every surface was perfectly polished to perfection for reinstalling this crucial structural component.
After much straightening, smoothing, and refining of details, the core support appears significantly improved compared to its initial state.
The purpose of modifying the wheelwells was to provide adequate clearance for the large wheels and tires chosen for the car. To establish the required shape, Doerfler created a mockup using a ¼-inch-diameter round steel bar, which was contoured to closely fit the fenders inside. This mockup served as a guide for shaping the metal as he worked on the wheelwells. Doerfler prefers to use 16-gauge steel for projects like this. While it’s more challenging to shape than thinner metal, you can rely on the contours lasting over the long term once the shaping is done.
When lowering a car and adding large wheels and tires, you can expect to encounter issues with tire clearance. A ¼-inch round bar has been shaped to create a template that illustrates how much the wheelwell needs to be enlarged.
Doerfler fitted the car with a Detroit Speed & Engineering hydroformed subframe, utilizing their custom-fabricated control arms, and the stock openings in the wheelwells for the front suspension left a large, unfinished-looking gap around this area. Doerfler added a lot of intricately fabricated pieces to get everything snugged up more closely and looking right.
The template is checked inside the fender to ensure no interference.
OEM manufacturers go to extraordinary lengths to form exterior autobody sheetmetal to perfection. Still, some interior panels often don’t take the time (and have the customer bear the expense) of finessing out all waves and wrinkles, and these imperfections can sometimes be quite large. None of this will pass muster with Doerfler, and he worked the wheelwells until every square inch was as smooth as a billiard ball.
New metal is shaped to fit the template and then trial-fitted against the wheelwell before being welded into place.
In future articles, we’ll explore several other aspects of this build more deeply. We’re pretty sure you’ll like what you see! MR
The rear section of the enlarged wheelwell is secured in place and tack welded.Once the fit is checked and verified, the template is taken off the backside and all joints are fully TIG welded together.After welding, the joints are ground smooth and metal finished.The fit of the modified wheelwell is checked against the fender and the inside of the panel is smoothed.The cutouts for the upper control arms in the original wheelwells do not fit well with the Detroit Speed front suspension, so new stepped panels are fabricated from 16-gauge steel.The front of the wheelwell had many wrinkles from the factory stamping process, so the wavy metal was cut away, and filler pieces are being fabricated here to connect the wheelwell with the new opening for the control arm.The filler panels are carefully welded into place.Some of the smaller filler pieces are shaped and fitted.The rear of the wheelwell also needs significant attention. Some radical shaping is necessary to accommodate all the changes in the contours.The rear panels are tack-welded into position, leaving an open area for the remaining filler panel.With all the pieces fitted, welded, and metal finished, the wheelwell looks like a factory-made part.The wheelwell connects to the fender, and Auto Body Specialists employee Nicole Boisvert uses a belt sander to smooth out all the rough edges. (It’s always wise to wear protective eyewear.)Look at how perfectly the reworked wheelwell fits against the frame and the fender and how much better the fit is around the pivots for the upper control arm.The goal for this project was to retain the OEM look of the wheelwells and make them blend in more smoothly with everything else.With the mechanical components installed, you can see how beautifully the wheelwells serve as a backdrop for all the updated underhood details.
