Since I last posted I've been working on shaping and fitting the passenger rear corner of the roof. After welding that in (as well as a small section in the rear center) I spent a fair amount of time getting the contour and profile of the roof correct and dialing it in for symmetry side to side.
Since I used the front half of the original skin as well as the center (between each rear corner) I actually had to do a fair amount of stretching and reshaping with my air planishing hammer in order for the roof to take on more of the correct shape that I wanted.
I'm not finished with the roof skin as I still have a fair amount of refining and fine tuning to get it smooth and straight....but it's at a point where I can at least take a break from it and move onto something else for a while (it's always good to sometimes clear your head and go back to stuff later with a fresh mind)
I decided the next area I wanted to tackle was reshaping the rear wheel openings to match the concept drawing I did at the start of the project.
Attachment 48433
Passenger rear corner welded into position. Here I've also had to go back and do a lot of stretching and reshaping of the roofskin basically the entire back half.
Attachment 48434
Shaped up a piece to fill in the missing center portion at the rear above the back glass.
Attachment 48435
Close enough for now (I just tacked in that center piece) but I wanted to move onto something different for a while...I've spent too much time on this roof.
Attachment 48436
I really am happy with the huge visual difference this roof project made for the car!
Attachment 48437
Here I made a pile of reshaped rear wheel openings out of cardboard. With a bunch of measurements from my original concept drawing and these mockups I was able to eventually get the look / shape I was after.
To make sure I was correct, I'd keep taking pictures directly from the side and then I'd overlay them (partially transparent) in Photoshop over the concept rendering to see how the wheel opening matched.
Attachment 48438
The only way I know how to fabricate this new wheel opening is to break it down into manageable pieces that I'm able to shape and fit. It'll be more welding in the long run, but I'm not anywhere near capable to shape the quarter, flare and wheel lip in one piece. This method works for me.
Here I've got the new edge of the wheel lip shaped to match the cardboard profile I ended up with.
Note: At this point I came to the realization that the tire was just a bit too far back in the wheel opening. Obviously at this point the wheelbase is set, so I'll slide the opening back (it ended up being 1" that I moved it)
Attachment 48439
Take a step back to see the entire side of the car. This new wheel opening goes much nicer with the front one than the original rear did.
Attachment 48440
Here I formed a simple section that would fill in the void left by sliding the wheel opening back the 1" that I needed.
Note: I'm also saving the curve at the start of the "upsweep" for the flare (I can use it up to where I have the diagonal marker line drawn) The least amount of fabrication that I have to do from scratch is good to me (try to salvage some time I lost on the roof project taking longer than I planned)
Attachment 48441
With that I'm much happier with the placement / location of the tire in the opening now.
Attachment 48442
I shaped up a small panel for the lower corner at the rear of the wheel opening.
I've also started marking out the rear corner of the flare. Much like I did on the front.....I'm sliding this little area forward to reuse it.
Attachment 48443
Here I slid that rear section forward (about 2.5") and shaped up a section to fill the void left by moving it forward. Again, I wasn't able to use a big section of that flare upsweep....but It'll still save me time in the long run.
Attachment 48444
Take another step back to see how it's looking!
The black marker line is where I need to cut the original opening and "flare" out to get back to the flat section of the quarter panel.
Attachment 48445
A close up side view of the "flare" and wheel opening lip. From here on out I'll have to fabricate the rest from scratch.