I am doing a wide body conversion on my 07 convertible. For those of you that have done this, how did you attach the rear quarters behind the door handles where the radius piece has been removed? I'm talking about the piece that is bonded to the quarter panel. Evidently the coupes do not have this piece, but the verts do. I spoke to WCC and was told to transfer the piece from the original quarters to the new ones. How did you go about removing this piece. The one dealers parts person that I spoke to said these pieces are not available. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Bob

 

Member CharleyHoyt just posted on his conversion:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=1884642

I remember he specifically talked about that issue but I can't find it at the moment. You might want to PM him and ask, or he may come by here later. Good luck.

 

did my vert and quarters were bolt on from carravaggio, so no issues, the weatherstrip where tonnau closes was 1" short , thats all.

 

Not sure what you're talking about.

 

If you follow the seam (gap) from the rear fascia between the quarter and deck lid forward, when it gets past the panel for the vert top, the seam turns towards the center of the car right behind the door handles. On the convertibles original quarters there is piece a that is bonded to the quarter panel where they attach to the body. It is kind of like a Z flashing if you were to look at the end view of it. It is bonded to the underside of the top of the quarter panel and then goes down about 1 inch and then back towards the center of the car under the panel that covers the vert top when it is down. This is where there are screws that attach the panel to the car. The coupes do not have this piece, only the verts. There are drain holes in this radius section that allow water to drain from this gap between the body sections. The numbers on the underside of this piece is as follows. 342451RH and
342452LH with the numbers GF27+M47 on each one with the plus(+) sign in between them. Not sure if these numbers are from the company that manufactures the body parts for Corvette. I've already contacted the Corvette people on the website I think was ask Corvette or something like that, but have not received any response yet. Does anybody have any ideas? Thanks, Bob

 

I know what you are talking about. I used the Caravaggio quarters....but, If I were to do it again I would do it the way you are. If you give WCC a call they can give you instructions on how to make the modification...but, I can give you my understanding of what is involved.

The bracket you mentioned (and pictured below) needs to be dis-bonded from a set of fenders....the part is not available from GM. Unfortunately this will destroy your old fenders. I would start by cutting the old fender as close to the bracket as possible....then I would grind the remaining fender material down to the bracket. The fender material is fairly soft and easy to work with. An alternate approach may be to put a paint scraper into the bond line and pry the parts apart... Just make sure you don't break the bracket. Like I said above, I would call WCC and ask them how they have been doing it.

Once you get the bracket off of the old fender and have it ready for reinstallation I would screw the bracket in place on the car and then put some adhesive (WCC should be able to tell you which type is best) on the mating surface...then temporarily install the rear fender until the glue sets up. You will then have to do some final trimming to the fender around the bracket to get an even gap (they leave a little excess so that it can be trimmed to fit)

This really should not be as hard as it sounds.

Charley

 

The reason that the weatherstrip was short was because they gave you a coupe weatherstrip...The convertible weatherstrip is a little longer then the coupe. I had the same problem....I ordered a new set of the correct part number.

Charley

 

I was hoping someone would have some info on where to get the part. I was hoping I would be able to sell the old quarters and recoup some of the cost of the conversion. The only other alternative is to try and make fiberglass replacements by laying fiberglass over the existing ones and separating them after it cures. Thanks again for the help
Bob

 

The only way that I know of to get the brackets is to take them from a pair of quarter panels. With the price that panels are selling for…you probrobly are not going to recoup all that much money….and your cost should still be slightly less then the cost of a set of Caravaggio panels. As you mentioned you may be able to make a mold of the part and make your own…I just don’t know how much load is carried in that area of the panel. Didn’t WCC tell you before you bought the panels that you would have to sacrifice your old panels? They told me.

Best of luck …

 

No, there was no mention of sacrificing my old quarters. I wasn't aware of this piece until I removed the old quarters and placing the new quarters in place. I'm not quite sure what the old quarters would sell for but I was hoping for $300-$400 for the pair. I guess if need be I will sacrifice them. Thanks for the help, Bob

 

The Caravaggio panels are only $1100? The GM ones are $700? So the diff is $400 but you could never reuse the old panels when you goto sell your car!

 

That's bad. They really should have told you up front.

Charley

 

Charley,
I loved your response at the beginning of your thread. Kind of reminded me of that robot movie Short Circuit. Sharp looking car!!!

 

After going to sleep thinking about how to remove the bonded pieces from the original quarters, I thought about using a heat gun but was afraid I would ruin the panels. Then a light bulb went off in my head! I got an old cake frosting spatula and headed out to the garage. I grabbed a hand held map gas torch and heated up the end of the spatula and the applied between the two pieces and they began to separate! I then pushed a putty knife at the end where I started and applied some force to keep the joint open while I proceeded to reheat the spatula and kept going along the joint. I had to heat the spatula til the tip was red hot. It took about 20 to 30 minutes per panel, but the paint wasn't damaged at all! So I got the pieces that I needed and still have the two perfect quarters to sell and recoup some of the expense of this great mod. Thanks to all for your input. Bob

 

Great solution.



Post some pictures when you get a chance.

Charley

 

Glad to see you were able to get those off!
I don't think the 1/4s are work anything without those parts.

 

Guys I apologize up front but I'm confused and need some clarification. Is this procedure necessary only when using GM Z06 rear quarters and modding/cutting them or also when using aftermarket panels from Caravaggio or other vendors? I've never heard of it being mentioned when using Caravaggio Vert panels and reading through the few posts on this thread I don't think I'm the only one. PLEASE clarify and thanks!

 

Anyone? A little help from those who have done a widebody conversion on a convertible please.

 

Yes. This is only required if you are modifying GM quarters to work on a convertible. If you use Caravaggio vert panels this is not necessary...but, they do require a bit of trimming to make everything fit properly. You can search for other posts on that subject if you want more info.

Charely

 

My quarters came ready to install from carravaggio - no issues.