Rear valance & 1/4 panel fit

[mymach 0]

I may be having a "Doh" moment, but shouldn't the ends of the rear valance fit pretty much flush up against the rear lower face of the quarter panel? The valance had already been confiscated and the lower quarters were completely rotted off when I got this beast, so I'm a bit in the dark.

 

Here's the rear face of the valance, with the attachment bracket:

 

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q11/21ford/100_1486.jpg

 

Here's the lower rear face of the quarter:

 

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q11/21ford/100_1487.jpg

 

Here's the problem:

 

 

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q11/21ford/100_1488.jpg

 

The bracket hits the face of the quarter. I haven't yet trimmed off the flange on the quarter, but you can see the height of the bracket makes for a heckuva gap here.

 

What am I missing here? Should the face of the quarter be recessed or something? Anyone have any pics of a proper installation? I could easily believe that modification of some kind may be required, considering that this quarter skin doesn't seem to fit up well to anything else on the car! I have fitment issues between the outer wheelhouse and the quarter skin, too, as well as misalignment at the rocker panel.

 

Any thoughts?

[MAD IN NC 21]

I just replaced the rear quarters and valance.... and the gap below the bumper at the bottom of the quarter is not closed. (I can't see the pictures you posted)

http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm145/madinnc/Christine/DSC00344.jpg

http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm145/madinnc/Christine/DSC00342.jpg

 

I found this after looking at various stock originals and other restored cars....

 

 

...........and yes the car is dirty - I haven't washed her yet since the paint was put on ~60 days ago..... Soon she will be washed and waxed!

[Fantastic 57]

I'm having asimilar problem with my repro valence on my original quarters. The valence is shifted right including all the mounting holes on the top of the valence.

I have to punch all new holes so I can screw the valence to the body. I may also have to drill the spot welds on the valence so the mounting brackets can be moved over. If you took this to a body shop and were not watching they would drop sheet metal screws on the edges to get it lined up. I've also seen shops fill the seam with body filler...yuck!!

[Fordrevhead 29]

If it helps click on my profile, there's a pic of a friends Q code being restored presently with a stock quarter B4 mounting the valence.

[Pakrat 1,043]

I had the same issue and like an idiot I tried to tighten it down to suck up the space, now I have two puckers on each side where the bolts connect to the valance. I have to take it all off and try to tap them out now without destroying my new paint.:shaun:

[flight96 14]

I had the same issue. I ended up shaving a bit off the lower part of the 1/4 panel lip/Trunk floor drop. That way the valance meets up flush with the 1/4.

[69RestoRod 10]

This gap drives me insane on my car. When I get the quarters finished I plan on taking the time to add to and reshape the valance edges. The one time they can reproduce something decently the part had a crap fit to start with.

[mymach 0]

Ah Ha!! I may have found at least part of reason to my poor fit issue. The area of the lower rear quarter where the valance bolts through is supposed to be recessed, allowing for the depth of the bracket. My repro quarters are smooth in this area, not recessed.

 

I ran across this pic while searching around the 'net that clearly shows the area in question.

 

 

Maybe this will clear some things up for some others who are having problems in this area.

[Fantastic 57]

Yes, the repro quarter patches all lack that recessed area at the bottom. It is really sad that nobody has made a piece that goes right up into the trunk drop off and the quarter panel so that these can be fixed properly. Especially since this is the most rotted out spot on these cars. They also need a better way to fasten the valence on these.

[diplo 10]

I had this exact same problem. I ended up cutting about a half inch from the top lip of the valance all the way across. Fits like a glove now. I bought a repro first which had the problem. Thought original might be a better fit... same issue!

[69RavenConv 286]

I'm bumping this thread because I'm facing the same issue. Test fitting both my original NOS valance and my repro dual exhaust valance shows the same problem with the lack of a recess for the bracket. I'm thinking my choices are; hammer a recess into the quarter, or cut a hole in the quarter for the bracket (and get creative to bolt it together). Anybody successfully deal with this one?

[Cruzzar 22]

I also had to trim the flange as Flight96 did. Fortunatly the lower quarter panels that I had to replace had a decent recess in them so the retaining bolt and bracket did not hold my valence down and away from the lower quarter. I did have to spend about 2 hours reshaping and cutting down the bracket and recurving the valence so it would lat flat and match the contour of the lower quarter. Repo parrts----you just have to make them fit, very seldom do they fit perfectly. Here's a pic of the recessed area and a not so good pic of the recontoured valence.

[BuckeyeDemon 211]

my fit was sub par but easily fixed as illustrated in the photos of the following link. repoped quarters, tail light panel, and rear valance were surely contributors.

 

however, looking at supposedly original cars reveals awful fit in this area.

 

http://s258.photobucket.com/albums/hh270/buckeyedemon/69%20Mustang%20Mach%201/rear%20valance/?albumview=slideshow

[Fordrevhead 29]

yeah, seems I should pay attention here. This is one of the very few spots that need repair on my coupe. I have factory quarters in great shape but I know at least one side has a small area at the tail of that recessed area that needs repair. I was going to buy a lower quarter repair and throw 90% of it away to get this bottom piece, now I know just to make it. I am using a repop rear valence though because of the added dual exhaust. I will compare the fitment of that to the original.

[69RavenConv 286]

Great slide show and really nice body work there. Unfortunately my repop quarters are lacking the recess shown in Cruzzar's picture, so it's the mounting bracket on the valance that is causing the gap. I need to figure out how to create the recess (or modify the mount) to make it work.

[69RavenConv 286]

Thanks to all who chimed in to help. By grinding away a bit of the flange, hammering a deeper recess, bending down the valance bracket, and curling the edge of the valance, I was able to achieve a pretty nice fit.

[WPlayer 10]

I've been on many other Mustang sites and only browsed this one. I thought it was time to join the site dedicated to the year I love! :thumbup1:

 

I, like most of you, have a rear valance fitment problem. Although I wish mine fit as well as some of the nonfitting pics in this thread (see pic of mine below with a brand new NPD valance). This is on original quarters, btw. I'm absolutely shocked at how bad this fits. Certainly NOS valances would have to fit better than this, wouldn't they?

 

Has anyone seen one fit like this on original quarters? All of the screws line up perfectly...just doesn't fit worth a darn.

 

Thanks!

[silverfox 10]

Just gone through the same issue. Put it down to replacing a full quarter and the lower on the other side. Repo Valance did not fit well all round. bit short on the ends too. What we did was remove the mounts and rewelded them to the valance as they were off line to let the valance move in all the way, We then had to recurve one end as it did not look right with the bumper on, and add some metal on the ends to get it out to meet the quarters. Over all it was a bit of mucking around, but my original had the same issuse bar the mounts

[BuckeyeDemon 211]

wplayer, i had similar issues to yours to where the gap was horrible and the forms in the two panels didn't align. i had to relocate the brackets, relocate some of the screw holes (plug weld and drill), trim material from the top edge and add material to the ends. i didn't show any details of having to relocate holes in the slideshow. however you can see the misalignment in the first pictures.

[WPlayer 10]

Thanks, guys! Love the slide show!

 

My original valance seemed to fit relatively well. That's why I was thinking that if I could find an original (with the cutouts) that it might line up better.

 

I don't have the tools to do all the work needed on this valance, and local shops want a FORTUNE to fit it! They said they cut off the ends to fit them to the quarters, then weld pieces in where they made the cuts. Then they may still have to rework then ends. Estimates between $500 & $1000 just for fitting the valance and prepping for paint. That's ludicrous! I just can't spend that much money on that part of the car (on top of the new exhaust, etc). I was hoping someone would just tell me that a NOS would likely line up nicely. :biggrin:

 

Really like what you've done, BuckeyeDemon!

[BuckeyeDemon 211]

the fit of an original or NOS (expensive) still probably won't be perfect. i think i spent on the order of 4-6 hours on the metal work to get mine to fit the way i wanted (i would consider myself a slow rookie).