Quarter panel replacement

[Steve]

OK guys...time to do the quarter skins. My quarters (at least my PS) is pretty much trashed. Looked like the car got hit at some point just behind the door.

Here's the question for you guys who have done this before: Where should I join in the replacement skin? Should I cut along the top side of the quarter? Should I cut along the top ridge?

Let's assume that I want to use the entire skin. Is that a good idea? Or should I cut the skin several inches below the top ridge line? The original metal is mangled up to that ridge line.

BTW, I plan to butt-weld in the new skin panel. That's a lot of spot welding, but it's the way to go.

[360 'CUDA]

I think the best advice is to keep as many of the factory bends and creases in the
sheet metal as possible
That means cut the quarter out below the top ridge as close to the damage as you can
don't leave the extra wide lip in the wheelwell sticking in towards the tire as that's a
dead giveaway that panel has been replaced

try to use the stock lip in the door jam and butt weld the front too

Spend extra time on the lower back even if you have to make the flange from scrap
usually rusted out in that area

I nice thing to have around is the sheetmetal bead roller from harbor freight tools
On sale it costs around a hundred bucks  and it works great for fabing up those
flanges not to mention for the trunk panels too

[heminut]

I cut my old quarters approx. 1" below the top edge of the panel and 1" in from the rear edge. On the bottom and the door jamb I drilled out the spot welds (not all the way through, just through the outer layer) and separated the two layers.

A little tip here, go the the hardware store and buy a 1" wood chisel and use it to separate the two layers of sheetmetal. Since you have a flat side and a beveled side and it's flatter than a cold chisel it doesn't bend up the sheetmetal layer underneath as bad when you have to cut through some of the spot weld remnants you didn't quite get with the drill. Believe me, the wood chisel works much better for this job than a cold chisel!

I then used a flanging tool that I borrowed from a buddy who has a body shop, and put a flange all along the top and back edge of the 1" I left of the original panel. I then trimmed the new panel to fit in the step made by the flanging tool ( a lot of trimming and checking here, but go slow and don't take too much off the new panel). Once you have it trimmed it will set flush, but will still have a 1/4" to 3/8" overlap with the old part. When I welded the joint up I first did a 1/2" spot weld about every 6" then went back and welded a 1" weld about every foot or so and kept moving around so I didn't get too much heat in one area. Welding in this manner and having the joint so close to the edge of the panel the warpage was almost non-existant. Needless to say, don't try this with anything but a MIG welder! On the door jamb, bottom edges and wheel opening edges i drilled 5/16" holes with about the same spacing as the original spot welds and then welded these areas together like spot welds. On the door jambs and the wheel openings the flanges on the new panels need to be trimmed down before welding the panels on, as they are quite a bit wider than the originals. Be careful when you dress your welds down with the grinder that you don't get too much heat in an area and make it warp!

[gichy]

Here are some pic's of my 1/4 pannel's

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[gichy]

more

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[360 'CUDA]

Schweeet

Same color as my '74 when I got it

What color are you going with?

[Steve]

Many thanks for the replies and the pics!!!!!!!!! That really helps.

The bad news is that on the PS side, I have to go all the way back. Seems that someone not only damaged the front of the quarter, but must have backed into something, too!!!!!!   

I do have a tail panel on the way and it may have some of these pieces attached. I'll be cobbling for quite a while!

Any input on going the flange route versus the butt-weld route? Advantages/disadvantages of each?

The car is up on the rotiserrie and I'm going to blast the underside of the trunk lid gutters so I can fab up my patch panels for the deck area. This will give me some time to figure out how to best tackle the quarters (with everyone's help!).

THANKS GUYS!!! 

PS: Yes, the car is in the garage. No, I can't get the garage door down all the way. Yes, there is room for my wife's car (rule #1). Yes, getting the car on the rotisserie was work!

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[360 'CUDA]

Now that looks familar

[gichy]

360 cuda

hopefully my 74 will be painted this winter "Lime light or Sassy Grass Green"

[360 'CUDA]

Sassygrass would look cool the black stripes/accents