Quarter Seam

[glovemeister]

Planning ahead for dealing with the quarter seams. Thus far the current plan is to carefully weld them solid, grind down the welds a bit. Hit the seam with weld through primer  then install/weld flat steel in the channel.

Does that sound good, or should I skip the weld through?

[E-Body Products]

You will need the primer to help reduce rusting.


E-Body Products
www.ebodyproducts.com
606-481-9014

[glovemeister]

You will need the primer to help reduce rusting.


E-Body Products
www.ebodyproducts.com
606-481-9014

Thats what I was kind of thinking. Rather try to "overdo" everything than have trouble later because I wasn't doing everything I should. 

[jimynick]

Why not just solder them in like the factory did? 

[glovemeister]

Why not just solder them in like the factory did? 

I'm familiar with welding. I have all the tooling/chemicals on hand to perform it, and likely get satisfactory results.

Soldering is fine, but the time/money spent to learn it can be better suited elsewhere. From all the research I can see on this forum, as well as across other forums, a properly welded/filled c pillar/quarter seam is a good way to go.

[AARTA340]

Off the line back in the day, the factory spot welded the quarter to the roof. Then on cars with a vinyl roof they used filler/bondo. On cars with painted roofs, they used lead/solder as it would not shrink and thus show a crack. If the filler cracked with the vinyl, it would not show unless the vinyl was replaced. 

[Topcat]

If you were to butt weld a section in from roof to quarter panel, it'll be more work and time than if you were to just lead/solder. A patch over the gap I would not recommend.   

About 150-250 dollars to have lead DIY products.

[jimynick]

As always, it's your car and your choice.  A couple of things though- my 74, factory vinyl roofed car had soldered 1/4 seams and I should know, since I'm the guy who melted them out. As for soldering, may I suggest an hour or two on YouTube and I think you'll see that it's not too hard to do. The beauty of it is that you can file off everything that doesn't look like a 1/4 panel and the only real tool you need are a wooden paddle- that you could make yourself if you're handy that way and a metal body file and handle. Hope it works out for you no matter which way you go. 

[Topcat]

I'm familiar with welding. I have all the tooling/chemicals on hand to perform it, and likely get satisfactory results.

If you're familiar with welding then Leadwork should be easily adaptable for you. You understand heat.

Soldering is fine, but the time/money spent to learn it can be better suited elsewhere. From all the research I can see on this forum, as well as across other forums, a properly welded/filled c pillar/quarter seam is a good way to go. 

About 1-2 hours max per side.

Solder/Leadwork is not overkill, costly, or that hard to learn.
Were you good with making campfires like a Boyscout ever? If you're good with fire, then you can adapt easily.
It's all about finding that melting point of the solder bar. Benz O Matic makes the ideal propane torch for doing leadwork. http://www.bernzomatic.com/item.html?id=9
Eastwood sells the thin bars that are really easy to work with.