Has anyone....anyone replaced a reqar quarter (full) or been around when one was replaced, or seen pictures of one done? I am having a heckin of a time, I got the assembly manual out and will go off of that, I was just hopin that someone on here has done it before and could give me some advice or suggestions. I will get some pictures soon in what I have to work with, its just a pain. Three layers of sheet metal welded together, I spend a good 2 hours on just breaking the welds in the door sections alone.

 

I'm getting ready to do that myself. I just picked up a passenger side quarter panel replacement because of all the damage that the previous owner had done to it. Mine is not the full quarter, though. I spent only $80 on the quarter than just goes past the edges.

We'll have to share our experiences through it.
I'll post some pictures tomorrow.

 

I have seen a whole done and it is alot of work to lign it up. Does it need the whole qrtr?Or can you cut out the bad stuff and but weld the new sheet metal? I havn't seen the whole panel done alot, most of the time they cut out the rust as close as they can get and make a stencil and cut the new sheet metal to fit in. If it is alot of rust I would think a squared off section could be cut out and replaced.
I've also seen where they cut out all the rust and then weld and rivet the skin ovet the whole qrtr...this would be easy, but I would try to cut and fill.

 

I would like to just be able to 'cut and paste' it but I cant. The running boards are rusted, inner wheel wells rusted and quarter to door rusted, I already got all new replacement metal for both sides. All of these parts connect at multiple locations so I know its gonna be quite time consuming. I will get some pics of some stuff tommorrow. The rust is too severe to just cut some out and rivet new pieces in, I got all new parts so I may as well use them. I just wish I had a plasma cutter instead of a grinder.

 

I take it you don't have a cut off wheel and air compressor? I do know that you remove and replace 1 qrt at a time. Car Craft had an article a few years ago that went step by step, so check their website...I'll see if I still have the mag and scan it if I have to. Also watch spike tomorow, they may have one of the shows where they do it, I think powerblock is from 9am till 1300. Muscle car had an awsome show where he did a back yard rust repair showing how to form metal to make spot repairs with a simple mig welder.

 

Yeah, I have an angle grinder and a cut off wheel, both air powered. And a MIG. I am kicking myself for not taking pictures and posting them in the other thread, maybe tomorrow. I am thinking about ordering the past episodes of the show that did the 'crate 69' kit, it might be helpfull. I plan on welding a bunch of rebar (or similar metal) to the inside of the body so nothing gets torqued out of place. I know it will take a while to get it done, so far I have done it all solo.

 

You can also use some angle iron..or bed rails, they flex less. I'm sure your gonna have alot of fun with the welding...yes pics would be great. I am doing mine all by myself also, but don't have 1/8th the work you do so I feel for ya.

 

Good luck. Sounds like your's is a bit more extensive than mine too. I would use angle iron for support, like 74454bb said. Take it a panel at a time and you shouldn't lose too much support. Weld the brace under a panel where the side panels will cover when you're done.

 

cpl,

Take it from someone who has tried to do what you're trying to do. Please take this with a grain of salt as I'm about to tell you what no one wants to hear.

If you are asking questions, you are already on the way to a SH*TTY job. (sorry). This is one area that you DON'T want to be messing up at all. It takes years of practice for these guys to do it right and they have tricks that the average Joe just can't comprehend unless they do it themselves day in and day out.

I TRIED it and failed miserably. I'm not a welder by trade, but I have welded hundreds of beads on just about everything. This is a totally different game. Butt welds are a whole new animal if you don't do them on a regular basis. Most guys that are "good" shadetree welders CANNOT butt weld. I can't.

99% of the time body guys buy a full quarter and cut out what they need. BTW, replacement quarters DO NOT fit as well as true NOS/OEM quarters if you are trying to replace the whole thing. "TOO MUCH WORK" (quoted from my body man)

Aside from the cutting, the welding process wil get you into a hell of a lot of trouble. Warping, sagging, misalignment and so on. When those guys weld, they use welding putty, weld a bit, walk away, weld a totally different area, walk away, put new putty on and so forth. Man you've got to be dead on with the welding or you'll end up using 5x too much putty to smooth the warping/misalignment out and now you've defeated the whole purpose. And if you're painting your car a darker color, even a green or royal blue color, well forget about that smooth paint job.

I hate to sound like I'm ranting but I am trying to discourage you from a true nightmare. Yeah, your car may run great, but the engine isn't the first thing you see when you walk out of the house in the morning and it's not the first thing everyone else sees when you're out at the local drive-in.

Once again, if you're asking, I feel that you're way in over your head. I was! Please suck up any pride and pay someone the $2000 to do it and you can paint the car. If you mess the paint up, that's an easy one to re-do. If it was your Aunt's mini van, I'd say go for. Great practice. This is your pride and joy.

RM

 

I'm with him on the whole panel replacement. I would make a repair panel and run a flange on it. You may end up cutting the whole panel up for repairs but in the long run it would be easier then the whole panel.But then again, I take it you already have 1 qrtr off so you'll have to do it anyway. Check out some of the Eastwood tools and videos also.