Well, here's a couple of picts of the car today. I'm getting ready to tear off the rear quarter and weld in the new one from Classic Industries.

Hey Cmpltms, hows your quarter repair going?

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Here's a long shot, too.

 

Wish I could give you a happy answer but I cant. Full time job (Army MP) wife and a bunch of rug rats keep me from devoting as much time as I need to progress along nicely. So I will live vicariously through you all who can get it done faster.
Nice job by the way.

 

Well, I'll do my best to provide you with some details.

This is what I got done today. PS: My dad came over to give me a hand. It helps with larger panels.

If you take a close look at the inside of the fender, it looks like the previous body guys had stock in Bondo.
Here I braced the body with heavy angle and bolted to the from the trans tunnel to he crossbrace.

 

Here is where I made some measurements from the ridgeline. And then I drilled out the welds from inside the passenger side rear panel to remove the bottom section.

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I highlighted in red where most of the rust was found. Not too bad. And this is what the car looks like now. Next, I cut out the rust sections and weld in new supports, trial fit the fender (with some help) and flanged the sheetmetal for overlapping edges.

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Nice. I am going to replace the entire quarter. Your pic's are going to help. I have new inner wheel wells that are being replaced too. Keep the pics comming.

 

What have you done so far?

 

I have some pic's at home. So far I have removed all the front end sheet and interior stuff, except the dash. Looking for one to replace it first. Also lookinf for some angle iron to weld as braces. Also the pass door is off now.

 

Let me know if you need specific pictures of details to help you understand what's underneath it all or attachment points.

This is the first time I've gone this far, so I don't have all the answers. But, I'm happy to share my experience with everyone. Hope it helps.


To begin with, I used a wire brush wheel on my drill to clean the inside of the wheel well junction. This way, I could spot the welds between the quarter panel and the wheel tub. Once I found most of these, I drilled them out with a 3/8" drill bit. As i went along the edge I pried the 2 pieces of metal apart with channel locks and a mini pry bar/hammer combo. This helps to spot the welds that I missed. On my car there were welds every inch or so. But this car had been worked on before so it was real messy. After all that the rim looked like swiss cheese.
I carefully measured the ridge of the quarter panel to have a frame of reference for when I attach the new piece. If you look at the picture of the quarter ridgeline, you'll see some numbers there. I randomly picked locations to measure out from the ridge. 3", 2" and 1" marks were made. No special math or calculation here. I just as well could have done all them at 1" from the ridge.
So what this does, is when I align the new quarter panel, I just need to measure out the same distance as marked and the panel at it will be sitting in the same location as the original.
Then I added all the bracing for the doorjamb side walls and rear bumper. I figured that with these 3 locations supported, I would be supporting vertical, lateral and stretching of the body.
I mocked up the new panel over the body and drew in some cut lines. Take your time with this. It is critical for reattachment. Then I cut through the panel with some mechanical shears. Soooo easy to cut with these babies. Just remember to factor in the 1/4" gap they'll create. I paid $30 for these things at Harbor Freight. Good deal.
I removed the panel in sections so I could see inside at what I was doing at what else might be hidden. It was a bit slower, but worth it. I found a brace in the front and another support along the top at the corner of the trunk. In some spots, the metal had rusted all the way through, so I just pried the panel off.

Any how, it off now and it's now time to clean up. I'm using the metal brush on the drill again to clear away any loose rust. I'll have to start cutting out the bad sections next and welding in new supports.

PS: Leo from Low Budget garage came over when I was under the car and shot some video. He should be posting it this week or so. Watch YouTube under LowBudgetGarage all one word.