thought I would start this and see if others can chime in on helping members with tips on low budget ,hard to get items that they can turn to as a alternatives in body work repairs/ ideas




first off I have been working on my 65 cutlass and there is little to no replacement panels for this car


so to repair you would need to find good used parts and shipping large items like quarters and hoods can get expensive. fender are a bit less through grey hound.


I fixed my left quarter by using scrap metal. I cut out of a 64 4 door cutlass/f85. I had to scrape out the old tar stuff and sand blast if I had to do it over with what I had to use, I think I would have used some of my front fender scrap sections. I cut it about 3inches extra on all sides I used sheet metal self tapping screws and installed over the bad section.I then marked where I needed to bend the lower section, took off and used a vise in section to bend on the line used a body hammer to sharpin the angle once done. I reinstalled using the same holes and screws and slightly heated areas that needed to be modeled to get body lines and lip arches and shaped using basic body tools.

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on my right quarter. I had to shape the wheel well arch/lip area for this, I used extra front fenders and cut out sections of the wheel well from the fenders. I had to use left and right fender to have enough to make the whole arch/lip area, if you have extra its a good way to get it started this was not very easy we had to heat up the metal clap/ weld in spots to push the metal to fit properly. once again this was done over the old to get the shape that we needed once we had the shape we cut out the old up on this we found that the inner outter wheel well section was also rusted. we just used more of the fender scrap to make patches its not perfect and wont be show quality, but it is fixed and should eliminate majority of the rust, we used fusor glue to glue in the sections that we cut out the could of been welded we chose to glue for easy removal in the future as well as anti rust inhibitors are in the glue.
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with the two fenders that I bought that needed replacing anyways and the one door I used, but could of avoided. I think total with glue I spent 250.00 including shipping


I am sure the basic theory here can be applied on any make and model
if any of you are body guys and can add to this please do so. I think some of this could be done and home with basic tools and a map gas torch, granted I had help from experts I did help shape some of the parts and some of the ideas I had he made into reality

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thank you so much oldstata I am greatfull that you shared this I need to do similar thing to my lower left 1/4 with only one difference the area is less only about 5" wide and a bit left on the arch but u provided me with the means to do it to the best to me knowledge Im going to p/u a used fender in the very near future, also in my wheel well I do have some rot also (I guess typical) but I will be using my old front pass side fender well as a patch supplier since I can basicley use the arch patter instead of trying to bend a piece of sheet metal , thanks again to you and others for all of ur help and info that is provided .
let me also add one last thing in search for sheet metal (do not remember where I read it ) if u cannot find and same model car to make patch panels to you and scrap from and car from the same area ie: 64 65 66 of any American car the sheet metal will match up better than and new sheet metal you can buy today

 

I think you accomplished a lot with a little. You have some real talent working with you. Living in the south I'm pretty spoiled and pick and choose what I want to buy as a project. So a project as bad as your car I generally pass on.

 

It might get worse as you dig in mine did so be prepared also I would do a few test spots before any cutting just to get the hang of things

 

I will do that thanks in fact even before I will use cardboard for template firls then practice on sheet metal I can buy at tractor barn , I also have an extra hood that one of the cross braces is rotted and do not know if it can be repaired I will take pics to document it just like you did but probably will not be doing much on the car itself since we are headed inot cold weather but can practice my welding in my cold shed thanks again

 

thanks for posting this up. its a great basic how to for guys who don't have the best access to alot of more expensive body work tools. I'll probably be doing something similar on my 66 toronado. it's too rough to be worth having redone professionally, but would look a TON better with some patches on the fenders/ quarters between the wheel wells (toros seem to rot there.)

 

Good job, I hate rust.

 

Thanks, I was really looking froward to some of the members that have body repair back ground to add or criticize it. I have some of my own,

 

Here's a tip to add. If someone has access to a 4 door car rear quarter panels they can use the portion behind the wheelwell and the rear 1/2 of the wheelwell to repair a 2 door car. I know that's correct for the 1964-65, I suspect that may be so with the 1966-67 as well. These four years use the same wheelbase frame for both the 2 and 4 door cars. So the difference in sheetmetal is between the centerline of the axle and the rear of the front fender.

John

 

not sure if I am understanding this correctly. do you think that the lower sections are the same threw the two separate years or that all four years might have minor changes, but could possibly work ?

 

Since these panels are not being reproduced I was commenting that 4 door panels could be used for portions of the rear quarter repair on 2 door cars. I'd have to double check, but I do think that 64-65 are the same and then 66-67 share a common panel too. I know the wheel well trim on the 1964 is the same as the base model F85 trim on the 1965. John

 

I am a bit confused are the the lower 1/4 panels similar on all 4 years 64-67????

 

I don't think so he was stating 64/65 4 doors from center of rear wheel well back are the same and 66/67 four door from center wheel well back are the same as 2 doors.

Sorry for the confusion I read way into it last night

 

Nope. The 1964 and 65 will interchange with each other. Then the 1966 and 67 will interchange with each other. And it doesn't matter if they are 2 or 4 door cars from the center of the wheel well back.

 

ok I was simply asking cause a friend of mine said that 66 would fit would some modifications and I know there is patch panels out there in the aftermarket thanks

 

Good info, and keep up the good work as i stated on the other forum.

 

Here is another tip from therobski threads
64 gto rear lower deck for the rear lower window channel can be used 64/65 cutlass and that the tempest window seals can be used as well.

 

Okay ,so here is finished project .my work has this test equipment some of the guys were testing the thickness of the paint/ filler and this quarter passed very well.

I will have to find out what it was call and how it works again
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Just wondering, is the entire rear arch from the front fenders? and what did you do about the inner fender rot?
and what is the black stuff you are holding over the inner fender in the one picture?

 

That was super informative. I'm glad I don't have to do all of that to mine but I learned a few things.

 

Nice work, clever plan well executed

 

Olsatata, nice work, 64and 65 are exact, rust repair work looks very good. well on your way!

 

Right quarter is about 90% from the two front fenders it took two to make the repair if you needed to do both it would take three fenders to do.

Okay the wheel well rot I used the u shape at the top of the fender section of the one front fender and rolled it to complete the repair it was made from two sections to make the arch that we needed

Here is a pic from the back side after installed

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This took a lot of pushing the metal from heat
Once we got close we actually clamped it to the patch section off the car to shape it as well on the wheel well to shape it was not
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Here a few finished pics primer is tomorrow
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Yes we have got most of it out still some most likely but will take another 50 years to show it's ugly face lol

 

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Figured I would let you guys see the trim kinda on

 

Justin If I can make a suggestion. With doing filler work over panels that long. It will take lots of blocking off the bat and a few coats of primer to make it very straight. When I hung new quarters on my 72 I used a polyester primer. very very thick its like sparying on polyester putty almost lol. But it will block like primer but it will not shrink like primer and you will have one smooth surface to block finish the whole panel. I used 1 qt on my quarters. Although you already got it in primer im sure it will need a few priming and blocking sessions to get it good and perfect.

 

Thanks , I am not sure what he used I know he sprayed it thick so it could be sanded down. its pretty straight we did a ton of metal work my new favorite tool is a big clamp with the pointer on one end and the flat part it hits on the other lol

 

Looking good my friend! Glad to see progress! The gague you were referring to earlier was probably a mil thickness gague.....copper is right about using spray poly....

 

The only issue I have with using regular primer that thick is You are using it in a manner it was never intended. It will be sanded down but if you have low spots and you have to do some skim coats here and there you have to yet again primer it adding more primer on top of primer and the primer will eventually shrink and its fill hold out wont be as good. Just from experience it may seem straight but once you block the primer you will find little stuff nothing major . Using the poly primer will avoid using too much primer and its much cheaper than urethane primer and has a much higher build thickness per coat.

 

So with the primer your suggesting. It won't burn thru during blocking or as bad ? If I understand it correctly or as

 

With the poly primer you are adding like a spray on uniform glaze coat. A lot of restoration shops use this stuff for that lazer straight finish. When you apply filler you apply it as smooth as possible but it still has inconsistencies from spreading it on that block out but you leave little waves/ripples becasue of sanding out high spots out . What the poly primer does is it gives you something thicker , and something to make the surface more uniform so to speak it will also fill light low spots , heavy scratches . Its like applying a light coat of filler across the whole panel and blocking it front to back to leave one straight uniform finish vs. finding low spots filling and sanding as you do that you create little low spot. For example if you fixed a big dent on a panel and after you sanded your filler you find a low spot and you only apply putty over the low spot the areas around it will sit lower since as you block you will hit those areas so you have to skim coat the whole area again to get one uniform finish. This same rule applies with priming. You have areas with filler and no filler you will have little low spots here and there from the trasitions or halo lines. The poly primer is just thicker and fills more and is more forgiving than the urethane since it wont shrink and it fills heavy scratches.

 

In this picture you can see the different shades of green from the two different fillers I used. Metal galze and Z grip . Although the surface might feel straight the light areas are very slight low spots. I could have skim coated the whole panel end to end where my repair was but the material dries to fast and im very picky about how I lay my filler out it has to be super smooth. So I blocked it as straight as possible then I used the poly primer to resurface the whole panel so that I can achive one uniform finish vs priming blocking and possibly having to use spot putty and more blocking. I hate using spot putty for little low spots on big panels because you end up with low spots in the surrounding areas. I hope this helps.

 

Okay well quarters are primed so would you just block sand then reprime with the poly ? Or would you take it back down to metal and start over ?

Here are the primer pics

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I would block it and see what you end up with at this point. If you block it and its good then its good. But if you haven't done the doors or anything else yet using the polyester primer will cut cost as its cheaper than primer and you won't use as much. Another little tip after you block your quarters and wet sand them. Wet the panel down with wax and grease remover or the ppg pre cleaner. It will give the primer a shine and you can see if there is any ripples or low spots. I usually block with 180 , then 320 the wet block with 400 to leave it nice and smooth.

 

I did a 72 cutlass in the 80's, i used driver side fenders to create the passenger side quarter panel. 90% perfect, no one ever questioned them.

 

I ve heard of people doing this but as I tried to find more out couldn't find any documentation to support it so hope this thread helps others in the future that want to venture out on a learning curve if a life time lol

 

Left fender started

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Stripped and working on dents
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File slapping

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This fender will need some heat to shrink the metal down
So I have been metal working my front fenders hitting up low spots and filing down high spots in my left fender I had to heat a small secton up to shrink the metal down from it being hit and stretched


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Figured I would update this still need to put trim on to show that it fits okay but the right quarter is very nice

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you did a fabulous job Im going to use what you did as a reference when I do mine . hope mine comes out 1/2 as good as urs did