So I’m a relative newbie joined July 4 of this year I think it was. And I’ve had the car since about them. And noticed something on the left rear quarter panel that looks suspicious. So started digging into it today a little bit. Testing with a magnet, I could kind of map out the areas where it seemed like there was body filler. So I took a chisel. I am a carpenter and all ha ha an old junk chisel in fact, kind of semi sharp and started peeling away the Bondo. In the area that I was digging, which is kind of the center of the quarter above the wheel the steel all looks good. I’m a little bit mystified. What’s going on. I suspect I’m going to find a rust damaged area Kind of below the trunk area if that makes sense. And I’m kind of feeling my way through this thinking about what I’m gonna do. I suspect it’ll involve ordering some new skins left and right, cutting away some bad metal and welding in new. But I’d sure appreciate any guidance and direction out of this group of folks that’s been there before and repaired it.

A few pics to start the adventure


This is just behind the left rear wheel. Looks like somebody pop riveted a patch?



I noticed a crack in paint in this location, so started to peel out Bondo to try and figure out what’s going on?



Using a magnet, I have a rough idea of the Bondo applied area



Digging through it all, the steel looks good right at this point



If anyone knows how to remove this bottom stainless strip without damaging it, I would appreciate the answer.

 

There should be phillips head screws along the bottom. Remove those, pull out the lower edge from the body, and lift the trim up off of the round clips that are underneath it.

 

Joe, thanks for your commitment to this forum.

So I took a second look. Had to get my head clear under the car. Then noticed the tabs at edge of molding, folded back into a recessed area of the frame. Tabs screwed to the frame with hex head Sheetmetal screws.

Thanks Joe!

 

Had a chance today to continue to remove what appears to be an old Bondo and fiberglass tape rust repair. I plan to order rear quarter panel skins and do the job correctly. But want to verify whether or not I will need outer wheel buckets also. Since it is motor freight and expensive to ship, I want to get everything all at once.

The people that did this rust repair took a lot of time working the body filler. They did well, and it lasted many years. But it would not have cost a lot more to weld in new quarters instead of fiddling with all the filler material.

 

Usually a fix like pictured will need the outer fender well replaced too. They aren’t very expensive. I would order both pieces. There are two schools of thought on quarter panel replacement. Some insist on using the whole quarter panel, others just use the metal needed, weld to original panel. I am a proponent of only replace the metal needed.

 

I think I am in agreement with your position. The complete panel would be great, but for me this will be the first time I’m doing Sheetmetal to this level. At this point, I think I am going to cut away the bad, and cut the needed portion off of a new skin. Carefully fit the new to the old, and butt weld the two together using TIG. From what I am reading in several places, using a lap piece makes the welding easier, but introduces other issues like unequal expansion and contraction stresses that may show through the new paint.

My immediate goal is to just identify what I need for new parts and get them ordered. Then I can return to the Interior restoration work that I already have parts in hand to work upon, while waiting for Sheetmetal to arrive.

Andy, is This is the part you are talking about

 

Yes thats it

 

WOW! thats a lot of mud

 

Maybe the guy doing the work was paid by the gallon I’m thinking about two gallons on the left side? I’m grinding it out with a 40 grit belt on a belt sander using a shop vac to try and contain dust as much as possible. Yet still, this is the pile of sanded away Bondo from half of the left quarter panel.

 

So this is where I am at as of Christmas Eve.


After sanding out the Bondo, I exposed a Sheetmetal patch used to provide a base for the body filler



Drilled out the pop rivets and this piece of art work fell off the car



I plan to cut the quarter panel on the black line to expose the outer wheel well and see what it looks like. Then continue sanding out Bondo toward the front, with hopes that there isn’t a bunch of rust under the door.

 

Damn that was some creative body work somebody did!! Earl Scheibs did better than this. Lol. 😂

 

Whomever did this repair spent a lot of time laying in the body filler and shaping it to match the contours. Looks to me like using a quarter skin would have been less work. Some people don’t have welding skills though. Would have been interesting being there when decision was made to repair with fillers and fiberglass tape. It wasn’t a bad repair really. It didn’t jump out at me as noticeable until I started taking a more critical look at the car.

 

I took of the left side trim piece I mentioned in Post#1. Took out the Sheetmetal screws and then popped it upward using a rubber hammer.


Close up of the retaining washers that the trim piece hooks to



Trim piece has an open hem on it that allows it to hook on the washers



Backside of trim piece


I then sanded out all the body filler to the steel sill piece that goes under the door. It appears to be in great shape, and I am very thankful for that.




I think I need a new quarter skin and also the outer wheel piece Andy mentioned.

 

It could be worse
https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...5/#post1364134

You should be able to make a couple of patches for your repairs.
From my understanding, you can cut the opposite front fender arch from a spare fender to make one of those patches.

 

For sure it could be way worse. This is the first thing I have found on this car that warrants serious work. I don’t have any donor Sheetmetal in my possession, so likely will buy two quarter skins and two outer wheelhouse skins. The edge of the wheel opening is bad just about all the way around, where the two pieces are joined. The perfect place for road salt and sand to sit and bake and eventually the steel is gone. It is the perfect chance to buy a new TIG setup that I have not been able to justify until now.

Blue scratch marks are the approx cut, remove, replace areas.

 

I just went through this last year I elected to put on a new quarters...and iam a master of plaster(bondo) lived in mass rust belt ...bondoed more quarters fenders hoods doors mostly insurance claims...then I care to admit to....I would cut that sucker out and do the full quarter...reason is once you start cutting welding your still gonna skim it with bondo...and depending on you skill level will be the outcome..wavy straight ect ..that's a tough area to make it look good..just my three cents...crankit

 

I do much appreciate you jumping in on this! I am starting to lean more to your way of thinking. After reviewing lots of f YouTube vids on patch panel replacement with MIG, TIG, panel bonding, it looks to me like however you perform the spot cut outs, there are issues with heat expansion. Bondo will be needed regardless.

So for me, the full quarter appears to be way more complicated. I suspect that cutting away what is now there, piece by piece, will teach me how to put it back together? Can a full quarter be done without removing the convertible top? I see vids where people are welding in temporary cross bracing and have the car about destroyed. Kinda hard for me to go that far backwards. Are you able to coach me through the process a little?

 

this is how mine started....doesnt look to bad...until...
the more i cut away the more rot....inner well outer ,wheel lip, beleive me i can use the mud...and decided no way.... i havent sent pics in along time hope it got their....crankit.

 

Yea, pic looks good…or bad😀. In this pic, looks like you have started to drill out QP spot welds? Looks like an old sill patch under the door?

 

here is a few more...

rotten cowl and dash... the fun begins

thats what i found checking some bubbling paint

lots of spot welds to cut out 1000's of em

rotten outer

i have no idea...something i was fixing..definetly not a cuttlass

much easier than cutting and weldng peices

ready to put quarter on all weld thru primer

measuring oldsmobile letters on trunk not for 72 but i like it

quarter on and clecos to hold while its adjusted...and the best part no rot or bondo...nice straight when i go to paint

455 swap from 350....bonus pic LOL

 

Yes those are only a few spots inner outer rockers were done also...dont get me started I have thousands of pics...the admin will have to find more gigs!!! Let me know whether your gonna patch or replace...crankit

 

Definitly leaning to replacing the QP as of this moment. I think the time saved doing patch panel work will be eaten up with bondo and extra work to get it all looking good. However, I am good with body fillers.Used them lots on Corvettes, but would like to not mix it with steel unless I have to. If I go full QP I likely don’t need a new TIG welder, just a good little MIG, so that saves a few bucks.

Im starting to dig into it a little. Removed the trunk weatherstripping and found the spot welds. Scraped out some undercoating on the outside wheelhouse and found the joint between inner and outer WH. Looks to me like I need to remove convertible top, SS trim piece, rear bumper, then start cutting out old QP. Then do the remove and replace of the outer WH followed by the new QP.

First, need to buy the parts, and that will take several weeks just to get them.

Left side of trunk. Found the spot welds under the weatherstripping. These attach QP to a thin frame for the trunk area.



Hard to see, but end of screwdriver is the edge of the QP. Arrows pointing to spot welds



Front left side of outer wheelhouse which was coated at some time with undercoating. I am assuming that the Inner and Outer WH are spot welded together? And will be easier to remove and replace with QP gone and out of way?

 

Excellent glad you chose to replace...the qp will also be spot welded to the trunk drop down (usually rotted also) look at my pics of the outer wheel house I cut the old out leaving the convert top attached and cut and welded the new wheel house in their fore never touching the convert top arm on outer well...you can still drill the spots on the top arm and remove entire outer wheel house if needed..crankit...

 

Also be careful on the trunk were the qp welds to the trunk edge only remove the qp edge not the trunk frame

 

It looks to me like you are removing full quarter panels at factory seems to install factory full quarter? I know the reproduction quarter skins dont cover everything you are taking off. Are you planning full factory quarter replacement with NOS quarters?

 

Yes, I think crankit has persuaded me that it is best option. I’m just tryin to wrap my mind around tearing down a reasonably good drivable car. Gotta keep my eye on the prize I guess.

Jegs, OPGI, and other suppliers offer the skin for about 300 each side plus shipping. Not cheap, about another 200. Most also offer full panels, that include the door jamb. Cost is about 600 each side plus the shipping. I am trying to find a supplier within driving distance of Eastern Iowa to hopefully do my own freight. Hard to believe, but the panels are nearly 8 feet long, so would fit nicely in my pickup. I’m gonna call Oldsparts in Missouri on Monday to see if my idea is workable for them. Sometimes this stuff is drop shipped right from warehouse distribution point. All of this is I think Chinese made stuff. NOS parts, I have not found yet, although Oldsparts has probably more than most NOS.

 

OK. So looking at your second pic in post 20, looks like the vert top is still in the car. You were able to replace the QP without removing the top then? If so, I’ll just tarp it off well to protect it.

 

Yes I did not remove the whole outer wheel used the new outer to patch it in that way no messing with the top frame or separating the two wheel houses...the metal in thier was nice..really cover your top and well liner...mine is being replaced so a few weld burns in it didn't matter...I was at the same reasoning your at I just love driving it and didnt want to go as far as I did..but a wise old guy said well drive it like it is till the floors fall out or fix it and have it for many years to come...I did allot of work that people couldn't afford a ten thousand dollar price tag ...so little patch here and their ..filler...and medium priced paint...saved them thousands and I made a few bucks...and I have never had a bad customer complaint usually very happy...I think in the end you will have made the right choice and be happier than if you cheated...stay in touch if you get stuck or lose intrest which does happen in this game...crankit
...

 

What the bolded says, just sunk in to my head the last few days. I was reviewing my project with a man that body works these old muscle cars for a business. He said the same thing. Don’t take the outer wheelhouse out completely. If it is good beyond the outside rim edge, Cut it and cut the new piece to slightly overlap it and weld the two together. Deal with the joggle visible in the trunk if you feel you have to. I’m thinking now I may want to buy one of the little air sawzalls that look to work well cutting thin metal. Already bought an air belt sander to grind out spot welds. Tried it, liked it.

 

I now have all the new Sheetmetal to start the rear quarter panel remove and replace. Gonna be a new adventure for me. Done much Corvette glass work, but this is first big jump into steel. A few pics


Boxed up pretty well. Shipping costs from JEGS was reasonable. 160 for both delivered motor freight to my door.



Right side panel looks great



Door jamb area


Made in Taiwan. Do I wish it was USA? Sure do, but I’m just happy that some company somewhere actually sees value in making and marketing them. Hoping they fit well. We shall see.




Left side panel had a little damage. Just a surface scratch in the paint.



I laid the new outside wheelhouse next to rim edge and it looks like it nests reasonably well.



I thought that I had the wrong thing, because the wheelhouse looked long at the front



But then I remembered that the front of the quarter panel does not go all the way down to bottom of frame. The sill piece under the door integrates with it. I just don’t know how the connection is made? I’ll discover that during disassembly

Fun will start middle next week. Finishing up recreating new interior door panels now. Will post that work in the CUTTLASS sub forum

 

Looks like your on your way...nice...now get that wizzer mini cutter(always handy) I didnt use the finger sander used rota bits same effect just left me with nice circles to make spot welds nicer.
.you will see a little tab on the bottom front I think their 3 spot welds on th tab...then attaches to top of rocker....have fun go slow....measure .measure
Measure!!!! Crankit ....

 

Old carpenter here. So pretty familiar with the measure twice cut once theme! You are my coach on this one. Glad you jumped in on it!

 

Got started on the left side quarter removal about noonish today. Bumper and trunk still on the car. Figure I’ll just remove parts as it becomes necessary. But they were both soon off the car.


The before removal picture. No spot welds to remove at wheel rim areas. All rusted away.



Grinding out spot welds behind the tire area. Marked them with a black marker to make them easier to see



My prime tool for spot weld removal. Ingersol Rand 1/2” wide by 18” long air belt file. Nose is about 5/8” diameter or so. I’m running an 80 grit belt. This thing works awesome. Takes about 5 seconds to grind through top layer.


Loosened bumper and pushed it back. Should have just taken it off right away. Spot welds marked



After grinding



Using a stiff putty knife to separate the welds

So at this point I have the panel loose from front of wheel to the top of the bumper area. Next up is working across the trunk frame and separating the leaded joint by upper part of trunk.

 

Awesome pics thanks, Im about 6 weeks behind you, replacing quarters… following👌✌️

 

Wished I had that tool when I did my trunk. I used a drill bit, about wore out my neck and arms lol. Nice work.

 

I didn’t even know there was a tool like that until I started to study best ways to remove spot welds. This is my go to tool so far. Way quicker than drilling and if used carefully, it saves drilling a zillion holes into structure beneath that you are trying to save. Takes a little practice, but if you grind down top layer to tin foil depth the welds come apart fairly well. I had to use a cut off disk today next to trunk rim. It did OK too.

I bought good 80 grit 3M belts. About 3 bucks each. I’m still on first belt and have cut out at least 100 welds.

 

Snow in Iowa, so shoveling slowed me down some.


The die cast end piece is attached with two stud anchors and speed nuts. Came off easily



This area is a combination of seam sealer and spot welds



Quarter panel broke loose






Touchy area, with spot welds very close to the trunk frame that Crankit mentioned in post 24. Used a piece of aluminum sheet bent up as a protector. Used a die grinder and cut off disk to grind welds down to where I could work them loose


As much as I wanted to remove the QP in one piece, I could see that it would make this touchy area go better if I hacked off the rear half of the panel, so I did so.


I checked steel thickness. Both old and new were at .036 + or - depending on where I measured. So at least the replacement panel is as thick. Whether or not the steel spec is the same, I have not a clue.

 

Hope I’m not boring you all with this thread. Yesterday I worked on finding and disconnecting the QP panel joint just behind the left corner of the Convertible top. The joint is filled with about a quarter inch of lead. Best way I could find was to use a propane torch and as wire brush to remove the lead. Kind of scary because I’m torching just a few inches from the convertible top. So I used some aluminum plate shielding and some water to help protect it. Worked pretty well, as I was able to melt out the lead and find the spot welds pretty well. Also not a fan of grinding this out as lead dust is not a good thing to be breathing.


Sanded off the paint and I could then determine extent of leaded area.

This is when I am about half way melted out. Going slowly and making sure Fire Dept was not going to be needed.

All melted out and spot welds drilled out.

 

So I think this will be my last post for this thread. I’ll start a new one for fitting up the new wheelhouse and QP. But to wrap up the removal, here is what I did.


Lots of spot welds in the door jamb area. I missed several around the door strike stud, and had to go back and get them.


I knew I wanted to fold the panel down and out. To do this just a small piece needed to be cut right where the top bump is. It hooked and welded to the substructure. Once removed this enabled the panel to move out and down



Again I found two spots of brass. One here in the corner of the door jamb, and another one a t end of rocker panel.



Now I could fold the panel down and figure out how the bottom forward of the wheel was attached.



This is where the QP meets the rocker panel. I thought it was joined with seam sealant or another adhesive? No way to get at it with a welder. But indeed it was spot welded. Most likely as an assembly and then dropped on to the frame. But as it now sits, there is no way to weld QP to rocker.



Here is the other spot of brass.


So I cut the QP at the flange line where it joined the rocker



Marked out the spot welds and ground them out with the air file.



The last piece!


One little blob of foam where the curved jamb sat on the door sill. The door jamb substructure is galvanized



So,this is my car that looked OK and I was driving it just a month ago!



Came out in a total of 5 pieces. Probably would have been easier if I had chopped it up into more pieces.



Anybody want to buy a used QP?

 

Told ya theirs lots of spots...LOL..looks really good .I think I reached into the window pocket to spot the new panel on the rocker..usually it's easier if you mark the perimiter of the qp leaving a 1inch gap from any seam to not cut the inside structure to remove old qp..I have a plasma cutter made it easier than grinding it out ..well I think when your done it will look alot better than patches and mud???keepem coming looks great!...crankit...
look over some of pics around the top of quarter and rear loaded trunk filler I welded my seam solid using little sheet metal strips then leaded over them...I had put in this trunk panel years ago before I new how to lead and used metal to metal for fill it cracked leaving the.seam a water catcher ..thier are alot of ways to fix this area ...check the forums and get some info on which way you may think is best..crankit