Rust on B-pillar/ rear window frame
#1
Rust on B-pillar/ rear window frame
Hey,
I just removed the rear window of my 71 cutlass S and discovered a huge amount of rust underneath the trim and the vinyl top. I don't believe that there's only surface rust. Looks pretty bad. So I think I have to replace the sheet metall. Unfortunately there only are aftermarket quarter panels that go to the bottom end of the B-pillar and living in Germany there's no chance of getting that piece from a donor car.
On German TV there was a guy who tacked a piece of sheet metall on top of the rusty fender wells of a dodge truck, heated it up with a blowtorch and hammered it in shape. Is that a technique I can apply for my issue?
Thanks,
Julian
I just removed the rear window of my 71 cutlass S and discovered a huge amount of rust underneath the trim and the vinyl top. I don't believe that there's only surface rust. Looks pretty bad. So I think I have to replace the sheet metall. Unfortunately there only are aftermarket quarter panels that go to the bottom end of the B-pillar and living in Germany there's no chance of getting that piece from a donor car.
On German TV there was a guy who tacked a piece of sheet metall on top of the rusty fender wells of a dodge truck, heated it up with a blowtorch and hammered it in shape. Is that a technique I can apply for my issue?
Thanks,
Julian
#2
Hey,
I just removed the rear window of my 71 cutlass S and discovered a huge amount of rust underneath the trim and the vinyl top. I don't believe that there's only surface rust. Looks pretty bad. So I think I have to replace the sheet metall. Unfortunately there only are aftermarket quarter panels that go to the bottom end of the B-pillar and living in Germany there's no chance of getting that piece from a donor car.
On German TV there was a guy who tacked a piece of sheet metall on top of the rusty fender wells of a dodge truck, heated it up with a blowtorch and hammered it in shape. Is that a technique I can apply for my issue?
Thanks,
Julian
I just removed the rear window of my 71 cutlass S and discovered a huge amount of rust underneath the trim and the vinyl top. I don't believe that there's only surface rust. Looks pretty bad. So I think I have to replace the sheet metall. Unfortunately there only are aftermarket quarter panels that go to the bottom end of the B-pillar and living in Germany there's no chance of getting that piece from a donor car.
On German TV there was a guy who tacked a piece of sheet metall on top of the rusty fender wells of a dodge truck, heated it up with a blowtorch and hammered it in shape. Is that a technique I can apply for my issue?
Thanks,
Julian
#3
Julian, can you post pictures of the area your describing? I'm thinking you can fabricate the top of the roof if needed. I'm not finding it right now, but there's another member in Europe that used a roof panel from a Mercedes on his 4 door hardtop restoration. Then if you only need the panels between the roof and quarter panel it may be possible to ship used ones to you.... without it costs a ton of money! John
#5
Hey.
Finallly got the pictures. Seems like I HAVE to replace the whole area. So if anybody is able to get hold of some patch panels for the B pillar and wouldn't mind shipping them to Germany I would be very thankful. Maybe there's also a way to send them to a buddy of mine in California.
Finallly got the pictures. Seems like I HAVE to replace the whole area. So if anybody is able to get hold of some patch panels for the B pillar and wouldn't mind shipping them to Germany I would be very thankful. Maybe there's also a way to send them to a buddy of mine in California.
#6
You can also try Arizona Wholesale Classics.
www.arizonawholesaleclassics.com
They may be able to find the part, and ship it to you.
I could not get their website to load down, here is their phone # 480.330.1495
As for the shrinker/stretcher, try Eastwood.
http://search.eastwood.com/search?as...&p=Q&ts=custom
I am sure this will cost much, much less, maybe you can make some extra Euro's once you get good with it.
Good luck
Jim
www.arizonawholesaleclassics.com
They may be able to find the part, and ship it to you.
I could not get their website to load down, here is their phone # 480.330.1495
As for the shrinker/stretcher, try Eastwood.
http://search.eastwood.com/search?as...&p=Q&ts=custom
I am sure this will cost much, much less, maybe you can make some extra Euro's once you get good with it.
Good luck
Jim
Last edited by Warhead; October 26th, 2010 at 03:12 PM.
#8
I just built an entire rear window channel for a 71 442. I used a bench vise and a foot operated shrinker/stretcher and it came out great. 18-20 gauge should work well, I used 18. I tried to upload pics of the patch panels but they kept failing during the upload. Check in my album in the next few days if you like. 1971 442 Restoration
#9
I just built an entire rear window channel for a 71 442. I used a bench vise and a foot operated shrinker/stretcher and it came out great. 18-20 gauge should work well, I used 18. I tried to upload pics of the patch panels but they kept failing during the upload. Check in my album in the next few days if you like. 1971 442 Restoration
#11
That's a shame! That could have been too easy! I got myself all those tools now. What price would you ask for the window channel? I wanted to fabricate it myself as a low budget solution.
#13
That's reasonable thank you. I'm very interested. Seems to be a better solution than fabricating it. Btw do you have some other parts such as the area where the trunk lock is sitting. I'm talking about the part above the bumper, not the trunk lid.
#14
It was crushed from being rear-ended in that area, but I'll take pictures of that as well. Just remind me in two weeks, either by posting here or messaging me. You have two weeks to come up with more stuff that you need as well. :P
#15
#19
Yes I guess I gotta wait for the experts. Unfortunately I can't find any good pics of that area. On top of that most supremes have a vinyl top where you can't really see the contour:-/. I could imagine that I could use the horizontal part but I'm not too sure.
#21
OPGI offers two different types of rear windows so I guess it doesn't fit. I will get back at you for that trunk lock section though. Maybe the area I need is not affected by the accident.
#23
Thanks I would be very happy about seeing some photos! Did you experience that the horizontal part of the channel right where the roof panel starts has a slightly different profile than at the C-Pillar? How did you achieve a fluent blending?
Last edited by kkrawczyk; March 15th, 2013 at 09:11 AM.
#24
I believe you are referring to the corners of the rear glass channel? I posted a couple pics in the album 1971 442 Restoration of the corners. To achieve what will become a fluent blend with a little more work, I fabricated the channel in 3 pieces. The upper piece across the roof line slightly overlaps the channels on each side. I welded the seam and ground it down. As you can see in the pictures it needs a little more weld to fill the lows. The horizontal part of the channel I left longer and once I had the pieces tack welded in place I shape the radius with a cut off wheel and grinder. Check out my album, let me know if you have any questions. After playing with my shrinker/stretcher for a bit, building the pieces was pretty simple, tedious but simple.
Btw I couldn't really tell from the pictures but did you replace the entire C-pillar skin? I probably need to do that including the curved back part of the side window. I saw you got some rust issues there as well.
#25
I actually used a piece of angle iron mounted into the vice. I would clamp the sheet metal to the angle iron and form a 90 degree bend with a hammer. The metal had to be clamped very securely every couple inches or else it would start to warp. As far as the c-pillar goes, I haven't replaced that area yet. I have an english wheel but I don't have the correct dies for it. I'm just looking for a piece to replace it with.
#26
I'm pretty much done with the driver side area of the rear window frame. Looks pretty much like kkrawczyk's job. I was just wondering if I can get rid of those fasteners that can be seen on the pic. Are they just for the vinyl top?
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