I just recently got my 70 back into my hands and it's got a whole lot of rust in the back end. It needs at a minimum:
Quarter panels
Trunk pan
Trunk drop offs
Outer wheel houses

Now that's the better part of the back of the car, and all those parts fit together. The question is what order do you think would be best in order to keep the body as true as possible? I've done plenty of body work before, but never so many adjacent parts at once. Really it all comes down to the quarter panels since they're the most visible. Is it better to do them first and reference them to the original sheet metal, or do them last to allow fine tuning of the resulting body lines?

 

Do some homework. There is an order of operation for extensive surgery, both upon cutting it apart and reassembly. Measurements need to be recorded prior to any cutting.Things need to be supported prior to any cutting. Panel gaps need to be established at the fit-up/tack weld stages etc...Proper tools need to be purchased such as spot weld drills, good MIG/TIG welder and auto dark helmet, 42 thousand welders vice grips, glass removal suction cups etc etc...Not a job for the meek or untrained. Try YouTube.

 

I'm well equipped and familiar with the work. However even in my body days I never came across a hard and fast rule of what to replace first in this sort of case. Usually everything had to be tailored to that specific installation regarding access and what mounted to what. That and the fact that a car as far gone as this one would have been in the crusher already.

That said I think I'm leaning toward the approach of quarters first, then trunk, given the trunk drop offs are fairly intact combined with the existing sheet metal should give me a fairly precise location for the new quarters. The lower quarters have all but disintegrated so doing it the reverse way would leave me with an unknown point for the quarters.

 

I like to start with the hardest first, trunk and drop-offs. After that its all down hill.

 

I did replace the trunk pans and braces, partial wheel housings before we pulled the body. Helped kept anything from moving in terms of structural movement causing fitment issues. Few pics for inspiration!! AND the car is not finished yet ( are they ever)

 

Nice job!

 

I have started with patch panels from a parts car. They have the trunk drop offs still attached. Life has come up and have not done anything lately. Have started a thread, hope to get back to it soon. I will end up doing part of the trunk then the quarter panel, I think.


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