i am working on my 63 88 and i am trying to find any ideas for making patch panels work without ten gallons of bondo. flanging seems to be the best so that the plate fits flush. then i can spot weld and use icing t fill seems. do they do a good job or does the patch still stick up? i am looking at the eastwod air flanger and punch. any thoughts? thanks allan

 

I have used the hand flangers, glue and rivets. I am an experienced amatur and could hide the seam behind chrome strips, not professional but worked for me. Have not used the air flanger.

 

The pneumatic flangers work very well, I am a big fan and user. But, if you think you are going to spot weld and fill the seam, you won't be happy down the road as it will crack. You will have to stitch weld the whole seam.

 

I would not recommend a flanged overlap joint on any car that you cared about. For a daily driver, sure, but for a nice car I would only use a proper butt weld. The added thickness of the flange causes different thermal distortion when the car is parked in the sun. I've seen too many cars where the Chinesium quarter panels were welded on this way and the seam stands out glaringly on a hot quarter panel. That expansion and contraction will eventually crack the filler and paint also. And finally, the overlap is simply a rust incubator waiting to happen.

 

OK, Joe is right. Having said that I have repairs that were done with flange overlap welds that have been going to car shows for over thirty years with no issues. I will butt weld most of the time because “it's the best”. Welded seams can fail in hot and cold cycles if there's too much stress across the surface from the welding process. In other words improperly welding sheet metal can cause the surface to expand or shrink which causes warping and stress. A butt weld will warp easier then a flange weld. A flange weld dosn't warp as easy but holds more stress. Therefore a poorly welded flange weld is more likely to fail in hot and cold cycles because of stress. In conclusion, a properly welded flange weld can be a quality repair. I hope I didn't put anybody to sleep with this long answer. ~BOB

 

Joe I flanged my quarters on my 72. And yes sometimes you end up with a halo line. But you can avoid it if you bring you panel up closer to the edge of the flange and you bridge the gap by welding it. If you use a good welding primer it won't rust. Mine have been on for 6 years now. I will admit you can see a seam line occasionally on my car but mainly in the winter. This is also due to the fact I wanted to keep my filler usage to a minimum . Its not nearly as bad in the summer. You really gotta know what you are looking at to see it. You also have to use the proper filler over it. If you use all metal it won't show if you use plastic filler over the seams then you have plastic and metal both expans and contract ant diffrent rates the all metal is more rigid os solid vs. The plastic or even fiber glass filler . I used filler over mine at the time I didn't know any better but even then the line is very faint. That's just my experience.

 

I used the flang over lap on my custom made quarters I used body glue witch will prevent rust between the metal laps
I haven't painted it yet but from our paint rep said we shouldn't be able too see the lines I know that at some light and angle repairs can be seen usually these guys know what there looking for tho

Here is a link to a tip repair I started hope this works

https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...321#post671321