Anyone replaced a quarter panel before?

baby6

One Fast Buick
Joined
Feb 22, 2009
I think I'm daring enough to tackle this. My passenger rear quarter panel is pretty damaged (hit a telephone pull 10 years ago, got it replaced but the body guy never straighened the chassis.) It looks OK - but now its time to do it right. I have a donor regal that I cut the back half off of. How should I do this guys? Any Advice? Thanks!
 
How well can you weld and do you have the correct tools to do the job? Cutting and old panel out and replacing it with another is easy, the hard part is in the details. Using the correct welder at the correct temp not to warp the metal. Then applying the body filler on the seams to blend it in. At my evening class for Auto Hobby and Restoration at the local college they have spot welders for the area behind the rear of the tire at the bottom of the panel. If there is a college close by find out if they offer a course, my class is only $248 for a semester and is totally invaluable. Bring on the pics also. You may want to move this to the Restoration section. Once my car was blasted, it was revealed that there was some damage on mine also. It looked as if it had hit a short pole about 2 feet high, from the rear of the pax side door jam all the way to the rear of the car. Body work covered it all up because I never knew it was there. Not quite a quarter panel replacement but I had about 40 hours of labor in it before I was happy enough to prime it. IMG_1261.JPGIMG_1262.JPGIMG_1309.JPGIMG_1310.JPGIMG_1311.JPGIMG_1312.JPGIMG_1314.JPGIMG_1315.JPG
 
Practice welding on a section you aren't going to use to get the correct temp and wire speed. I'd say replace only as much as necessary to do the job. I replaced the driver side rear lower quarter similar to the pictures above. It took a while skipping around the panel making little tac welds until it was completely burned in, but it's thin metal and you don't want it to warp.
 
R U going to make sure the frame is straight? Maybe put in some extra bracing while you are there??
 
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