Fitting rear quarter panels

[roadsterdude1600]

Hi guys. Any tips on fitting the taillight sections of Ross's rear quarter panels? I needed to cut out the entire quarter panel and start over. Had no idea just how much work was involved in starting all over rather than patching, but that is where I am, so...I have fitted and screwed it down for spot and rosette welding all around, but am wrestling with bending and fitting the rear tail light and rear valance portions. I also had welded in a new trunk floor so some new contours there as well. Before I start cutting and bending past the point of no return, I am looking for some experience with this.. I did melt out some old lead that was interfering with the fin fit. Am having trouble making the bottom taillight hole and valance meet and look right. I am a bodywork novice.

[todd lorber]

You will need to be prepared to do a bit of hammer/dollying, moving metal and shrinking. It is not as hard as it sounds, and it is amazing how much you can change the contour of the metal by tapping, heating and cooling-even to the extent that you can undo something if it has moved too much.

You will need a dinging spoon, dollies with different radii (mostly subtle curves for the areas you are working on) and a heat shrinking disk, (https://wolfesmetalfabrication.com/sdisc.html). There are plenty of videos on line on how to use this. A torch will help too, but I like to use the disk as much as possible, since it always hits only the high spots.

If you have areas that you can't get to line up, you may need to cut in slots with an angle grinder to allow the metal to move (either to expand or decrease the dimensions) and then weld those cuts back up. Just be patient with your tack welds; i.e. put in some tacks, grind them down, and get the contour the best that you can before putting in more tacks. This will not only reduce panel warpage, but you won't have to keep fighting welds that you just laid down in order to get the metal to move. Oh, and keep working on the overall contours of the entire area rather than first trying to get one area perfect. Chances are you will be re-tapping those areas in order to get the overall profile to work.

[roadsterdude1600]

Todd, thanks for the pointers and the link. I spent an afternoon on youtube yesterday, and I have some more to do before I proceed further but you have put me on the right track. Instinctively I just want to muddle along and make steady progress, but once in a while I need to stand back and think a bit before pushing on too fast. You have given me some great direction. I'll post some pics as I fit that rather irksome section.

I'd still love to hear from anyone else who has fitted the new quarter panel to the tail light and valance area.

[eye]

Pictures of what you are doing may be helpful

[redroadster]

Harbor freight used to sell the
Cutting shear and sinking / hammering phenmatic tool for setting in new fender panels

[roadsterdude1600]

Here are pictures of what I am working on.

[eye]

Seems odd to me that those panels are that far off. Something just doesn't look right. Did it come sliced that way?

I'm speaking from no experience working with that replacement panel. Maybe it was made to replace the bottom and wheel well area that normally rusts out and made to be grafted into a good rear tail light section?

It doesn't matter what you buy, they hardly ever fit without a hammer and dolly and some good metal fabricating skills. Hammer and dolly are your friend.

Kudos to Ross for supplying anything for these roadsters, especially sheet metal. That panel is a great place to start a repair.

[roadsterdude1600]

It did come sliced that way, and is a complete quarter panel section. I am not an experienced body guy, but am doing all of this restoration myself as a self teaching exercise for a retired guy with plenty of time. I will make it work, but looking for any experience to help me avoid stupid errors. I make plenty of those. I have the rolling chassis complete but the body work is proving to be my area of real learning curve. Anyway, thank you all for your comments and suggestions!

[eye]

You mentioned that you had other roadsters there too? If so, use those as a guide. Get an adjustable contour template and use it as a guide to shape the other car. Sometimes it is easier to build smaller sections of the correct shape and weld them together than it is to shape a big panel like that into the tail section. if you do that just make sure it is welded 100% or any gap will let the rust come through.

Be really careful with the heat when welding. Do some tacks and walk away. It is much easier to warp or buckle that panel than you think.

Every patch job/panel is different so there are no real rules. The good thing about metal is if you screw it up, you cut it out and do it again with a better idea of the best way.

If I was closer, I'd swing by and show you how to ruin stuff.

[todd lorber]

+1 for the comments above. I'm not clear on something...is that a patch panel, or an actual quarter that came off of a car? The line between the quarter and the tail light portion looks like it has a soft bend, as opposed to a sharp corner like the original, so I'm assuming that this is a replacement. If that is the case, don't be afraid to cut and rebuild it in separate pieces. When I was piecing my car back together, I fortunately had a spare roadster to keep referring to for dimensions and contours, (and I stopped by Harlan's to measure some other cars and made some cardboard templates), but you can probably make some templates of the other side, flip them and transfer the pattern to the side you are working on. Draw whatever grid you need to on the "good side" (like every inch or so) and use a large piece of paper to map it onto the side you are working on.

Obviously the top of the rear quarter should be your defining line, and you can work the other dimensions off of it. Pull as many pics as you can find on line (of both the interior and exterior of the quarter panel) to see how the various elevations of the car should look (although you will definitely see variations in them).

By the way, before you permanently secure the quarter on, take a good look at the rear of the rocker panel to make sure there is no rust damage, and coat that area with the quarter off-much better access in there than when the panel is welded back on.

[eye]

There is hope. Trust me!

[roadsterdude1600]

Thanks for the comments. I do have another roadster (actually 2) to go by, and I have ordered a contour guide tool also. Good idea! I plan to take it slow and piece that area together in stages. I'll take some pix and post. Not to get laughs necessarily, but maybe to help someone doing the same thing. I have 2 sides to do, so I should become an expert before I'm done. I've already welded in a trunk floor and one floor pan. Hope my next body does not turn out to be so needy.. You do not know until it is media blasted. My final restoration will be on the one I have owned for 45 years so I do not expect nearly as many surprises on it. Famous last words...

eye, where in NC are you, I am from Winston-Salem originally and have a cabin near Traphill (Wilkes County). Love to meet you sometime.

[eye]

Triangle RtP area
That stretch of 21 is a great twisty!

[C.Costine]

Mike, looking at the second pic, the one that has a little bit of a red creeper peeking out from underneath, I see what appears to be a major problem. It looks like the vertical bend where the panel "turns the corner" by where you have the screw holding the quarter panel to the rear panel, is sharper than 90 degrees when it should be significantly less than 90 degrees. Did the panel come with the bend? or did you have to put the bend in? The pic makes it look like the panel came to you without the bend, and that you are trying to bend it around the corner in sections. If that is the case I don't see that happening. A bend around a curve is extremely tough. I think that you will need to make your cut and then weld the quarter to the rear at the corner.

[roadsterdude1600]

You are correct. That is what was giving me pause. I was trying to bend the panel around like folding paper with cuts then making everything line up before cutting out the excess, and that is NOT working as you can see. So if I understand what you are saying, I'll need to re-think this and work in reverse, cutting those pieces out and making everything fit from my tail light cut outs and then curving a corner and welding somewhere in the corner seam? Should I make transition pieces to weld to under the skin, or would you butt weld the panel? Butt welding at the corner seems like a big deal, especially since it would almost certainly have to be a stitch weld to keep warpage down, and I am not sure that will be strong enough in the corner. As you can tell my experience level is low, but I want to learn and do this reasonably correct.