I HATE previous owners and body filler!

JC6715 · Aug 28, 2007

Started to take off the old paint in the process of getting ready for paint and this lovely little surprise showed it's ugly little face...

What is wrong with some people...

So now the question is do I just lay a bead to fill in the gap and grind smooth and hope I can block it smooth...

OR do I replace the whole quarter panel? What's the "proper" fix for this?

This isn't a common practice in bodywork is it? I'm afraid what else I am going to find... A little frustrated now as I just spent over $6g's on an engine to put in this bucket... Poop.

67coupestang · Aug 28, 2007

better than the rivets i found hiding under 1/2" thick bondo

BullittStangV8 · Aug 28, 2007

I feel your pain. I have the same issue, I'm just hoping my body doesnt start to crack when I start racing it/stressing it. My drivetrain is def. worth more then my cars body.

Dazecars · Aug 28, 2007

Previous owner of my mustang hacked apart the panel behind the back seat to make speakers fit, used stolen road signs to patch the rusted floor boards, and cut a huge hole in the trans tunnel rather than using the correct 3-speed transmission. On my 62 Galaxie I found bondo 1/2" thick, wires under the dash that had just been twisted together, no tape , no solder, and when the previous owner lost the little clip that holds the door handle on, rather then getting a new one they decided to JB weld the handle on. Some people have no business owning classic cars!!!

TD68302 · Aug 29, 2007

What's the "proper" fix for this?

If you know how, I would use lead to fill with

fasttback · Aug 29, 2007

How is that piece attached...spot welded, plug welded, lap weld? I know it's always an unpleasant surprise to find majorbody work on our classics, but judging from your pics I've seen a lot worse (one example is in my driveway).

CraigMBA · Aug 29, 2007

That's really not that bad, although I don't know why they didn't change the whole quarterpannel. TRUST ME, it's not that bad.

Unless the job is totally botched, I'd fill it up with plastic again.

NasaGT · Aug 29, 2007

fasttback said:
How is that piece attached...spot welded, plug welded, lap weld? I know it's always an unpleasant surprise to find majorbody work on our classics, but judging from your pics I've seen a lot worse (one example is in my driveway).

+1

I've seen worse, all in all thats not too horrible looking. Hopefully you can weld that closed and grind smooth.

xoxbxfx · Aug 29, 2007

CraigMBA said:
That's really not that bad, although I don't know why they didn't change the whole quarterpannel. TRUST ME, it's not that bad.

Unless the job is totally botched, I'd fill it up with plastic again.

x2

Thats pretty normal if you ask me....I would tack it some more just to fill in a bit and make sure the panels are fully welded to eachother. Have you welded body panels before? That is honestly pretty normal. I have yet to see a bodyshop put in the proper metal work like an old hot rod builder would. Make sure you are just tacking it together and going easy on the grinding so you dont warp the panel. If you do, you will be using a lot more filler than they did. The key to doing a patch like that is to weld the pieces together. Weld the lip of the patch panel to the old metal with tacks. You dont want the flex of the car to pull the pieces together. It looks like it was plug welded from the inside with the metal flanged. Just weld the outside to ensure it cant pull off

Here is a chop a guy did on a 41 ford... he cut down the crown and chopped the top. I would consider this great work and you can see the welds are not completely filled in and ground smooth.

I would use a plastic filler, lead is NOT safe and is NOT as good as the fillers these days. People stick to lead because they are "old school" and people give bondo a bad name. Bondo under 1/4" thick is perfectly normal, the least amount the better.

JC6715 · Aug 29, 2007

Alright, glad to hear there is still hope. I gotta give it to the guy who did the bodywork, it was incredibly straight and I had no clue there was that much filler on the car (first and last time I buy a classic without a good magnet).

The front fender had a good 3/4" by 3" gash that they just body-filled in, no patch panel or anything...

Alright, time to get to work... Thanks for the encouraging words guys

JC6715 · Aug 29, 2007

xoxbxfx said:
Thats pretty normal if you ask me....I would tack it some more just to fill in a bit and make sure the panels are fully welded to eachother. Have you welded body panels before? That is honestly pretty normal.

THis is the first car i have "redone" so I am learning a lot as I go... Welding is going to be one of the things that gets learned before this project is done. I had a welder come out and do some rust patch panels and he let me give a couple a try in places that will be covered by carpet.

I plan on practicing A LOT more before I attempt to fix this little boo boo...

xoxbxfx · Aug 29, 2007

JC6715 said:
THis is the first car i have "redone" so I am learning a lot as I go... Welding is going to be one of the things that gets learned before this project is done. I had a welder come out and do some rust patch panels and he let me give a couple a try in places that will be covered by carpet.

I plan on practicing A LOT more before I attempt to fix this little boo boo...

welding body panels is not hard, but you will need a lot of patience. When you weld the, you want to tack weld them together. You tack the panel on just to hold it and slowly tack across the panel. You want to to a tack every 1.5-2" so you dont heat up the metal to much. Then you go in and weld between those tacks, then come back and weld between those.

The idea is not to heat the panel. Sheetmetal is very thin and will warp if it gets heated to much. Never weld a spot within an inch of what you just welded. I hope this makes sense.... I guess its kinda like this:

Pass 1: tack........tack.........tack.........tack
Pass 2: .........tack.........tack.........tack.........tack

When grinding, dont lay into the weld...let the grinder do the work. You want to grind a tack for a few seconds and move to the next...dont try and pull down the whole weld at once, work it a bit and come back to it. Best thing to do is get most of your welds in and grind across the whole panel back and forth to keep the heat off of one spot.

Im sure others will give you some advice as well...if you have questions, just ask

65-Fstbk · Aug 29, 2007

Hey JC6718

You're not alone my friend.

I bought my 65 Fastback from E-bay (scaaarrry). It was an Arizona car the guy had advertised as "100% original as the day it left the San Hose factory". I paid a premium for the car b/c I'm not a body guy and wanted a car that mainly just needed mechanical mods. Anyway I meet the auto transporter at the border and within 5 minutes realize that there has been a scrape on the drivers rear quarter at some point in the past and there's some filler in there.

Whoever did the bodywork did a fairly nice job but that's not what I paid for. Now I'm into another $1,700 to have the panel replaced properly. AAAAAARGH!!

I know what you're sayin'

xoxbxfx · Aug 29, 2007

65-Fstbk said:
Hey JC6718

You're not alone my friend.

I bought my 65 Fastback from E-bay (scaaarrry). It was an Arizona car the guy had advertised as "100% original as the day it left the San Hose factory". I paid a premium for the car b/c I'm not a body guy and wanted a car that mainly just needed mechanical mods. Anyway I meet the auto transporter at the border and within 5 minutes realize that there has been a scrape on the drivers rear quarter at some point in the past and there's some filler in there.

Whoever did the bodywork did a fairly nice job but that's not what I paid for. Now I'm into another $1,700 to have the panel replaced properly. AAAAAARGH!!

I know what you're sayin'

There is a small shop that does quarter panels for $400

65-Fstbk · Aug 29, 2007

xoxbxfx said:
There is a small shop that does quarter panels for $400

Where? I'm in Vancouver BC. I don't want to take this to Macco or anything. Most of the guys up here that do the collector cars properly have priced it at 1,500+ do have the panel fitted properly so as to look exactly stock.

If I could get that done for $400 I'd be as happy as a pig in poo.

xoxbxfx · Aug 29, 2007

65-Fstbk said:
Where? I'm in Vancouver BC. I don't want to take this to Macco or anything. Most of the guys up here that do the collector cars properly have priced it at 1,500+ do have the panel fitted properly so as to look exactly stock.

If I could get that done for $400 I'd be as happy as a pig in poo.

Texas.... I guess everything is cheaper here because the cost of living is pretty low.

65-Fstbk · Aug 29, 2007

xoxbxfx said:
Texas.... I guess everything is cheaper here because the cost of living is pretty low.

You got that right. Vancouver was just ranked the 6th most expensive city in the world as far as real estate goes. It's crazy, everything up here is expensive......BUT...that 2+2 of mine is going to look mighty fine rumbling around with the Pacific Ocean in the background.

If I could get that panel done even for 1K I'd be happy.

zookeeper · Aug 29, 2007

I wouldn't be price-shopping when it comes to major bodywork. I know it sounds goofy, but are you more worried about saving money or the quality of the repair? There are a ton of ways to screw up a quarter panel, and once it's done poorly, it'll never be right until it's re-done. I'd shop for quality and maybe even ask to talk to past customers. Most body shops these days are into "cave it and pave it" bodywork and as long as the paint that covers it is shiny, the customer is none the wiser. Most people don't keep their cars too long , and nobody's stripping their Geo Metro down to bare metal to see what's under there anyway. That's not the kind of place you want to take your '65 fastback to get repaired.

65-Fstbk · Aug 29, 2007

Couldn't agree more. That little surprise is a big pain in my a$$ but I'm not going to flip the car so 20 years from now will the $1,700 matter. I'll probably be more worried about a triple by-pass and the price of gas by then. 8^)

I HATE previous owners and body filler!

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