Quarter Panel Skin Replacement help

[kuhlou]

I am using full skin to replace rear quarter panels. Questions (so far, there'll be more) are these. Is it better to simply lay the quarter skin over the top edge after cutting away the old sheetmetal from the sides, and weld it in there? It seems it may be difficult to get the skin to look flush, even after filler and etc. Or, should I cut the top part of the skin off to match the cut on the old sheetmetal and attempt to flange and weld or butt weld it?

"Hanging" the skin on and welding seem simple enough, but I wonder what the results would be compared to cutting and fitting the new panel in.

Next question is about how to weld the new panel into the rocker panels. Rockers are fine, and do not need to be replaced. I'll cut the old quarters off just above the rockers, and drill out the spot welds that way. How do I get in to weld in the new quarters?

Many thanks. 66 coupe, father/son resotmod project. Lots of fun so far!

 

[Ronstang]

Hmmm....I guess I'm not real sure what you are trying to say. I prefer full quarters myself but if you are going to use a skin I would cut the original panel an inch or more down form the top body line and but weld...or flange, rosette weld, and then seam weld it carefully.

 

[kuhlou]

top of skin "laps over" horizontal edge...

...and it appears I could just "hang" the skin on the existing edge and weld it in place. That's what I meant by "hanging" the skin on. Looked pretty simple, but I'm guessing the results may not be real pretty.

I'm thinking your advice will be taken. This is our first project, and you know what they say about dumb questions!

Appreciate the help very much.

 

[hdgapeach]

Haven't done it in a while, but the last one I did I laid the new skin on top of the old one, still on the car, and scribed the cut line on the old metal with a scribe. That was the cut line. Then when I hung the skin on I used magnets to hold the skin flush with the car's metal. Then a series of MIG tack welds hold everything in place. There will automatically be a small gap in the joint for the penetration of the welds. When you get all the welding completed, all you have to do is sand down the welds to smoth out the surface. You won't have any filling of body filler to hide any overlapping seams. Skip around a lot and take a bunch of breaks when you do the welding. You don't want to over heat the panel and warp it. Go easy with the sanding disc too. It will also cause the panel to warp if you use too much pressure and over heat it.

 

[kuhlou]

excellent advice, thanks.

Many thanks. Hadn't thought of cutting off the new panel, and using it as the template. Good thinking! Using the magnets is a neat trick, too! Beats the blind panel holders from eastwood at $30 for a set of four.