68 Camaro - Right quarter panel replacement

Let's get this quarter panel removal started!

Scraping the edges to reveal spot welds and joints...

                                                       Drilling and separating:

Carefully working all around the edges, 

making sure to leave the parts that don't come with the new panel!

                         Lower rear tail panel: lotsa filler here -
                                   gotta be careful to remove just what's required:

Edges all get cleaned up with grinder:

 Need to remove and replace the inner fender now:

Before going any further, need to address the surfaces that will be covered with new panels so they will be protected from future rust. After removing any old undercoating, paint and scaly rust, I use a Phosphoric Acid Solution to neutralize and treat any remaining surface rust, or rust hiding between parts, in seams or wherever. The Phosphoric Acid t converts Iron Oxide (rust) to Iron Oxite, a black, inert substance that won't continue to destroy the metal surfaces.

After that we can attempt the first fitment of the new quarter panel:

                 After a lot of CAREFUL wiggling, prying, pushing and pulling, it looks pretty good:

Fitting quarter at sail panel - a critical point with many attachmenet points all coming together:

                                               Fitting to taillight panel:

                                   After a lot of tweaking, looks much better already:

                                 Getting into my work! In the trunk working the gaps...

                       Door and quarter looking good together. Lots of gaps to get just right.

                                 Quarter panel to roof seam - fit up nicely after a LOT of work:

Looks done....but still a long way to go...inner fender to quarter requires a lot of work to get close

                                        Welds dressed in glass channel:

                                                       ...and in wheel well...

Where the roof meets the glass channel at the quarter there was a lot of rust that needed to be addressed:

     A new patch panel was measured, cut from 18 gauge metal and shaped to fit, here on the shrinker/stretcher to get the curve right:

                                                        Pretty close!

                                 After drilling holes for spot welds - and a bunch more tweaking -
                                                    it was time to weld it in:

                                                           1st dressing :

                                                       Second dressing

                                          Quarter to roof seam next to it also welded up:

                           Rust Bullet seals everything up until we come back to finish it up:

                                Time to switch sides and repeat the entire process!

The view from inside the trunk looks the same as the other side used to....but we'll fix that.




Ughhh - this side is even worse than the other. Combined with the rust up front, some bubbles along the sides and lots of filler in there....

 Me thinks we'd better consider a roof skin......

 

Thanks and Stay tuned!

Don't forget to check out my website for lots more restoration and rad-rides:

www.E-tekRestorations.com

68 Camaro 2.0: Replacing Right quarter panel and inner fender

Replacing Right quarter panel and inner fender

Using sandpaper to spot the spotwelds"

Use a drill or spotweld cutter:



                           With safety gear in check:

Split carefully with air chisel:

Factory used lead at roof joint. Oxy-Acetylene torch melts it quickly - 

Clean it up with heat and a wire brush:

Separate inner fender (wheelhouse) from quarter panel:

Remove rusted out chunks, excess filler and undercoating:

Slowly making the way around all panel edges, drill, separate and grind your way to panel removal:

The inner fender is next - but there are a lot of ways to skin this cat....

Depending on how much is rusted or damaged, one way is to cut 1/3 to 1/2 of each panel and weld them together. This can be done by putting a flange in one side or the other, or butt-welding them together.

First, all the undercoating needs to be removed. Carefully using the air chisel, an oscillating tool or needle scaler.

I decided to install the entire inner wheelhouse by cutting the original right next to its inner-most contour:

With the inner portion held on with Vice Grips, the outer can be test fit to see what else needs to occur for it to fit flush at all points. Two or three test fits are normal.

                      Don't forget to check out my website at www.E-tekRestorations.com !

Can your rust paint "WELD" the lid to the can??

After using some Rust Bullet on the inner fenders of the 40Ford a couple months back, I closed the can back up, forgetting how some other similar products I've used before had a tendency to stick (read: WELD) the lid to the can!

Well sure enough, the RustBullet sticks SO WELL and dries SO TOUGH, that the lid was literally welded to the can - and no amount of prying was going to separate the two!

So.... I highly recommend you take precautions to either not to get ANY of the RustBullet product between the can and a lid (as per their FAQ's and application instructions), or you can expect the above result!  As well, there are a few common practices that will help to avoid this, including placing a barrier between the can and lid, like a piece of thin plastic (Saran Wrap, thin bag, etc), or, transferring the remaining product to a glass jar just large enough so as to minimize the amount of air stored within, as well as with a good, airtight lid.

But, since I didn't heed these recommendations, I had to revert to plan C: poking a hole in the lid to pour out what I needed....

The can can be sealed with some duct tape until you are done the job, with the remainder then transferred to a glass or plastic container and kept in a cool spot until needed again.

Now although you may think it a hassle to have a product that does this, it certainly proves RustBullet's power to STICK to metal so well - and dry so hard - that it should be considered a KEY element of your rust-proofing arsenal. It's definitely earning an important place in mine!