[dataway]

Does anyone make small patches for the 68 lower rear? I don't need the big one that goes all the way back to the bumper ... just about 6" vertical and horizontal from the tip of the rear opening corner.

I used to see them, not anymore. Hate to spend $60 on pieces when I will only use 10% of them.

I should probably consider myself lucky the whole body only needs about 1/2 square foot of patches.

[68ragtop]

Are you talking about the stretch that is part of the trunk trap area & where the stainless trim mounts?
opposite side of the body from where the tailpipe runs before turning down & out?
I can't say that I have ever seen that section, but you would sure think its available somewhere. Hmmmm.

[dataway]

Yep, just that lower rear corner on the outside where the trim ends. I can get the entire lower rear half of the quarter, but not just the corner by the wheel opening .... they probably stopped making them since most people needed the whole piece.

A good body man would probably just fab a patch, but I'm not a good body man

I'll take a pic of the area.

[dataway]

Here is the worst area of rust on the whole car. There is a spot farther back that needs to be patched, but strangely enough it's surround by very good metal. So rather than separate and replace the whole original lower section I was going to patch that hole, and the wheel opening corner. I'd like to preserve the original trim studs too.

[68ragtop]

Yea thats a tricky area. has the quarter skin & outer wheelhouse involved. How is the trunk extension? (or whatever its called) that connects the trunk floor to the bottom the the quarter & wheel house.

[dataway]

Trunk floor and extension are excellent .... that's one of the reasons I don't want to tear off the whole OEM section down there. Wheel house has a couple of square inches that need to be replaced ... could do that with some panel steel.

[68ragtop]

Thats awesome!

I am guessing once you remove that lower area. it will give you plenty of room on the wheel well for the repair. kind of the same deal as your lower quarter.
It would be perfect if you had an outer wheel well you could chop that corner off & butt weld it. However to buy a $75 well for the 2" corner would be kind of silly & wasteful.

[bkmont]

Originally Posted by dataway

Does anyone make small patches for the 68 lower rear? I don't need the big one that goes all the way back to the bumper ... just about 6" vertical and horizontal from the tip of the rear opening corner.

I used to see them, not anymore. Hate to spend $60 on pieces when I will only use 10% of them.

I should probably consider myself lucky the whole body only needs about 1/2 square foot of patches.

This is as close as I've seen to what you need.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/LH-1968-GTO...gAAOSwIoJdVwJp

[dataway]

Yep, that's what Ames sells too.

I should probably just bite the bullet and the whole piece .... never know what I will need when I dig into it.
The wheel well I think I can piece together, luckily it's not very visible. I've got a roller, sheer, press brake, box and pan brake, Hossfeld bender ... you'd think I could make a patch myself

[bkmont]

Originally Posted by dataway

Yep, that's what Ames sells too.

I should probably just bite the bullet and the whole piece .... never know what I will need when I dig into it.
The wheel well I think I can piece together, luckily it's not very visible. I've got a roller, sheer, press brake, box and pan brake, Hossfeld bender ... you'd think I could make a patch myself

Yowzer, you got some mad skills!

[dataway]

I got tools, but no skills

[n20ta2]

I have tried to patch the exact area your looking at on a couple different cars and in my experience its worse behind there then you think. Its probably cheap insurance to replace the whole lower section then have it pop through later.

[Greg Reid]

I have fabricated some areas about that complex without any of the metal fabricating tools you mentioned. Many times I have had to make the piece out of multiple parts welded together in order to get the compound angles involved....however....for roughly $120, I think that I might just buy the piece and keep the rest for scrap patch material. There's a lot of labor and time involved in doing it my way.
Probably wouldn't be a bad idea to cut it out first and see what you really need before you decide. You might need more of that patch than you realize.

[68ragtop]

I replaced the outer wheel house on the drivers side & repaired on the passengers. It all worked out fine, but I did spent a lot of time getting the original well look nice. When I started my car it was going to be a nice driver & I wasn't too concerned with what the wheel well looked like as it was going to get undercoating. Then about 10 years ago I kinda started over & went on a path to take the car to the next level. There was no way to get back in there & do it over so I had to work with what I had done already. It worked out fine, but those areas you really get one chance when the sheetmetal is off to fix it. The toughest part for me was getting the backside of the wheel well looking nice inside the trunk, after I had it all back together.

Is the body still off the chassis? I can't remember if you where test fitting, or have it bolted on for good already. I know you have been making some great progress.

I agree with the others though. might as well start cutting back whats there & have a better look at the other stuff inside.

[dataway]

Yep ... it's ALWAYS worse on the inside

I'll probably go ahead and buy the patches. Body is still off the chassis and on a rolling caddy.

Hard to wrap my head around cutting it .... had it since 76 and never had to do surgery.

Thanks for the input.

[Sidponcho]

Same...did the ames panels and threw most of it away

[dataway]

Did you slice at the body line or somewhere below that?