Bodyman advice (Rear quarter)
 

Ok I have rust everywhere.

I plan to put on all new metal.

a. trunk floor
b. rear quarter (left needs a full) (right needs basic rear quarter)
c. inner rear wheel house
d. floor

Please tell me what order should I do the work.

trunk floor , inner, quarter then floor?????

Thanks Chris

I would brace it all up and do the trunk floor and inner wheelhouse first. Then I would do full quarters on both sides. You will probably find that in order to do the trunk floor you will have to cut the quarters if you're doing a full pan.

With weight on the suspension if possible, start by having your doors aligned perfect before you hack anything up. You will need to reference them for quarter panel fit later.
If no suspension, support the frame in a way that it does not sag at the front and rear.
Main floor pan bolted to frame and welded in, then trunk pan and inner w/h together, then, with the outer w/h clamped or screwed (not welded) to the inners, get quarter panels fitted to doors and work back to trunk & opening, and rear body panel.
Loosen clamps/screws holding outer to inner and let the outer float in place until the quarter fits perfect. THEN clamp outer w/h to wheel lip and inner w/h, remove wheel lip clamps and quarter, and weld outer to inner w/h, now that you know exactly where it needs to be. Do not rely on old marks, factory reference/alignment holes or the like. You must be sure outer w/h lip fits quarter lip after quarter is in perfect placement.

BTW, I always lay my new outer w/h into my quarter before it goes on the car, just to see how it fits. Often I have to modify the w/h to get a clean fit. Much easier to do if it's not on the car.

Excellent.

Thank you for the time put into the reply.

Chris

You are very welcome. Send me a PM if you need me to clarify something. That was the condensed explanation.:eek:

Very helpful 400 4spd! I am preparing to put on my quarters (not fulls) however, and I need to replace parts of my outer W/H's. I wasn't sure I needed to 'hang the entire front end' to get on with my 1/4 and W/H installs. You have helped in that regard.

Is it a good idea to 'drill pilot holes' into the door mounting panel (once I get the passenger/driver door gap/alignment)? This could hold a set of cleco's which I can use when I re-install the door (e.g. after paint)?

Many thanks Chris (and apologies for hi-jacking the thread).

BR/Brian.

Brian, I sent you a PM.

Check out my album it may help
http://s547.photobucket.com/user/JE_...#37;20FIREBIRD

Ok, I have spent some time watching YouTube videos.

And from what I can see, I need to have the rear quarter off of the car to do the Inner wheel well.

Is that correct?

I have been going through your post a number of times and that is my hang up.

I can not see how to extract the wheel well with out having the quarter off.

I assume that I would only do this to one side of the car. So as to not take away too much body rigidity or structure.

Any advice welcome.


Thanks Chris