[roger1]

Originally Posted by Shiny

Your skills and speed are truly impressive - the posts are motivational so thanks for detailing your amazing work.

Your annihilation of the residual quarter panel damage is a reminder of my next bodywork learning opportunity... I think I can make this better but won't know until I try. I'll definitely ask for help when I get to it.

Thanks!

What you've got to repair there is going to be very complicated. It was already going to be a challenge and the ball peen stretching is going to make it twice as hard. MP&C is the guy I'd want guiding me for something like that. He is the best sheetmetal guy I've ever seen.
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/...d.php?t=182565

[Verdoro 68]

You're making this look too easy. I'm getting tempted to pick up another project.

[Greg Reid]

...and I'm getting tempted to actually start on the one I have!

[roger1]

Originally Posted by Verdoro 68

You're making this look too easy. I'm getting tempted to pick up another project.

Originally Posted by Greg Reid

...and I'm getting tempted to actually start on the one I have!

Cool that I'm inspiring you guys. I take that as a compliment, so thanks!

But.... I messed my lower back doing what I did yesterday. It tightened up on me pretty bad a couple of hours after I quit. Must have been the way I was bending over and twisting with my head inside the trunk to use the hammer while holding the dolly in my other hand on the outside. I will have to go easy for the next couple of days!

[OG68]

Roger, while you're taking it easy here is a thread about a 69 Yenko Chevelle restoration that's was over the top. 60 some pages.

https://www.yenko.net/forum/showthread.php?t=152152

[Greg Reid]

Looks like someone has been beating it from the inside with something too smal. like a ball peen hammer. I think it needs to be pulled from the outside to get that crease out and then worked smooth with hammer and dolly.
Just trying to see if I'm close..

[Ben M.]

I'm just in awe every time I see someone with these bodyworking skills. Inspires me to finish my projects...

It also goes to show that no matter how "rust free" we think our cars are, there's *always* something lurking. I'd have been tempted to slap some POR-15 on most of it and drive it, but my Type A is in agreement with you on fixing it right. "Better than factory" is not an insult.

[gtohurstjudge]

I'm sure you already know this but it is worth mentioning..........
be sure to trial fit the stainless molding that goes on the bottom of the wrap around on the quarters that you are patching to make sure the curve of your
patch panel matches the curve of the stainless trim....ditto on the wheel well
molding trim. As others have said, your welding skills are exemplary!

[roger1]

Originally Posted by Ben M.

I'm just in awe every time I see someone with these bodyworking skills. Inspires me to finish my projects...

It also goes to show that no matter how "rust free" we think our cars are, there's *always* something lurking. I'd have been tempted to slap some POR-15 on most of it and drive it, but my Type A is in agreement with you on fixing it right. "Better than factory" is not an insult.

Thanks! Agree with you 100% too. The rust has to go!

Originally Posted by gtohurstjudge

I'm sure you already know this but it is worth mentioning..........
be sure to trial fit the stainless molding that goes on the bottom of the wrap around on the quarters that you are patching to make sure the curve of your
patch panel matches the curve of the stainless trim....ditto on the wheel well
molding trim. As others have said, your welding skills are exemplary!

Thanks for the compliment on my welding. I think having a good welder makes a difference.. My little Lincoln SP-135 Plus that has the variable voltage feature rather than just the ABCDE knob is really good for sheetmetal. I can really fine tune it. I had never used a mig before getting this one.

Yes, trial fitting trim is something that needs to be done when working areas where the go.
Funny you mentioned that with the small trim piece that goes under the quarter above the tail light. I got them out when I was working on that and found that both pieces I took off this car were for the driver side!
I'm figuring that whoever did the bondo job on the passenger side must have installed a d/s trim piece because it fit their bondo job better.
Anyway, I wasn't able to check but I am pretty confident once I get a p/s trim piece it will fit OK. I'd like to find a good used original if I can. Ames has them but you have to buy the complete deck lid trim kit to get it.

[roger1]

No explanations needed. Same process as other side.
A little better in that I was able to save a short portion of the upper floor flange.
A little worse rust on the trunk floor brace though.











Now ready to make some patches to install.

[iceman411]

Nice job on the rear quarter corner! The metal work is my ABSOLUTE favorite part of a project... looks like you are tackling it nicely. Convertibles don’t disappoint for metal work... there’s always some rust lurking...
On my ‘71 vert, I have well over 400 hours in metal work just to get the previous levels of body shop sin and the natural decomposing of metal by design as mentioned previously the way water drains in these things... Mike

[roger1]

Originally Posted by iceman411

Nice job on the rear quarter corner! The metal work is my ABSOLUTE favorite part of a project... looks like you are tackling it nicely. Convertibles don’t disappoint for metal work... there’s always some rust lurking...
On my ‘71 vert, I have well over 400 hours in metal work just to get the previous levels of body shop sin and the natural decomposing of metal by design as mentioned previously the way water drains in these things... Mike

Thanks Mike!
Overall I am super pleased with the condition of my car. Since I bought it sight-unseen, it took several iterations of asking for and receiving photos from the seller before I was convinced that the rust issues weren't worse than I wanted to take on. It was good that he didn't have the car advertised and time wasn't an issue for either of us.
There was rust I didn't see in the photos and I expected that but what really surprised me about this car is where it ISN'T rusted and I'm elated about that.

Once I get these rust issues in the rear wheelwells done then the only rust areas left are the lower fenders and those will be easy. The minor dents in the fenders will be pretty easy too.

My favorite part of body work is panel alignment and getting gaps perfect. The trunk and doors to quarters are already good but will have a good amount of work to do with the front endura bumper, hood and fenders to get it all as close to perfect as I can get it.

[roger1]

Trunk floor and flanges complete. Ready for making the wheelhouse patches:





Inner wheelhouse patches welded in and finished off:

[dataway]

Jeez, the unrusted sheet metal on that car looks excellent.

[north]

I suspect that your convertible spent maybe one winter back east before going west. The clean dryness of all the unaffected areas look like a lifelong california car. But I've had many southwest cars that were rougher but yet didn't have those rot areas you had in flange seam areas. Maybe the car was leaky new and some salty water got into those areas way back 50 years ago. then every car wash in california would let in a bit of moisture, that the caulking would keep wet even in the dry western atmosphere.

Anyhow I love watching this thread, you work metal the way this guy I know back here can, you've got the timsmith gift! And all those minor rust spots mean nothing, when you're done they will have never existed thanks to the quality of your work and the dry dry cleanness of the rest of the car.

[roger1]

Originally Posted by north

I suspect that your convertible spent maybe one winter back east before going west. The clean dryness of all the unaffected areas look like a lifelong california car. But I've had many southwest cars that were rougher but yet didn't have those rot areas you had in flange seam areas. Maybe the car was leaky new and some salty water got into those areas way back 50 years ago. then every car wash in california would let in a bit of moisture, that the caulking would keep wet even in the dry western atmosphere.

Anyhow I love watching this thread, you work metal the way this guy I know back here can, you've got the timsmith gift! And all those minor rust spots mean nothing, when you're done they will have never existed thanks to the quality of your work and the dry dry cleanness of the rest of the car.

Thank you very much for the compliment. I don't know if I'd consider myself a "smith" but I do try to do things well.

You pretty much hit the nail on the head.
My car did spend it's early life in the east and then came west. I also think a lot of the eastern damage was mitigated by the undercoating as well as being taken care of and garaged. The undercoating was done pretty well.
I found this car to be something I hadn't encountered before in that there were some things rusted but almost pristine in other areas.

As I remember, the guy who sold me this car bought it from the guy that brought it west but I think had 2 prior owners before that. The story was that the guy who did bring it west bought it on ebay.

The guy I bought it from didn't do any and had no work done to the body. All the funny stuff was done prior to that. He had it for I think 8 years but didn't drive it a whole lot because he had trouble with the engine early on and pulled it for rebuilding and got it mostly done but never finished.

[roger1]

I started on repairing the inner wheelhouses at the lower rear of the wheelwells.
I cut patches for both sides and got the one on the d/s shaped and welded in.

Here are the areas that need patches. I showed photos of this area a while back when I made the cuts:





Paper templates:



D/S patch in place and tacked:



Ready for finishing off:



I also started digging in to the fender rust some. I removed the patches that were spot welded onto the outside of the rust holes. Looked like a good quality spot welder was used. That was interesting and so was the fact they mixed in small portions of the patch by brazing. Again, I wonder what body school taught those procedures!





I made cuts and wire brushed the braces.





As I had mentioned before, I bought patch panels for these areas.
Those panels included a section of the brace already attached too. The panels look pretty decent but the braces don't. They are a much thinner gauge than the original braces are and I'm thinking about not using them and make patches from proper gauge sheetmetal to graft into the originals where they are rusted out.

Here's the other side of the rusted out braces:

[dataway]

About to do the same job on my front fenders, although I think my braces are decent enough to use.
Do you have any bending equipment? I have a couple of brakes and a roller, they come in real handy for making patches.

I think the thicker stuff is easier to patch ... below is a control arm I repaired .. TIG welded a patch in. If you ever need a bit of thicker material and don't want to buy a whole sheet I usually have some 16 or 18 ga. lying around that I could send out in patch size pieces, for free. I usually buy it in 4 x 8 foot sheets.

[roger1]

Originally Posted by dataway

About to do the same job on my front fenders, although I think my braces are decent enough to use.
Do you have any bending equipment? I have a couple of brakes and a roller, they come in real handy for making patches.

I think the thicker stuff is easier to patch ... below is a control arm I repaired .. TIG welded a patch in. If you ever need a bit of thicker material and don't want to buy a whole sheet I usually have some 16 or 18 ga. lying around that I could send out in patch size pieces, for free. I usually buy it in 4 x 8 foot sheets.

Nice job on those control arms.
Thanks for the offer. I'll check what I have and what I may have needs for but I think good. Not too much patching left to do at this point.

So are you going to buy the patch panels for your fenders? Here's a photo of the insides of what I bought:



The brackets are the same gauge as the patch panels which I think are 20ga.
I didn't measure the original brackets but I think they may be 16ga as they seem pretty stout. So I won't use them and I'll just graft in new pieces.

And btw, I just did some trial fitting with the repro outer wheelhouses I bought and they are garbage and I wasted my money on them. They don't fit worth a darn.
I'm going to have to fabricate what I need to repair the rusted out areas in my outers. That is going to take me a pretty good amount of time but it's the only way I'm going to get everything to fit the way it should.

No I don't have any metal bending equipment and haven't used any before either. Also, this may be my last project car of this magnitude so not likely I'll make investments on them. Always thought it would be cool to have though.

[iceman411]

When I did my ‘69 I used the outer wheelhouses and they worked fine... way better fit than the panels that are offered for the ‘70-‘72 body style...

What part of the panel not fit right?
When I did my ‘71 convertible I had to graft the new metal, from the reproduction panels, in like this, since no outer wheelhouse is offered in convertible...