http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a159/RacnJsn95/ChevelleStuff/bondobucket.jpg

I just sanded off the primer that the PO put on the "body work" that he did... He never finished sanding some spots, so I got ready to do it today, and found this... HOLY CRAP!!! I've never seen so much filler! There is one spot that I can't get a magnet to stick to at all, but for the most part it will stick... I'm afraid to grind it all out, because I don't think I can get the correct shape back... I'll probably have to take it all down and see whats under that. I was thinking of putting one of those 1/2 quarter panels on... What do you guys think of the OPGI repro quarters? Are they any good? *sigh* What do you think?

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a159/RacnJsn95/ChevelleStuff/bondobucket.jpg

I just sanded off the primer that the PO put on the "body work" that he did... He never finished sanding some spots, so I got ready to do it today, and found this... HOLY CRAP!!! I've never seen so much filler! There is one spot that I can't get a magnet to stick to at all, but for the most part it will stick... I'm afraid to grind it all out, because I don't think I can get the correct shape back... I'll probably have to take it all down and see whats under that. I was thinking of putting one of those 1/2 quarter panels on... What do you guys think of the OPGI repro quarters? Are they any good? *sigh* What do you think?

I could be wrong but if you have to ask, you are probably in over your head with doing the quarter yourself. If it were mine, I'd start with a new full quarter, stay away from the half anything or you'll be back in the same boat with 1/2 the quarter being bondo, if you try and work the old one out, you'll have a ton of filler in it and you'll have more time in it then it would take to hang a quarter. Not to mention if the filler decides to take a crap on you and shrink or crack after its been painted then you get to start all over again! Really, unless you are a top shelf body guy and you want good results, farm it out to someone who knows what they're doing. You'll save time, agravation and money in the long run if you do it right the first time. Just my $.02.

Gibby

You're probably going to need to have a pro take care of it. If you're scared of getting putty straight, I wouldn't try a quarter pannel.

If you're adventerus, you can get one of these,

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=8878

and pull the dent as close to level as you can. You don't want more then 1/4 - 3/8" of putty. You'll also want a body hammer, my fav has a round head on one end, pick on the other. Then you'll need a dolley to hammer against.

Take your time and DON'T rush it. If it's not working, walk away for a little. Once you get it almost there, start building up putty a 1/16 an 1/8th at a time. Put on more then you need and cut it down. You can get a "cheese grater" file that you can use when the putty is still soft and cut it to a rough shape. Then use some 80 on a long board and cut accross at an angle. Example move forward and down at a 30* angle.

If it doesn't work you can take it to a pro. If it's real bad under there you can just do the quarter.

I would also get a cheap HVLP gun with a 1.4 or 1.7 needle and some PPG omni epoxy primer. Once you get it to bare metal, coat it with the epoxy to keep it safe. Don't go nuts because you'll have to strip it to use the stud gun...

BTW the repop quarters that I put on my Chevelle fit pretty well. I still had to tweak alittle, but overall it was good. I would say to do the full quarter if you do it. I wouldn't recomend the 1/2. That's what I started with and after I finished putting one on, I took it back off and went with the full qtrs.

David

If you do anything at all get rid of all that old bondo. Looks to me like the bondo is over the old paint. Body filler over paint is not good at all. Once you have it all off you will be able to bring it back to its shape better most likely (consider investing in a stud gun). This is only if you decide to not replace. As far as body filler goes I recommend Z-Grip by Evercoat great stuff. Much more lightweight and workable than Bondo brand stuff. Used it on my car with great results.

I'm not scared persay, I've just never had something THIS BAD! I've done fenders and stuff with some pretty nasty dents (softball size, pushed in a good ways), but not a whole quarter... I'm not new to body work (but I'm not a pro by any means), I'm just slow. I take my time, and I don't stop untill I get it as good as I feel I could get it.

So I can strip it all down and take a unispotter to it, I'm pretty sure I can o a pretty good job, it's just gonna take me a while. If that doesn't work I can always pay someone to do it.

BTW, anyone notice any difference between the OPGI quarters, and the Ground Up quarters? I'd like to get the discount fom GU if I end up doing a 1/4, but if the quality of the OPG 1/4 is better then I'll buy from them.

I would look at goodmarks Q pnls. I used the 72 conv ones and liked them a lot. Before you would do any stud pulling, use a body hammer and dolly. I forgot to say this to my freind and he used most of my studs. couldnt beleive he would do that..... start with dolly and hammer this will not make all the high spots the puller does. you can get creases out and fine tune the little stuff with the puller.

Go to the following url and click on "Plastic filler" and "Plastic filler refresher". "Flat panel repairs" may also come in handy. http://www.camaros.net/cgi-bin/forum/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=005647;p=0


I have to say, first I see it outside, are you doing the work outside? Getting into a quarter job is pretty tough without a lot of time and a shop. The quarter is going to be about 40 hours minimum for a first timer. That could be up to 60 or more, but plan on 40. So. if you busted your butt for ten hours each day, that is two full weekends, AT LEAST. This is with no "set up time" of working outside.

If you want to do that, go with a full quarter or at least the 80% one. Be ready to find OTHER stuff to drag that out to 80+ hours. These things you will find are rust pockets that are ALL OVER the car now, cowl, quarters, rear body panel, etc. They are there, you will never know about them, and you could drive that car for the next twenty years and never see them. But when you cut off a quarter on a 35 year old car, there they are and you HAVE to fix them, you certainly aren't going to put a NEW quarter over it!
You get the idea, this is a pretty big job. If you are up to it after the pretty picture I have painted, go for it.

But before I did that, I would strip all that filler off. It doesn't have to be very thick at all for a magnet not to stick. It REALLY depends on how strong the magnet is. An eigth inch of filler is going to blow away the average magnet.

It doesn't look like they did a super hack job or anything from that photo. All the different colors I see are simply layers of plastic filler. The poor buggers didn't read my "Basics" of plastic filler and applied coat after coat trying to make it perfect. Instead they should have applied a coat or two of high filling filler and roughed it out with 36 grit and then applied a skim coat of polyester putty (or polyester putty thinned "reg" filler) and blocked it out to perfection.

Seeing all those layers actually tells me the filler isn't that thick at all, in fact, I would put a dollar on it that there is filler there that is on straight metal! It looks to me like they put thin layers over and over filling small low spots trying to level it out. DEFINITELY not the "Emery Robinson method" layed out in the Basics.

I will bet there are a few bad areas with filler a quarter inch thick and the rest is pretty thin.

If you strip that panel down and get a metal yard stick to use as a "curved straight edge" you can get the metal straight enough for a two application of filler, easy.

Get that thin metal yard stick and GENTLY bend it until it has a curve similar to the other quater. It is better that it has LESS curve than more, don't over do it. Now, lay that yard stick over the damaged quater and you can see exactly what you have to do. You can push it up from the back with a pry bar, hammers, 2x4, what ever it takes. A little here, a lot there, a little here, a little there until you get the panel ready for your rough coat of filler.

Funny this should come up today, I just showed an apprentice at work this very technique at work yesterday on a 67 Mustang with a bondo covered quarter! He is finally excepting that the straight edge and or a bent yard stick are valuable tools. This is a BIG shop with 99.9% of the 125 or so cars a month being no older than 5 years or so. So it is rare that we work on an old classic. Funny how things go, I have worked at shops that NEVER saw a car newer than 20 years or more old, most were 50 years! :)


I have done plenty of these, remember, the repro quarters weren't around a few years ago! It would make you sick to see the quarters I replace now, a tiny dent on a Toyota Camry or something, the quater gets replaced, it is sickening.

Brian

Yeah... It is outside, under a car port. I don't exactly have a shop I can work on a car in anymore, so this is the next best thing. I know that could hinder progress, especially if I got all out with another quarter.

It actually feels pretty straight from the inside of the truck, so maybe its really not that bad. The only way to find out is to take it all down. Martin, you say it really doesn't look that bad, should I just leave it and finish it? The magnet I used was really pretty wimpy. I know the stuff isn't that old... The guy I got it from said he was a body guy at some shop (can't remember where), but from looking at the front fender, that's one shop I wouldn't want to work on my car!

That is a hard one, looking at a photo on a monitor. First off, it is already screwed up being you sanded it down as much as you have, if it was straight, it isn't now!

The "bestest way" as I say is different for everyone and every car. If I were you working in a car port, I would look at saving it. But I like things kushie, I won't deny that. I would look at how the thing is prepared under that filler. On the edges of the filler, does it look like the metal is clean and roughed up?

Does the edges of the filler and or paint look like it doesn't feather well?

If that is the case, you just have to remove it. If it looks like all this is holding on pretty good and you havn't mess it up much, a coat of polyester primer would probably take care of it with a good blocking.

Look it over well, feel it, how does it look?

Brian

Try to get under there and see what it looks like. I wish I had gone for a new
panel on one a few years ago. It looked like yours, we popped off all the bondo
and found there was over an inch underneath. The panel had been cut clean thru about 3' wide and they just applied bondo until it came out the other
side. The only reason I sanded far enough to see what was going on is there was a little crack starting at the edge og the bondo area. We ended up straightening as best we could and welded it, then leaded, sanded, and
finally filler less than 1/8" but that was a lot of work. Luckily I had a friend
that was a good experienced body man and welder.

It all looks like it's on there pretty good, and no, it wasn't straight before, hence the reason for me sanding the primer off, so I could finish what the PO started and didn't finish. I mean it feels like its close to what the body should be, but there are some rough spots he never finished sanding.

Polyester prime that sucker and block it out.

Brian

Thanks for all the replies guys. I'll get to work on it.