well i have my trunk floor pan out, the floor supports, and the inner and outters on the drivers side see pics What should i do next? i need to work on that panel that goes over the rear axel should i take that out repair replace then get going on the rest of the body work? this is my first time i have so many questions and dont know how to ask! :confused: starting to get a little fustrated you know how it is. Should i take out the drop off's next? or what i dont want to remove the quarters since there perfectly straight with the car and are in really really good shape so im working around them i was told it can be done its just difficult. Any help is both Needed and appreciated sooooooo much thanks a ton you guys really make the differnce and keep me interested

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thanks again so much! graemlins/hurray.gif

one more thing what do you think of this ? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2448149313&category=34199

I have done a couple of rusty chevelles and found there is sometimes a point where you have to draw the line or the project costs you way more than the car is worth. I look at these pictures and think I would choose to get the course "scotch brite" style coated disks on an air grinder and see how much of the rust I could remove. Work the heck out of it, then patch in where you have to for strength. Then, this is what POR 15 is designed for, bonding and converting rust to undercoating. On top of the Por 15, both sides of the metal use truck bed liner which will completely seal off the metal. That should stop the problem from happening again. New metal is best, but you still have to seal that to prevent future rusting. And the expense goes up and up.
Time to make some tough decisions...

Tom,
From looking at the photos you attached, It appears the quarters were replaced before. Am I correct in my judgement? Here's what I would do in this case.
Have you purchased replacement inner and outer wheel houses? I know Goodmark makes them. You will have to fit the outer to the quarter and clamp it in position. You will then have to make the necessary modifications to the inner wheelhouse to get it in. Once you have it cut to fit clamp it together with the outer wheelhouse. Look at the other side and try to get the new wheel houses aligned to match the other side. Hopefully you haven't cut that loose yet. Once the replacement wheel houses are set the way you like them, drill a couple of holes in the extended flange that the inner and outer wheelhouse face against. This will assure alignment once they are put back in. One in the front (where you can get to and one in the rear). Now take them both out. Drill 1/4 inch holes in the flange of the inner wheelhouse. I would drill the holes about every 2 inches. This is for the welds.

While the wheel houses are out clean the wheel opening flange and all points where the wheel houses will be welded to the existing metal. Once cleaned, I treated the areas with primer. Once the primer dries, drill holes on the wheel opening flange. Again about every 2 inches. This is to weld the outer wheel house to the quarter. Also make sure you have holes drilled where you have access to weld for attaching the inner wheelhouse to the body.

Once you have all the weld surfaces clean of rusty metal, reinstall the outer wheel house and then the inner wheel house. The top bracket on the inner may give you some fits. I've never installed the wheel houses with quarters installed. Align the 2 holes you drilled to align the inner with the outer wheel house, clamp every thing up as before and start with welding the inner wheel house to the top bracket and then on to the other welded points. The outer then can be welded to the inner, then weld the wheel opening flange to the outer wheel house.

This is an over simplified process. There are probably other areas to consider but I can see everything from my prospective.

Once the Left wheel house is complete, I would then proceed to the left frame brace and left trunk floor and extension. Then move to the right rear.

Sounds easy doesn't it. :D

Those are replacement quarters.You can tell by looking at the first pic,you can see where the old quarter was cut. Have you stripped the quarter to bare metal? I would evaluate the install of the quarter.You may be going through a lot of trouble to save a quarter that was poorly installed.See thebondo squirting thru the whole up there? You may be better off replacing the quarters.If they appear to be installed properly disregard what i just said. smile.gif

a little further up the quarters you can see where the welds were done every 1/16 of an inch or whatever it looks like a stright line then they took the old quarter and tacked it on

Originally posted by 70isfine:
Those are replacement quarters.You can tell by looking at the first pic,you can see where the old quarter was cut. Have you stripped the quarter to bare metal? I would evaluate the install of the quarter.You may be going through a lot of trouble to save a quarter that was poorly installed.See thebondo squirting thru the whole up there? You may be better off replacing the quarters.If they appear to be installed properly disregard what i just said. smile.gif i dont see wher eyou see the bondo? the old quarters they look like were sorata folded back and tacked to the new ones and there are some spots you can see up under the old one because they didnt tack it all the way through ill take some more pictures i think the quarters were installed fine but ive never done bodywork

here i got the pictures

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Hey Tom
I think what Ed is talking about is between 12 and 1 o-clock on the first pic. You can see the seam but not the weld. It may very well be there on the out side but it doesn't look like it from the inside.

on the back of the quarter they just tacked it every few inches on the top of the seam witch you cant see in thoes first pictures they went all the way across

could i just cut the old part of the fender off and butt weld the other one?

Tom,
My advise would not be to dig into something that doesn't need to be addressed. If the quarter looks good from the outside (contour, smooth, etc.) leave it alone. The partial quarters that were used are around $200 each. If I had to do what you're faced with, I would replace the quarters. It's much easier to replace the wheelhouses and trunk floor with the quarter off.

You may be able to gain additional access for the wheelhouses by cutting the quarter loose at the bottom and rear of the car so you can pull the bottom out. Watch pulling too far or the plastic at the joint, where the new quarter meets the old one will crack.

I know you aren't restoring a highly collectable rare model, like a documented SS or LS6. You have to watch your pennies. I found out it costs just as much to restore the body of a 6 cylinder low option model as it does a high dollar car. Keep things in perspective. You must proceed in an economical fashion, or else have 10K in body and paint. I learned the hard way on my first car. It was a 72SS with small block. I had $21K in a completely restored car that I was lucky to get $16K for. I performed a complete restoration myself, with exception of painting the finished body. $21K without my labor. I countered the loss with a lot of experience gained. From that point on, I look for numbers and documentation and I rather have a completely rusted out never disassembled car vs. a project already started without all the parts.