i am in the process of putting new quarter panels on my '70 Chevelle. i have done this before, on a '70 El Camino. my problem is the quarter to rocker seam. i am an auto body student, and on the El Camino, i was instructed to spot weld this seam in 4-5 places, use a cut-off wheel to cut the seam back in, and then put seam sealer over it. IT LOOKED LIKE S@#$! now, i'm doing this on MY car, and i will not do that. will 3M panel adhesive hold, even though i am unable to clamp or screw the panels together? i want to use the adhesive between the quarter and inner, on the wheel lip. any other ideas/tips/suggestions? thanks...

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Rich Miller, 1970 Chevelle Malibu- 454 soon, very soon...
1973 El Camino SS
CHECK OUT MY NEW WEB PAGE!!! (http://www.geocities.com/richrachel_69101/richchevelle.html?985237632310)looking for steel inner fenders! o yea, and "215" BB heads!

[This message has been edited by RichsSB70 (edited 03-21-2001).]

ok... i don't know what i said/did to whom, but i apologize...

i know there are very competent body guys on this site, and i really could use some advice.

if this "cold shoulder" has been brought on by the double post- again, i apologize, but there wasn't a whole lot i could do about it. i already said "sorry" in the other post...


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Rich Miller, 1970 Chevelle Malibu- 454 soon, very soon...
1973 El Camino SS
CHECK OUT MY NEW WEB PAGE!!! (http://www.geocities.com/richrachel_69101) looking for steel inner fenders! o yea, and "215" BB heads!

Rich,
Im in the same process as you are. A friend of mine replace the quarters on his car, and when I ask him the same question he told me that if you look at the seem where the quarter panel and the rocker panel meets there is two spot welds 1st is in the wheel lip "where the quarter panel turns in and the rocker panel turns in you have the wheel lip put a weld on the two panels and second inside the door jam, as soon as the quarter panels makes the fist 90 degree turn there will be a spot about 3/4 inch long put a weld at the bottom were the quarter panel meets the rocker.
I watch a video before showing a guy replacing a quarter panel, and in the video when the guy was removing the old quarter panel the quarter panel was welded inside were the rocker and quarter panel was and the guy had a hard time seperating the two panels from each other and the guy said that it was wrong to weld the two panels together there. I know when I remove my old quarter panel I will look to see how it is welded. Hope this helps. Chuck

got the name of that vid?

yea, the seam is spot welded inside the entire seam, every 3-4 inches. i was told that they are done on jigs from the factory, and i am unable to duplicate the original seam.i would spot weld in the wheelip and door jamb, but the length of the seam is what bothers me. would the panel adhesive hold, even though i can't clamp the two pieces together? thanks..

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Rich Miller, 1970 Chevelle Malibu- 454 soon, very soon...
1973 El Camino SS
CHECK OUT MY NEW WEB PAGE!!! (http://www.geocities.com/richrachel_69101) looking for steel inner fenders! o yea, and "215" BB heads!

[This message has been edited by RichsSB70 (edited 03-23-2001).]

The name of the video is Patchwork and metal finishing, EastWood sells it. I check it out from my local library.

Rich, You could pop a few holes in the lip and plug weld inside the quarter so you wont see any of the welds if you are concern with clamping the two panels together tight you can fit a drill behind the quarter drill a couple of holes and screw the panels together do your welding or chemical bonding and when it is done remove the screws and weld up the holes. The chemical bonding i'm not for sure how it would work in this area because of read through lines, Im not for sure if it would affect the seem."Ive never used chemical bonding before. Chuck

The name of the video is Patchwork and metal finishing, EastWood sells it. I check it out from my local library.

Rich, You could pop a few holes in the lip and plug weld inside the quarter so you wont see any of the welds if you are concern with clamping the two panels together tight you can fit a drill behind the quarter drill a couple of holes and screw the panels together do your welding or chemical bonding and when it is done remove the screws and weld up the holes. The chemical bonding i'm not for sure how it would work in this area because of read through lines, Im not for sure if it would affect the seem."Ive never used chemical bonding before. Chuck

my problem is that i can't get to the inside of the quarter when it is in position. i have taken the quarter windows out, but there is still not enough room to weld in there.

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Rich Miller, 1970 Chevelle Malibu- 454 soon, very soon...
1973 El Camino SS
CHECK OUT MY NEW WEB PAGE!!! (http://www.geocities.com/richrachel_69101) looking for steel inner fenders! o yea, and "215" BB heads!

Rich, I went out to my car to see if it would work, and i had no problem. All i did was took the gun of my mig welder ran it through my trunk and over the the outter wheel housing on the side. I have the rear seat and panel removed. And i had more than enough room to make the spot welds. Chuck.

ok- then that's how i'll do it. thanks, steel...

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Rich Miller, 1970 Chevelle Malibu- 454 soon, very soon...
1973 El Camino SS
CHECK OUT MY NEW WEB PAGE!!! (http://www.geocities.com/richrachel_69101) looking for steel inner fenders! o yea, and "215" BB heads!

I remember reading somewhere recently that panel bonding adhesive works well for this situation. You can still tack weld the panel at both ends of the rocker seam. (It may have been on the Autobodystore.com discussion board that I saw this, so you could look there.) El Caminos don't allow enough access to spot weld from the inside, but I think Chevelles do.

I found out that there's no way to access the inside of the quarter panel to weld it to the rocker panel on the front half of it, so how would this be done. I'll be shipping my car off to a restoration company to do the rust repair and paint but I was wondering how this stuff would get done so I could make sure it gets done right. I'd be doing the rest though.

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1970 Chevy El Camino (Custom) Non-SS (http://www.dreamelectric.com/images/pb040001a.jpg)
Will be Green Mist & Silver w/Green Vinyl Top (now black)
350ci/300HP 4bbl & Dual Exhaust
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My El Camino Home Page (http://www.dreamelectric.com/index.html)
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