Well, I bought a new miller mig welder ( been makin sparks like crazy practicing) quarter panels should be in this week, about to tackle this project on my 65. Any last minute suggestions or hints fellas on removing old section or welding in new?

Thanks

Wait till you get your new quarter panel before cutting the old on off. You can look at the new one and see how the flanges are used for welding it in. Cut your old quarter off leaving the flanges attached and then drill the spot welds and "peel/roll" the old flanges off your car and start fitting the new panel. Check the fit on the doors and trunk before any welding. Good luck.
Roger

Be very patient and only do a little tack weld at a time. You don't want to warp the panel like I did http://www.chevelles.com/forum/frown.gif

The time I saved by welding it in a hurry cost me 20 times the amount of time straightening. http://www.chevelles.com/forum/mad.gif

I replaced both quarters on my 65 with new skins. I cut the old ones out about 1" below the top of the quarter using the new skin as a template. I used small spot welds with the Mig to avoid any heat that would lead to warpage. Pics on my website under bodywork.
JC.

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http://webpages.charter.net/65chevelle/

JC,

Although I have a 66SS I saw your site some time back on your 65 restoration and enjoyed the quality work being applied in the pics. I forgot to bookmark the site and I am glad to find it again through this post.

Again, nice work and great pics! I have bookmarked it and appreciate the quality and detail in your sites pics. Thanks a bunch for sharing!

Sincerely,
Dwaine
TC 1131
ACES 4316

I too just learned to mig weld. Just installed one quarter skin on my 65, doing the other now. The best tip I can pass on is that to butt weld, you need a gap between the sheet metal, some say the width of the wire of the welder, others say the width of the sheet metal. A gap the size made by an air saw works real nice. If you butt the pieces together without a gap, each piece will expand with the heat of the welding, and this will force them together more, and this will result in the weld line buckling up or down. If you have a reasonable gap, the piece expand and make the gap smaller, if anything. I recommend searching "welding", or "butt welding" etc. on this site for great tips on mig welding. Good luck. One other thing, 65 quarters are only skins, not complete "sail panels", so considerable lap or butt welding is required on the top side of the skin. At the doors, you can overlap the new skin onto the door frame. I recommend jcsmithy's site for excellent pictures on the lap weld he did at the top and rear.