'72 Chevelle Coupe I'm replacing both quarter panels and need to know what the safest way to remove the drip rail without damaging it. Also, I have cut all of the spot welds between the sail panel and roof. Still will not come loose. Any ideas ? Thanks.

Drip rail removal- do you mean the stainless or the complete rail? The stainless comes off by working the lower edge off and working it from one end to the other. You might need to drill right throught the roof skin and quarter to get them welds to seperate- if I remember correctly it is spotwelded through three layers. Bob

You might need to drill right throught the roof skin and quarter to get them welds to seperate- if I remember correctly it is spotwelded through three layers. Bob

Yup, you gotta drill all the way through to get them loose. You may have to do some cutting with the die grinder too.

Yup, you gotta drill all the way through to get them loose. You may have to do some cutting with the die grinder too.

I agree. I tried for several hours trying to just go through just the first 2 layers with a spot weld cutter to get it loose. Needless to say it never came loose until I got PO'ed and drilled all the way through.

Drip Rails:
When pulling the quarters for replacement you don't need to remove the drip rails from the car. The quarter is pinch welded to the drip rail up the back (vertical part) to the bend. I ended up cutting the quarter metal about 1/2 inch from the drip rail just to get the quarter off, then went back and ground the welds to the drip rail out with a 3/32" cut of/grinding wheel. They are hard to get to, and takes some patience so you don't remove to much drip rail material.

The hardest part I found was welding the drip rail back to the new quarter in the limited space. It might be a better area to use the Fusor type panel glue in this spot when re-installing the new quarter. I imagine it would look a hell-of-alot better. :beers:

Thanks to all of you for the sugestions, They helped alot. I did go ahead and die cut the vertical edge of the rail like 350 malibu said and I can see where using Fusor type glue will be better than trying to weld it back on. The weld from the roof to the sail panel was a booger to get thru but I managed. all that said I am happy to report the quarter is off and test fitting the replacment went great, everything seems to be lining up great. Thanks again, I'll let you guys know how it goes.