I'll be replacing the outer wheelhouse along with a full quarter on my '69 soon. The one thing I'm concerned about is the inner quarter area and roof brace, as they are welded over the outer wheelhouse. Will I cause any disruption in sheetmetal brace alignment by drilling out these welds? Is there a better way that would leave these braces intact?
Thanks,
Rich

Yes the wheelhouses seem to be spot welded together, then installed on the brace.. Either way the brace is OVER top of the outer wheelhouse. If you are not removing the inner you can get creative and cut and splice the outer wheelhouse removing the bad areas and replacing only that which is necessary. If you just do the outer you shouldn't have any issues with movement of the braces, just take measurements from various areas to make sure nothing sagged or moved. out of all the work I've done so far I'd say the wheelhouses on my list were the second toughest thing I have done.. It's a slight PITA but not as bad as rockers or door area pillars. Make sure you fasten them loosely and trial fit the 1/4 panel and door before you button it up. It will pay off in the future when the 1/4 goes on.. I had too redo one wheelhouse because of a slight mis-alignment, But I did both inner and outer.. Good Luck see my sig for picture reference.

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Rich are you just replacing the outer wheel well or the inner also? If you are just replacing the outer you shouldnt have to worry about any movement or flex caused by removing it. If you are replacing both wheel wells a brace would be a good idea to keep the rear of the body from moving around. I wouldnt patch the wheel wells replace it fully with a new panel.

Use plenty of vise grips and sheet metal screws to hold the new wheel wells in place. Install your new quarter panel and test its fit. You might have to re adjust the wheel wells to get the quarter to fit right. Once every thing fits, remove the quarter and fully weld up those wheel wells and install new quarter panel.

Thanks for the responses, It's good to hear from those who have done the job on the same car already. It does seem a shame to have to undo all that welding when the only rust is about 2" up from the wheel lip, but I don't think partial wheelhouses are available anyway. Thought of fabricating a new edge from sheetmetal, but with all those curves, the time could be spent replacing with new.
Thanks,
Rich