[steelhorses]

recently i have been trying to figure out what to do with my left quarter panel. it has already been replaced (by the previous owner) and whoever did it did a horrific job of welding it back together. as i was stripping off the body filler it just kept going and going... some spots must have been about 1/2 an inch thick. so needless to say i decided to take a wire wheel to it and grind it off. (i would have used a grinder or something else, but all my good tools are at school.)
after i ground all the filler out i was able to assess most of the damage, which, besides the actual weld line, isn't TOO bad. so i broke out my stud gun/dent fix tool and started going to town on it. i love using this tool. it is great for being able to pull out small dents.
it's expensive, but it helps when you get almost 50% off from Snap-On :hurray:
so as you can see in the pictures, the first few are still with a good chunk of the body filler on there, then after i've ground some of it off and started using the stud gun, and finally all the filler is gone and i'm done using the stud gun - until i can get a better idea of what i can do to fill in that seam, and when i get my tools home from school to really be able to do some real body work on the thing. it still looks really lumpy/wavy in the pictures, and in truth, it still is... but it's 10 times better than what it was. i hope to have it to the point where i'll only need MAYBE an 1/8th of an inch of body filler on it.

Any help or ideas as to what i could do about the seam would be appreciated. thanks.


ok, so enough talking already, here's some pics...

 

[ss396boy]

Wow looks like someone took a 12 Gauge shotgun to that quarter. I'd cut that 1/4 off personally, too much going on there.

 

[136679ss]

While I agree that stud welders are a great tool to have in the chest, the application you've got there really isn't going to dramatically change the end result. Now instead of all low, you have a serious combination of high and low which is going to require a flanged repair section or a ton of filler anyways. Good luck

 

[baddbob71]

Definately remove that rear glass, if the work on the quarter panel is anything like the work done in the glass flange area then I'm sure there's corrosion issues to address in that area as well. Stud guns have their place but if there's access to the panel's backside I won't use the gun. When you get all the bodywork done make sure to address the corrosion on the interior of the panel or it may come back to haunt you.

 

[sevt_chevelle]

Personally, judging by how all that rust is UNDER the filler Id be looking over that 1/4 install with a fine tooth comb. To me it looks pretty hacky. If its hacked like that in the sail panel how bad is it hacked in the other spots? No matter how hard you polish a turd its STILL a turd.

Your weld seem, to correct any of that you would need backside access, but you dont since there is like 3 layers of metal in that area.

But regardless of what you do, you need to apply some corrosion protection on the backside. I would bet that who ever did the 1/4 install forget to apply some. Now you just welded on what a few hunderd studs and burnt the paint on the backside. Stud guns are nice, but they sure do create a corrosive hot spot on the backside. Ive seen the backside of stud gun repairs start to rust within a few days...Eric

 

[steelhorses]

trust me, i will be putting corrosion protection on the backside of that panel, even if i end up replacing it. that "rust" is really just surface rust. i used paint stripper on the quarter and i didn't get all of it off, so it was mainly from that, and sitting out in the open air, but it's not deep, cancerous rust.
whoever installed it definitely did a "hacky" job, and it is ugly as all get out, but i'd like to keep from having to do a full replacement. if i have to, i have to. but i'd at least like to see what i can do with it before i chop it off. i have several different people who i will be talking with to see what they think. one of them is my auto body instructor, the other owns an auto body shop and teaches at school, and the other does restoration work as a side job. so i've got lots of people around to pick their brains on the best way to go about fixing this.
the pictures make it look worse than it is - well, except for that seam. that's just BAD. but from the small amount of repairing that i have done, IF i were to fill it back in just as it is, i would probably end up using at least a 1/4 less body filler on that panel. trust me, i'm NOT going to fill it back in, i was just saying that i have made some sort of progress on it. that progress may be in vain, but it's practice.

 

[Skeeveman]

Stud guns are nice when they are needed, but next time don't give it so much hell when yank'n on the studs, looks like you've opened up a whole 'nother can of worms with all of those outties on there. You ought to be able to get to the back of that for the most part from the inside. And like somebody said previously, I would pull out that rear window and see what it looks like. If somebody went as far to put that much filler ont the quarter, then the window channel would of been "childs play" lol.

 

[steelhorses]

all those bumps aren't solely from me. quite a few of them were already there, but they'd just been covered with the filler. like i said before though, the pictures make it look worse than it really is.
i'm in school and have done this to several cars already, so i have a decent idea of how far i need to go with it. really, i would be pulling some more, but i'm just gonna wait until i have the rest of my tools back from school. and eventually, i will pull out the rear window and check the channel to see what it's like. i'm sure it will need some work too, but i just sprayed the bare metal with some self-etching primer just to cover it up until i can start working on it again. have a little faith in me, guys. yeah, i'm still a relative newbie to this, but i have a pretty good idea of what i'm doing on this. i'll get all the corrosion protection and all the other required stuff done to it before i'm done. that's what i'm in school for, to learn just what needs to be done to these things.