When I was first fitting my outer wheel housings I used screws to temporarily hold them in place while I test fitted the quarters. If I was off a little bit and needed to shift it one way or another I would enlarge the hole on the outer wheel housing lip so that the same screw would go back into the inner wheel house but I then had to add a washer to keep the head of the screw from going through the larger hole on the outer wheel housing.
Once I was happy with the adjustment AND the fit of the quarter panel to it and the rest of the car I spent some time with vise grip pliers and a hammer and dolly to get both lips of each panel to where they sat flush against each other. When I looked at how they were attached originally the factory spot weld tongs really had to clamp down in area’s to get the panel lips together to weld it in that spot but between the spot welds the lips had gaps between them. The factory just applied seam sealers to cover and seal a lot of that up, but if you take the time, you can make it better. If you have to take the quarters on and of a dozen times, so be it to get the fit right.
Another tip I can offer is also test fit your weatherstrips before completing the body work. I would hate to see a car all painted only to find out a weatherstrip channel needed to be bent up of down to get a seal and screw up the finish or the channel in that area. Also check to make sure there are no tight area’s in corners like the back bottom edge of the door to the new quarters. This too I would hate to see rub marks from paint buildup from too tight of a fit.
If you do one side at a time, do one thing like the full quarter and then put the doors and trunk lid back on to check the fit before it's all welded in. Plan on assembling and disassembling the car many times to check things during the metal replacement. It's worth the time to do it that way.
I would also think ahead and in any spots that will be hard to access later, you may want to apply a rust preventative in those areas when you can and not try to figure out how to do it after it’s all done. The trunk floor drop downs and inner roof structure while the full quarter is off are two thing I can think of to seal up.
Jim
Once I was happy with the adjustment AND the fit of the quarter panel to it and the rest of the car I spent some time with vise grip pliers and a hammer and dolly to get both lips of each panel to where they sat flush against each other. When I looked at how they were attached originally the factory spot weld tongs really had to clamp down in area’s to get the panel lips together to weld it in that spot but between the spot welds the lips had gaps between them. The factory just applied seam sealers to cover and seal a lot of that up, but if you take the time, you can make it better. If you have to take the quarters on and of a dozen times, so be it to get the fit right.
Another tip I can offer is also test fit your weatherstrips before completing the body work. I would hate to see a car all painted only to find out a weatherstrip channel needed to be bent up of down to get a seal and screw up the finish or the channel in that area. Also check to make sure there are no tight area’s in corners like the back bottom edge of the door to the new quarters. This too I would hate to see rub marks from paint buildup from too tight of a fit.
If you do one side at a time, do one thing like the full quarter and then put the doors and trunk lid back on to check the fit before it's all welded in. Plan on assembling and disassembling the car many times to check things during the metal replacement. It's worth the time to do it that way.
I would also think ahead and in any spots that will be hard to access later, you may want to apply a rust preventative in those areas when you can and not try to figure out how to do it after it’s all done. The trunk floor drop downs and inner roof structure while the full quarter is off are two thing I can think of to seal up.
Jim
