Gerahead's 71 Dart
I like your method here. Im getting close to starting the same project. Any tips you discovered as an after thought? Looks like you didnt run your new one all the way to wrapped around the back side of the door. What did you cut it with up top to get it so clean?
'Tramp,
The skin that I got (Sherman and Associates) did not have a finished flange for the door jamb. The creased edge that forms the outside edge of the jamb was there, but the excess steel that would form the spot weld flange on the inside of the jamb looked to be intended to be trimmed away. A guy could probably make it work if you wanted to wrap it around the jamb, but it would take some effort.
Lessons........ Since I had never done this before, I was very deliberate in what I did and triple checked everything before I made an irreversible move (like cutting steel). In order to maybe avoid what I ran into with the fit around the back rear of the wheel well, I should have paid more attention to
exactly how everything fit before I started welding. I thought that I had, but in retrospect, I did most of the checking before I had drilled the holes for the plug welds so the misfit that I ran into was not visible when I did all of that fitting. The welding flange around the taillight panel is much wider than the factory panel was. Not a big deal since it will be covered by the quarter panel extension. I want the panel replacement to be as invisible as possible so I will likely trim it back before I call it done. Really don't need to, but sometimes I get really (unnecessarily) wound up about stuff like that. :banghead: I also spent a lot of time once the old panel was cut away making sure that the outer wheel house and trunk floor extension surfaces were flat and straight. All in all, I think that it went pretty smoothly for not having done something like this before.
On the top edge.........once I had the new panel screwed into place to hold it (screws about every foot to 18"), I stretched a piece of masking tape the length of the panel to define the edge where I wanted to cut and make the butt welded seam. This tape edge was over a spot where both layers of metal were under the cut line. Then I used a .060" thick metal cutting disc on a 4-1/2" offset grinder to cut through both layers of steel at the same time. This creates a uniform space between both panels for the butt weld. I only cut the distance between 2 screws at one time so that the panels were still held securely and to help to minimize the heat created by the cutting. I didn't try to cut through both layers all at once, I thought that might create too much heat, so I had to be real careful that after I made the first cut that I didn't wander with the cutter on the successive passes. Then I made a spot weld about every inch, cooled it right away with compressed air (thanks for 60 gal compressor tanks 'cuz I only have one 220V outlet in the garage) before proceeding. I used a thin screwdriver blade in the gap between panels to pry up or down on the edges to make sure I had a flush edge between the two panels when I made the tack welds. As I got close to one of the screws, I removed it and peeled back the top and bottom layers and kept working my way toward the end of the cut and then start the process all over again. The top edge turned out very straight so I am encouraged that following this process will give me a nice seam to work with when it is all done. I probably told you more than you really wanted to know, but I'd be happy to fill in any gaps if something wasn't clear. L8r
Jim
