How to remove outer wheelhouse?

My passenger outer wheelhouse is beyond repair. Bought an AMD one and am figuring out my plan of attack. Rear quarters, trunk floor and extensions, and tail panel have already been removed.

I don't feel any spot welds holding the two wheelhouses together. It is almost as though there is a continuous weld along the seam. Is that the way they were put together???

thanks,
Rod

No one has an answer??

They were originally spot welded together

cudascott said:

They were originally spot welded together

Click to expand...

That is what I thought, but that is not what it looks like....

You have to grind the paint off to really see the spot welds.

Evening Rod,
I'm in the middle of doing my Dart quarters with outer wheel wells and trunk drops right now. If you check out page 3 and 4 you can see how I'm installing my wheel wells which also is the same way they install them at the AMD installation centre. You will be cutting the tub right along the tubs flange and leaving the old flange in place then drilling the spot welds that hold the roof brace to the tub, you can drill those ones right thru since the tub will be garbage any how. The spot weld that hold the multiple layers of panels together up front will need to be drilled carefully so that you leave the inner most panel not drilled thru since your going to plug weld to that panel building and filling the holes all the way back to the surface panel. There are 5 or 6 spot welds on the inside of the sail panel under the package tray that need to be drilled from the inside, pretty awkward spot so I used a long drill extension and took my time because you want to not drill those all the way thru just the inner layer or two that will allow the roof brace free from the tubs existing flange so that you can slide the tub up in between the layers, the new tubs flange will sit nicely on top of the old flange. You will need to grind the old flange's edge nice and flat after cutting the old tub out. I don't know which A-body your doing but the method should be similar on the others. Let me know if you need any other pictures or any questions I can answer feel free to ask.

Danny

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=315358

Thanks Danny,
pics were helpful. Pretty much exactly as I was imagining it. I am actually doing a 71 Barracuda, but the process is the same. I still can't see the spot welds or even feel them as I run my fingers around the flange, but I am sure they are there.

Will be starting the outer wheelhouse soon.

Rod

They are seam welded on to prevent leaking Between the two halfs so you won't see any spot welds in that area. They were welded together the same as a gas tank.. You'll see a 1/8" wide ribbed seam all along the flange if you look closely.

Danny's method is the way to go because grinding that outer flange off the inner would be next to impossible since there are so many other things in the way while the inner is in place.

I went a different approach and butt welded on what was needed. I think each method is just as labor intense..










Hope this helps.

HemiOrangeSwinger,
that really helps. Now that I look at it closer, I can feel the 1/8 weld seam. Wow, there is a lot of stuff in the way to remove the old seam. I am not sure which way to go now.

I get a little nervous doing your way for two reasons. 1. have to be really careful to get the opening in the exact location as the old one 2. that is a lot of but welding on thin sheet metal.

How did you ensure your wheel opening remained in the original location?



It might be better to use panel adhesive if going Danny's way. That would make a watertight seam. Just thinking.

rklein383 said:

HemiOrangeSwinger,
that really helps. Now that I look at it closer, I can feel the 1/8 weld seam. Wow, there is a lot of stuff in the way to remove the old seam. I am not sure which way to go now.

I get a little nervous doing your way for two reasons. 1. have to be really careful to get the opening in the exact location as the old one 2. that is a lot of but welding on thin sheet metal.

How did you ensure your wheel opening remained in the original location?



It might be better to use panel adhesive if going Danny's way. That would make a watertight seam. Just thinking.

Click to expand...

Yeah it's a long butt weld seam, but I used an aluminium block to back my welds to help with heat and burn thru since it's accessible from both sides all the way around. I cut oversized on the AMD outer wheel house and than clamped the quarter in place to locate the new AMD outer piece to the original outer tub. I then clamped the piece to the quarter and used sheet metal screws to hold the new outer section to the old outer with about 2" of overlap. Once that was done I removed the quarter and took a 1/16" cutoff wheel and cut thru both pieces to give me a perfect gap for a butt weld. If you go to my resto thread and check out between page 10 and 16 I have a lot of additional pics of how I did it.

I don't think welding is a problem as long as you seam seal inside the wheel tub. Glueing might be tricky in this area since it goes in behind multiple panels and is a structural part of the car.. It's where your roof structure ties into the wheel well tubs and down to the rockers.

I concur with Randy on the panel adhesive in this area Rod, there's a lot of structure meeting at the tub and transferring load thru the tub to the floor and rails. I would be concerned that if it did begin to let loose you would have a major problem trying to fix it which really wouldn't be possible without starting all over.

I also wouldn't be concerned about sealing the tub, use a high quality seam sealer inside the tub where the flanges all meet and you won't have any issues. I don't believe that you will get any moisture from the outside of the tub between the flanges since it's all buried inside the car and never really gets wet in there. The only rust I had was the kind you would expect from bare steel being exposed to the air for 43 years.

Hemiorangeswinger said:

Yeah it's a long butt weld seam, but I used an aluminium block to back my welds to help with heat and burn thru since it's accessible from both sides all the way around. I cut oversized on the AMD outer wheel house and than clamped the quarter in place to locate the new AMD outer piece to the original outer tub. I then clamped the piece to the quarter and used sheet metal screws to hold the new outer section to the old outer with about 2" of overlap. Once that was done I removed the quarter and took a 1/16" cutoff wheel and cut thru both pieces to give me a perfect gap for a butt weld. If you go to my resto thread and check out between page 10 and 16 I have a lot of additional pics of how I did it.

I don't think welding is a problem as long as you seam seal inside the wheel tub. Glueing might be tricky in this area since it goes in behind multiple panels and is a structural part of the car.. It's where your roof structure ties into the wheel well tubs and down to the rockers.

Click to expand...

Your thread is awesome! I remember looking through it a while back. Fortunately, my rust is not near as bad as your car is. You are doing an amazing job.

Thanks for the tips!
Rod

Got my new wheelhouse clamped on awaiting final weld in. I ended up removing the entire old wheelhouse including the flange. The most accessible section on the flange just peeled off (not welded very good or corrosion weakened the weld). The rest that was removed by using a cut off wheel from the bottom/prying with a screwdriver/grind off. Took a while to do. Waiting to do the welding until I mock up the new trunk floor and quarter panel.