How not to !!! rear lower quarter panels

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paul m

paul m

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I'm finally down to my last panel. Hidden beneath a mountain of bondo revealed a surprise. Hackers were here. Amateurs @ best.Everything is wrong with this picture. They simply overlapped and welded straight across. The heat warping alone is overwhelming. The panel ends up concaved at least a 1/4" & loses it's perimeter(It's Shape in the wheel well). It's this simple;cut a straight line across,hold up your patch panel mark it,cut it,you may have to straighten it a bit with a hammer n dolly. Tach weld it in place. move around with your final weld transfering the heat. Feel free to pause w/the welding. You can use a damp rag to cool it etc. A small 110 unit works fine.

Geeze!!! I saw this one before I removed the bondo, the wheel well didn't tuck inward like the otherside.

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There is a bright side. By doing it in the wrong area you still have the right area to fix it. I'm surprised they didn't go straight for the style line and really screw you.
 
Yep, it could be worse for sure :popcorn:
 
I've seen way worse.
That's not great for sure, but how do pop rivets, screen door mesh, and bondo sound?
Or my favorite, spray in insulating foam to fill the hole and bondo.
That's what i refer to as a ''stuff and f**k'' job.
Then there's ''gorilla hair'' stuffed into a hole and then bondoed up from there..............
 
Also remember the patch panels are sometimes less gauge than the originals, and the originals have rusted over time from the INSIDE! and are thinner too!!! It is thinner metal, that means when you make the cut down below the character line it is somewhat flimsy. I like to see how it will all fit together when I use metal screws to attach it all before I begin to tack weld. Also . 023 wire (must use gas) is easier to weld with than .035 and not distort. Basically few people should try to mig weld with .035 on this outer skin, and gas shielded wire welds cleaner.
Sometimes a piece of something inside that lower patch can be useful to maintain a straight surface before tacking or screwing together.
Some people will say butt weld it! But there is a flanging tool that will help get a flat surface too. One thing is if you overlap, only have a minimal amount, and treat with a weld thru primer.
I am no expert but all this I have found helpful over the decades.
 
I'm no expert...I trashed one patch panel and started over with a new one after learning that I couldn't run a continuous bead on sheet metal!!! But, second time around it came out a little better. Patch panels are probably not all perfectly fitted to every car, especially if the parent sheet metal has been repaired at some point in the past. I found that a little creative weld-filling and grinding brought things together to the point that only a little bondo would finish it out.
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I also devised a way to convert gaping holes to little holes so only a little bondo would do the trick.
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Thank goodness I don't have to do this for a living...I would starve to death.
 
I find that making the patch slightly bigger is a little easier than trying to keep it so small. You really need to get to good thick metal and try to minimize the gap around the patch to a manageable level. Rod

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Another example of a patch I did on my 71 Barracuda. Rod

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Have to post some pics when I get into my 73 Dart Sport. The passenger side lower quarter was repaired with chicken wire and bondo, from the top of the wheel well down!
 
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