Need quarter panel replacement advice

[azaustin]

My '65 Dart GT needs both rear quarter panels replaced due to serious rust issues. I have a good two-door post donor car and it looks like the panels are the same on the outside except for the post. I'd like to take the skin off in one piece on both cars to minimize the body work that would need to be done on the areas that show. I could, however, cut along the length of the trim line above the wheel arch from the door jamb to the rear pan. That would leave me with a long weld line to work, which is why I want to pull the skins off intact. That way the only visible area I have to work will be in the rear sail panel (C pillar?). I can cut just below the GT emblem there to the rear window flange and forward to the edge of the window reveal. There is some internal bracing to deal with, none of which bothers me except for the area above the rocker panel. Anyone have any suggestions? I'm replacing the floor pans and trunk floor from the same donor car first, then will move onto the quarter panels.

Thanks for any advice you can give me on how to do this.

 

[Bodyperson]

Can you clip it?

 

[azaustin]

That's one of the options I'm considering. The only thing that scares me is maintaining alignment on a unibody car. If it had a full frame I'd definitely do it. My donor car is solid throughout. If I did clip it, I would do the front pans first, and maybe the backseat footwell. Then, I would separate it at the seam behind the footwell that supports the edge of the back seat bench, and a few inches below the factory seam and lead work on the sail panel. If I do go this route I intend to cross-brace the inside of the car extensively and take lots of measurements prior to cutting anything. I have a frame dimension chart I found on ebay that will help with this process. This would be a tricky clip in another way in that I would want to leave the inner panels intact and weld the new full-quarter skins onto the existing inner bracing. It will get complicated around the back package tray, but I think it can be done. But I wanted to post on this site to see if anyone had any experience or expertise I could take adavantage of. I'm not a body man, but have done a little over the years. I also worked in a body shop many years ago that specialzed in rebuilding totaled VW's and other foreign cars and got to a good chance to learn how many things were done. One of the guys there specialized in rebuilding 65-66 Mustangs and had a process for hanging a full rear clip that I think could be applied to my Dart. That was in 1968-69, however, and I may have forgotten a few things since then

A final consideration is the fact that my donor car is a two-door post, and the inner panel in the latch area is a different shape than the Dart coupe. I think I can just carefully cut the post at the factory weld and seam and be okay there. I will probably use my plasma cutter or a cut-off wheel to carefully separate the outside panel between the latch and the skin, leaving enough metal to lap over on the coupe. I'll try to butt-weld that seam and grind it flush. Any failures on my part in working the metal won't show when the door is closed.

 

[azaustin]

After re-reading my post I realized there was one other issue I needed input on. The rocker boxes/panels on my car appear to be ok and I'd like to avoid cutting on them if possible. I'd like to separate the quarter panel skin along the seam between the panel and the rocker box. It looks like there is a "beam" or inverted "u-channel" inside the car that sandwiches the lip of the quarter pane between it and the top of the rocker box. I thought about cutting through from the outside with a very thin cutoff wheel, but I don't want to end up having use any filler or do any re-work to the edge of the quarter along the seam. Does anyone have an idea as to what the best way to do this is? Thanks.

 

[Bodyperson]

That's a loaded question Austin. Start by whittling on the GT. Find the extent of the rust. Its hard to visualize your situation. Pics? I usually change my coarse of repair several times by the time I'm really committed. Sounds like you have a good idea of what is needed.

 

[azaustin]

That's a loaded question Austin. Start by whittling on the GT. Find the extent of the rust. Its hard to visualize your situation. Pics? I usually change my coarse of repair several times by the time I'm really committed. Sounds like you have a good idea of what is needed.

That's a good suggestion. I have some pictures that I thought might help and considered marking them up so it would be easier to visualize. I'm going out of town for a week tomorrow but will do that when I get back. My main goals are to make the car structurally sound and corrosion free (as much as possible) and to minimize the amount of body work that needs to be done externally. It's a big task, but my feeling is that real car guys fix their own cars as much as possible, so I'm going for it, even though it's a stretch for me. I'm good with all the mechanical work, from building the engine and trans to all the brake and suspension stuff.