Replacing my Quarter Panels

[orlowted]

Well - I started the removal of the existing quarters this week. What a pain it is to remove them. But anyway - I was just informed that the person that I thought was going to put the new ones on for me - can't do it. What I need is advise on what to buy to put them back on myself. I am thinking that I need a spot welder? Someone also mentioned that I might need a plug welder? Can anyone shed some light on what equipment I need to weld these back on myself. Brand and Model will help since I do not know anything about welding equipment. Hope you can help me save my car....
TJ

[Orange97GTVert]

We use a Lincoln Electric Wire Welder. It's automatic feed, works well, but you do have to be careful not to use too much voltage so you dont blow holes in the metal. Practice on the old parts first! I got mine at Lowes, about $299 I think, but buy a welding hood, it comes with a hand held face shield which is junk.

[bmxmon]

Rear quarter panels i assume??? If you want, you dont even need to weld them. They have new stuff out now, which is what all the body shops use, its an adhesive. The adhesive is actally stronger than welding it on. If your interested, just say and i will write out what you all need to do. I would still buy a welder though, just because they are handy, haha.

[orlowted]

Bmxmon - Can you give me the info on the adhesive - It sounds interesting...
Thanks!
TJ

[bmxmon]

Sorry for taking so long, i thought i had posted about it, but ovbiously i didnt. Heres some stuff i wrote in an older post.
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My brother, stepdad, and i are replacing the rear quarter panels on my brothers 74 camaro. My uncle is a really good body man, and has been doing it for like 30 years. He came up for a weekend and helped us work on it. What he told us to do is to just cut out the old metal, about one inch smaller than our new replacement quarters. Which he did for us. Then, we fit them up, and screwed them to the body. We are going to use stuff from 3m, called panel bonding adhesive. My uncle says that that is what they always pretty much use now. It is actually stronger than welds. Well, the most important thing is that you have at least 1inch overlap, of clean metal, from the body to the new replacement panel. on the body line, like where the replacement panel ends on the main body, you need to grind it down to like a razor point, so it helps when you have to smooth it out later. Then you just put that panel bonding adhesive on, screw it down, and let it dry. Take out the screws, smooth all the xs goop and what not that came out, then use fiberglass reinforced body filler to smooth it out. Im going to add a pic of my brothers car, with the rear quarter cut out to try to maybe help any confusion or something. This is with the new quarter screwed on.
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We now have the quarters "glued" in and my brother is smoothing it all out. I think one side is all done now. It was alot easier than we had thought it would be. Looking through my old post, i forgot to metion that you need a special gun that the adhesive goes into, so you can put it out evenly. It gives you like 30-45 mins to work with it, getting it perfect, so thats also a plus. You have to lay down adhesive on both the replacement panel and the body. Its best to have two people, so you have lift it around or any other small task can be done better and quicker. In his door jams, we are just smoothing them out. After they were glued down, he went back with the grinder and smoothed it even more, then applied the fiberglass reinforced mud. Its best to start with long haired fiberglass mud, then go to short hair, then to bondo. Around the wheel well, after it was glued, he just bent it around some more with a hammer, and I am sure he will smooth that out even better later. I will post a pic with this post, then I will make a couple other posts with more pics. I swear I already posted once in this thread, but i think i tried to put more than one pic per post. It didnt seem to work for me.

[orlowted]

The adhesive sounds like a great idea, but since I removed the entire quarter and don't have any major overlap to glue to - I think I am going to have to stick to welding. Thanks for the info though - I am sure I can use it later down the road...
TJ

[bmxmon]

No problem about the info. I think though that you would have to have a small overlap when welding too. Because i believe that you punch holes in the new quarter then weld through the holes. Im sure you could butt weld it, but i think it would be pretty easy to burn through. Good luck!!!

[orlowted]

I have the old panel removed - it took a lot of drilling and grinding, but it is finally off. Once I get the spurs and old metal cleaned up - I will see how the new panel fits and then decide if welding or adhesive will be used. I am not much of a welder and the last thing I want to do is mess up the new panel and have to buy another one. That is why the adhesive is so appealing to me. Should know in a week or two what will happen.