I need your opinions on this guys. My rear quarters have some pretty serious damage around the front and rear of the wheel openings. Quarter panels give me the option of repairing this without any metal shaping. I have a mint n.o.s. panel for the passenger side. Someone just offered me this one ( cheap) for the driver's side. Does it look worth using, if I get it all cleaned up first? Thanks for your 2 cents. I'm losing my objectivity on this issue. John B.
While cheap is good sometimes, this panel will need quite a bit of prep before you can use it, or it's going to haunt you later on. The rust damage has to be fixed properly. The hole needs to be ground, acid etched and welded. The apparently deep surface rust has to be ground down, acid etched with an etching primer, and prepped completely. Actuallym the entire panel needs to be sanded and etched as well as smoothed before it can be used. You've got a number of hours of work ahead before this panel can be used. You have to ask the question if the work is worth the savings. I realize that this may make the question you raised more agonizing, but this is the reality of body work. Like I posted about a door jamb surface rust question, I've learned, sometimes the hard way, when you cheap out, you often end up paying for the thing twice.
If that is the only rust-thru on the panel...I would say it would be worth getting if the price is right. I would have the entire panel media blasted.
Some of that looks pretty rough ... I'm wondering if media would just blast a hole right through some of the rusty sections of it .... I probably wouldn't buy it without checking it out first hand and not just pictures ... Notice some of the heavy surface rust is in the same places on both sides ... Would be a good piece to send to a repro house for stamping out new ones for us!
That quarter appears to have some real issues to contend with. If the rust on the side is only surface rust, that isn't too hard to work with. But if it is as deeply pitted as it looks on both sides, that presents a bigger problem. The whole idea behind getting NOS panels is to get something that will be as free of bodyfiller as possible. In the case of that quarter, the bodyman would almost certainly have to wipe a layer of filler over the rust pits in order to fill them in. Either that or use a really good filler primer. The rust hole would need to be cut out and new metal welded in too. That equals more filler. And like dmhines mentioned, there could be a very real chance that if media blasted, the side of the quarter could end up looking like it was in the middle of Bonnie and Clyde's shoot out. I would pass on it myself, but just be to sure, it wouldn't hurt if you could see it up close and take it from there.
If I remember correctly, you can get a brand new metal quarter for not much more than that from AutoKrafters.
Actually .. A/K sells a fairly crappy 1/4 Skin ... not a full 1/4 panel ... a quarter skin requires alot of cutting and butt welding and would be pretty tough to conceal that it was replaced. A 1/4 panel done properly would be almost impossible to distinquish from the assembly line installed panel accept by an experienced body person ...
John, with the pics you provided, and what I have done with a lifetime of doing bodywork. I would not use that qtr panel. I think I would opt for the AK one over that one. If you can find an NOS panel, and I just bought 2 for myself, that is the way to go if you are building a nice nice car. But Lonnie has an AK panel on his 76 and it is a nice nice car in my opinion. So in the end, its all about the actual install, and the level of talent doing it.
I dunno,it bears a remarkable resemblance to this one on Ebay right now,only the Ebay one,if you look closely,wears a fresh coat of red primer,hey,its in Canada too! Only $300. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=34204&item=2489441409&rd=1
I looked at that panel too. In fact I drove 3 1/2 hours to pick it up because the guy told me it "just had a bit of surface rust". When I got there it had a light coat of rust on most of the panel (both sides) and some serious scale in a couple of large patches. I was so furious at being lied too that I quickly got back into my van and drove off, before I said or did something rash (resisting the overwhelming urge to drive over the panel which had been laid out in the laneway for my inspection!). I guess I take being lied to too personally! John B.
John. everyone is right in their own aspect. Jean and her husband have been doing body work for a very long time and I respect their opinions. I'd pass on this one. The AK panels will do the job for you. I can get OEM quality panels that I've used myself locally, but shipping them to you would be very cost prohibitive. I got one for Jean and they thought it good quality. Do whatever you feel right in your situation, but don't use rusty panels that will cause you more of a headache down the road than they're worth.
