A nice kid I know doesn’t make a lot of money but he’s a hard worker and is getting into modifying cars. This is his new ride that he and his friends put a lot of parts in but he’s not great at knowing the best route for fixing stuff at this point. I was wondering if this panel is easily replaceable ie bolts on from the inside or if it’s spot welded. I told him with how much bondo’s it, it would be a much easier thing to do if he replaces the panel vs undoing all the horrible body work that had been done on it. I’m not a street car guy - working on trucks is more my thing. Any information is appreciated thank you!


Rear Quarter Panel

 

Replacing the quarter panel will require cutting, welding, grinding, priming, and painting. I was quoted around $1500 to have my quarter panel replaced. Note, I just had two small rust spots where the fenders usually get rolled... they said they'd rather replace the whole panel rather than the little rust spot.

 

Yup...replacing that quarter panel will require some bodyshop skills like Jyounya said.

It looks crappy now but sand all that crap down and get some bondo and u can have that panel lookin pretty good again. Might take a few hours of work but still faster than a replacement.

 

I'm afraid to see what's under my paint. All I know is there is bondo slapped on there like mud. A magnet won't stick to a good portion of the panel. The problem with that much body filler is the flex in the chasis could cause the filler to crack and the paint along with it

 

That rear QP is a dual wall panel and won't be adequately repaired with bondo. Best to cut it out and weld in a new panel if he plans to keep the G. Too bad kids buy badly damaged cars on a wing and a prayer, as they're the least equipped to repair them.

 

no it is not an easy panel to replace rear window must be removed side window as well welds drilled out new panel fitted and welded in place

 

 

I mean it's not TERRIBLE but you're looking at about 30 hours of labor to finish it all out right.

For the future make sure to spray LITERALLY ANY PRIMER on the bare metal so it doesn't rust like that. Getting the rust off just adds to the labor hours.

Start with the high points, flatten them back out, zap those holes where the panel was pulled out, flapper disc everything as flat as you can by hand, then start with LIGHT APPLICATIONS of filler to build back up.

Fill, sand, fill, sand, fill, sand... until you're happy with the contour.

Personally I would just buy another brand new quarter panel, it's about $1200 shipped and then you just have to drill out the spot welds, remove the old one, then spot weld the new one in place.

Or find a G at a local wrecking yard and cut the spot welds on it then weld it to your car.

 

The quote you got to replace the panel is pretty good.

If you want to bondo, this is an opportunity to practice.

You want to convert the rust at the least and, as said, use thin coats of bondo to contour the lines.
A ruler, paint stick and yard stick wrapped with sandpaper helps in doing this, as it let's you feel the contours.

Don't use the final glazing to fill deep holes. It is not a filler.

There are also many mobile bondo guys on Craigslist who can do this for you. Some will leave the painting to you, some will finish it completely.

 

Just so you know what a spot weld cutter is, it's basically just a very small hole saw but it doesn't have a pilot bit in the middle, just a spring loaded centering pin. You need to use a center punch and punch the middle of the spot weld so the cutter doesn't drift, and you only cut through the first layer of metal, not through the entire thing.

Once you have a panel removed just hit the remaining part of the spot weld with a flapper disc to sand off the remaining metal.

To reattach the body panel you will probably end up drilling a small 1/4 hole close to each location where it was originally spot welded, then use a wire feed welder to weld through the hole to mate the two pieces back together. It's usually not possible to get a spot welder back into those locations so the "drill/weld the hole" method works good.



That body panel still has pretty significant metal fab work required before you're ready for filler if you do want to reuse the existing sheet metal. It also helps if you make a little jig out of heavy duty craft paper that matches the contour of the other side of the car if you do want to try to repair it.

 

This must be a weekend project, because this will be a lot of work.. good luck bro