ConcoursMustang Forums
Restoring - General discussions that span across many different groups of years and models => Body, Paint & Sealers => Topic started by: carguytroy on January 14, 2018, 07:18:01 PM
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This is probably more of a general body panel replacement question. I have a 1967 convertible that I acquired and the quarter panels have been partially/mostly cut off the car. They left the upper portion of the quarters on the car. Is it better to replace the entire quarter panel or to cut along the top and weld along there? I have replaced full quarters on a 1966 that I have which I didn't find all that terrible to do. Here's a couple of pics of what I am looking at. Car was media blasted and left in a garage for 8 years. Has light surface rust all over the panels which I will be removing.
(https://i.imgur.com/u0FcPAjh.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/OERZpvkh.jpg)
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As an aside, in the last two posts you have resized your original pictures so small that any and all detail is lost.
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As an aside, in the last two posts you have resized your original pictures so small that any and all detail is lost.
Is that Better? I had them way too big before hope its easier to see now
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As Mustangs were of a unibody design, I would think a whole section would be advisable, it's strength you want. If you have a 67 Mustang Weld/Sealant Manual, it will show you what Ford did, and what the sections were comprised of.
Jim
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This is probably more of a general body panel replacement question. I have a 1967 convertible that I acquired and the quarter panels have been partially/mostly cut off the car. They left the upper portion of the quarters on the car. Is it better to replace the entire quarter panel or to cut along the top and weld along there?
Every body guy has their own personal preference based on their experience, skill level and the job. Some may choose to stay away from the original spot welds and those areas because they can be difficult to reproduce without tale tale signs while others do it as the factory did or don't care about the details.
Going to need to clean all those panels again before you start adding new panels but I guess you know that already
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Absolutely need to clean it all up again. The pic make it look worse than it really is. Just a real light surface rust is all. Almost rubs off with just your hand. A lot of it is still that white/dull silver color when you media blast things.
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My personal preference would be to cut the new panel to match what you have left. Leave as much Ford panel as possible. Secondly, I prefer to do an overlapped joint along that long horizontal cut. I do not have enough confidence in my grinding skills to stop grinding a butt welded joint before the surrounding metal is significantly weakened. I have read that people use the butt weld joint because they are concerned about the overlap not being original. But if you look anywhere on the car, Ford overlapped adjoining panels (obviously not in this specific area). The structure was compromised the minute it was allowed to rust through. Cut it, Fit it, Weld it, Seal it, Enjoy it.
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Going to be a personal choice for who’s doing the work. But if a full 1/4 is available that’s the route I would do. But I have all the necessary tools to do it as the Factory did. Also the level of car you want in the end. If you do it with the remainder of panel you have left & want to hide the seam from the backside. There is a bit of work involved in that. But if not concerned with that then that might be your route.
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FWIW, whatever choice you make, chances are even a NOS Ford service replacement part will not be stamped the exact, very same way. Then you have the aftermarket panels and I imagine they are anything but a perfect fit. The back end can be the toughest. Be sure and line the back and taillight panels up using the lower valance before tacking anything into place. I have seen the worst-fitting quarter jobs in this area the most.