Hot Rod Forum banner

55 Chevy QTR dillemma.

9K views 66 replies 9 participants last post by  tech69 
#1 ·
Ok, apart from the pain from taking out a replacement quarter at the seams in which the guy welded areas together that were supposed to be leaded, I'm finding my game plan isn't something I'm too confident about. Well I am but I like to always be sure and that's why I asked The Guru and now am asking for your input.


So the new quarter has the edge that is supposed to hold the window felt in and in the pic you can see the holes for it. Thing is, that flange isn't bent down like it's supposed to be.


This edge is original as the replacement quarter wasn't a full quarter. Thing is, this line is narrow at the edges and gets bigger towards the dip. My concern is that this will be hard to get that shape right and with the proper gap to the glass.
So what I elected to do as of now is to make a tape template of that top piece and measure the gap to the glass opening and flat area of the quarter in a few different areas and while the cut out quarter will still have this area in place I will attempt to fold the flange over and make it look good on the new quarter, and if I'm confident in that then I will proceed to cut out that area on the old quarter. If this area that folded over was straight it would be a no brainer but If I leave it too wide wherer it's narrow the glass might bind. Please chime in if you have dealt with this. If you haven't and have something good to offer let's hear it.

 
See less See more
2
#34 ·
trim lines up great and I kept that area in tact. everything not a plug weld will be close to it and just under it. as far as the trim on the side, I will make a template of the other side but will make sure I have a good look at the emblem area on the cut out qtr before I decide to include that. i recall doing that to a recent impala and the emblem area was in fact different due to reading from left to right. Didn't hear anything back so I guess I did an ok job.
 
#39 ·
99% of shops do flanged welds on long seams such as a quarter skin, but not all of them will use weld thru primer on the flange or rust protect and seam seal the back. So I guess you'd be taking your car to boyd coddington's or you're talking a tiny sail panel.
 
#42 ·
What's funny is before I got into ICAR training and collision work at shops I never used a backing in my life, or a flange, I didn't even know what one was! And in fact after getting into collision work I found that using a backing could be pretty useful like on a roof pillar of a chopped top. But before the late eighties I had never even thought of it, it was butt welds for everything.

Sorry, no photos. :D

Brian
 
#43 ·
3' is not very long. I've done that before. It's just a matter of spending more time on the welding. Doing a huge impala quarter skin in a shop/open butt weld? Not happening. Boss would flip, would feel rushed, and if I was almost done and it's 4:55 than something's getting warped within those last 5 minutes. :D
 
#44 ·
it fits now. I first cut a slice up top then slices in the jamb. This would allow the quarter to follow the contour of the tailight as you pull it up with your hand. So I put the tail light in and moved the quarter even, then took out the tail light and tacked the slices that were then opened up. This made the metal "stay" and not rebound back. Last, I layed a piece of metal on top of the slice, and scribed onto the old and open butted it. turned out great!


before doing the open butt weld up top I knew I had to tack down the jamb area cause I didn't want that gap to walk on me.


To get the metal to stay flush during this open butt weld I clecko'd a couple strips on the backside. Once I tacked all around and knew it wasn't gonna cave in on me I took out the cleckos and the strips dropped into the quarter.




what a perfect little corner to withstand warpage! Not too close either to where it will be a night mare to clean up. Soon as I saw how well the area took a weld I doubled up and did 2 hot tacks and staggered, and still little warpage.


 
#52 ·
Martin, you are predictable. You look for opportunities to jump into a conversation to make yourself look better. Don't worry, I do it too at times, but I can admit it.

It's no wonder when you are open to mistakes and needing advice to build confidence or what have you, that you would jump right in it to look for any nook and cranny to

grand stand. C'mon, just be honest here.
 
#53 ·
Because of some comments you have made directed towards me on other threads I decided I wouldn't bother you with any of my grand standing advice. So you were waiting for me to come back here and compliment you on your butt welds? I'm flattered that you sat around staring at your computer waiting for the great grand stander to come and compliment you but I didn't because I saw you had returned to your old ways and didn't need anything of the sort being your head was already so big it couldn't fit in your welding helmet anymore.

So you chose to come and make a direct attack at me being I hadn't complemented you? Again, I am stunned at this, wild, absolutely wild.

Brian
 
#55 ·
Henry, I went back thru the thread to see where it was that I said something that I would need to come back and apologize for. The only thing I can come up with is where I said "with a perfect butt you don't need it". Henry, you don't, if you have a perfect butt you don't need a backing. It can help, but I have never done it like that. Saying this doesn't mean I am all knowing, it doesn't mean I am grand standing, it doesn't mean any of that. It means that I have another way to do it. I would have used about 10 C clamp vice grips, I have them all the way from 6" to 24" and I would hold that whole thing with them, then tack weld in between them and remove the clamps. It's just another way to do it. There is no need to apologize for something I didn't do. You did it different, cool. Because I would have done it with the clamps doesn't mean I think you are wrong or not qualified or what ever. It only means I do it a different way. You can bet I won't bother you again with my suggestions.

Attacking me for this is out of line and you really need to lighten up before you have a heart attack.

Brian
 
#57 ·
Nice job there tech. If I ever do another quarter on a tri-five I had already decided to do something different than the one we recently changed. Looks like the way you cut and welded is the way to go. We changed the full quarter and bent the inner flange you were showing, It was a major PIA to get right. There is also a piece inside the quarter under that same flange (i guess for stiffining purposes?) that is a pain to change also. I also had the same problem at the tail light area that you did, and performed a similar fix. Looking good, keep up the good work. :thumbup:

Kelly
 
#58 ·
thanks man. Those quarters are tough especially keeping that tail light panel from walking on you and just getting the tail lights to fit and even that stupid little brace on the bottom of the quarter needs to be sliced and bent. That thing turned into "frankenquarter" by the time it was done. Hear of any particular brand of quarters that are good for a 55? Man, this thing was off by a mile. Must have like 20 hours on it already!
 
#60 ·
Tech and Brian...
What is it with you two?????
its ez to read something into what someone else wrote. Lets not waste any more pages on this back and forth stuff and ruin another thread...Here, we can ALL act like professionals ....I like and respect you both but this makes you BOTH look bad and it's getting to be all the time...we can all learn something from this. things arent always ment the way we read it..let it go...and enjoy doing what we do and showing others how to do the same so all of us can learn and do better not only as body and paint men but as people...
That said ,my mother would never believe in a million years I just wrote that..:sweat:
Her favorite saying was always :My son is fairly well balanced.....He has a chip on BOTH shoulders....
 
#63 ·
If it was in person things would be different but here its ez .....dont respond or bring yourself down to that level...that way only one post is useless insted of pages that have to be skipped over....
What would our Guru "professor hammer" do in this situation? and whats more important, the information or your ego...I would hope its the info....
 
#67 ·
"It's alive"

finally done! The jamb was a pretty good match to the old one. At least one thing was. I partially welded the jamb down first so the gap would stay when I next did the open butt weld


after the open butt weld I went for the factory seam along the upper rear body panel and most importantly, getting it tacked down in the channel the deck lid sits over. Believe it or not,those few tacks were more important in keeping a good gap to the decklid than the 5 plug welds at the factory seam. So once I knew the gap was stout I went ahead and plug welded the channel without any worrying of the gap walking on me, but the thing was, I didn't want to plug it all the way to the R tail light panel cause that needed to be kicked out and tacked in place as well to keep it's gap.(no pic, sorry)

So once that wasn't going anywhere with enough room for it to be kicked out a tad at the seam of the taillight panel I went ahead and porto powered that area and got my gap and tacked it in place at the seam(to tail light panel). Thing was, I couldn't push it out WHILE checking the gap so I had to guess how far to push it out while tacking. The more tacks the less it rebounded back when the porto power wasn't pushing. So once I was confident in that I did my plug welds and it STILL WALKED on me and since I was so confident in it staying I didn't check it when I had to do the very back plug welds, which I think moved it. So after it was done I ran a small slice in the corner, pushed it back out, checked it, and re-tacked it. All better and the gap was great again!


Then it was finishing up the area around the taillight, which was also the area at the seam that I tacked down to keep my gap.


After that I went to the rocker, which was vise gripped down the whole time but at the seam it was already tacked down from the start to keep my gap.


Last was all the stupid little brackets in the back to make it look factory and little things like this...




So in the end "Frankenquarter" is done..."It's alive!" I Love a great challenge but moving forward I think it's much better to at least seek out a good donor quarter for this particular car, if any still exist, rather than cutt up the quarter like I had to just to make it match and be showcar quality. Way too much slicing and dicing, but again, I love the challenge.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top