The rubber strip at at the top is held on with staples. This strip goes in behind the lip on the outer quarter skin to assure water is contained within the box. This one was removed carefully to show what it looks like. Since I won't be using staples to hold the new strip on, I cut, pried, and pulled the rest out and tossed them. I will use trim adhesive and pop rivets to hold the new one in place.
In the middle photo, you can see the bracket for the window bottom stop bumper. This piece will be duplicated from sheet stock. Replacement bumpers are available from Chevs of the 40's.
The final photo shows the rivet which holds the window channel in place. There are two, one front and one rear. Measure now and record the locations before you cut any further. This will aid in putting the channels back in with the new sheetmetal in place.
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After a lot of grinding, prying, and a few cut knuckles, the box was reduced to its component parts. Note to self, get a tetanus booster.
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When I started this project, I did a lot of searching for information about the window boxes. Here is what I didn't find. First, as far as I can tell, nobody makes repop panels or parts for this. Second, I couldn't even find information where someone showed how to repair them.
What can this mean? I had the only 41-48 GM on which the boxes rotted out? (Based on the design, I doubt it!). People just covered them up with interior and hoped for the best? No one took the time to document the process?
Whatever the case, I decided that the process should be documented. So here is the way I am doing the left side. The process is a refinement of what I did on the right side.
The box has to be disassembled. In the first photo you can see the pinch weld that attaches the two pieces together. This was most probably done with a set of rollers connected to a welder power supply. Two cut-off wheels on a die grinder are used to cut the pinch weld. See the second photo. Finally, when you see a line of rust reappear, stop cutting in that area. You have broke through.
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The worst dip on the left side quarter was replaced. This was on a body line and a difficult repair make, for me at least. I bent a piece to fit and slowly cut out the original while fitting the new piece into place. Then more welding and grinding. It will take a bit more filler than I would like, but at least there is metal there to attach the filler to!
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Last night I started working on the quarter. The first thing is to get the paint off so the outside of the previous repairs can be evaluated. The first photo shows the quarter after some sanding. The dark "stripe" is where the original trim piece went. It is pitted. There is still some rust under the paint. It also looks as though the PO used a rust converter paint. Based on my experience with the other side, this is going to require a wire brush, phosphoric acid, and a lot of elbow grease. You can also see the spots where the trim was attached around the window opening. Most of these will require some attention. Chevy used a lot of mounts to put the trim on. On the right door, I plugged 48 trim holes. Plus one handle hole and one lock cylinder hole. 50 holes in one door.
Moving to the inside, I started grinding the MIG spiders and weld boogers off. The insets at the bottom of the second photo show the "before" grinding. I didn't start on the ones around the window.
Finally, I decided to plug one problem to see how this side was going to weld. I picked the one that had approx. 5 visible holes. I drilled through the panel with a 1/2" drill bit. I had to grind it out to slightly elongate it. I then placed a piece of 18 ga. behind it to mark the outline. After some cutting and trimming, I started tacking it around the circumference, allowing it to cool between tacks. After some grinding and weld squishing, the results look pretty good. I hope this is a harbinger of how this side will go as a whole.
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