quarter panel questions

[saridout]

my body shop is stripping the rear of the car, and they've found what they say is irreparable rust over the wheel arch. i've seen this area rust in other cars, and i'd like to know if the rust in this area is usually just confined to the skin, or will it be likely to have bled onto the wheel housing? would it be better to just buy a rear wheel arch replacement panel, a la black dragon, or try to find a donor car? does anyone else sell a better replacement panel than BDA? i've heard tepid reviews of their body panels. which years will match my 76 when it comes to the quarter panels?

i'll be uploading a few photos later tonight.

[Walter Moore]

Good luck finding a donor car that doesn't have the same problem. The rear wheel arch is rust spot #1 for these cars from what I can tell.

If the body shop is going to weld in the new piece I would check with MSA and others to see what kind of repair panels they have.

Did the body shop have a recommendation for a source?

[saridout]

the shop recommended a potential donor panel, for $525. i'm sorry, but i just don't think it's worth that.

how deep does the rust usually go? which portions do most people replace? here's a photo of mine... i know you can't really tell what's there, but it may give you some idea of where i'm at.

[d240zx2]

A bodyman, decently skilled, does not require replacement panels. It may be less expensive, but replacement metal can be welded in and finished regardless of the amount of rust encountered without having to replace entire body sections.

Just old-skool talkin'

[saridout]

that's what i thought before i talked to the guy, but he made it sound like the only option was finding a replacement. i'm going over to talk to him about this tomorrow. is there anything else i should keep in mind?

aside from all that, i'm fairly happy with the rust repair they've done on the front. what do yall think: http://www.flickr.com/photos/76280z/4559245394/

[JohnnyO]

Check out Tabco for body panels. They sell the rear inner and outer for the S30 series. They are probably the best priced out there because they manufacture their own panels and they fit well. It is my understanding that they produce some of the panels other Z sites sell. The only problem is that they never update their site so the prices are from about 1999. Call for correct pricing.

Here's the link:

http://www.tabcobodyparts.com/

John

[jellobob777]

It comes down to the cost of the time to fabricate patches verses buying a premade repair panel.For large areas with intricate contours it more cost effective to buy a $100 part than to pay a body man six hours labor + Materials @ $50 per hour = $300 that being said i believe johnny'O is correct that Tabco supplys MSA and Black Dragon and JC Whitney so dealing direct is the way to go .TAbcos catalog shows both the inner and outer panels as being availible .Its easy enough to check if the inner is bad look inside the wheel well .

[saridout]

ok thanks. i'll give tabco a call tomorrow after i talk to my body man and get a better idea of the situation.

[ZCurves]

ok thanks. i'll give tabco a call tomorrow after i talk to my body man and get a better idea of the situation.

I have a '78 parts car in Spring, Tx that I am going to finish off this summer. I know that the Rear Qtr Panels are good and perhaps a few other areas as well. Aside from a couple of parts promised to OldHemi, I will make it worth your while, if you are interested in the quarters. You can PM me.

[saridout]

ok, i talked to the body guy, and he says: the quarter panel needs to be replaced, probably all the way up to the roof line. he indicated rust below the quarter window and on the rear side of the window as well. he says that a patch panel won't work for this reason, and that it would be better to have the entire panel.

i had misunderstood him last time we talked; he doesn't have a replacement panel from a donor car, he has an actual nissan replacement quarter panel. that makes the 500+ amount he wanted for it sound much more reasonable. he says he may even be able to get it cheaper than that. does this sound like a good deal to yall?

his reasoning regarding the benefits of a full replacement confuses me. when he gave me the quote for the full amount required to rust-repair and paint the car, he said $8000-9000 with additional costs for parts, worst case scenario. today, he told me that he could make a quarter panel from scratch if he needed to, but then he pointed at his his employee and said that he would have to pay the guy $125 a day, for probably 6 days of work, to fix the car without a replacement panel. i would have thought that replacing a quarter panel falls well within "worse case scenario." could he be trying to get me to spend money on a replacement part, so he doesn't have to spend his limited amount of profit on labor? or is it reasonable to expect an additional charge for replacing something like this?

[five&dime]

Yes!!! That sounds like a good deal if OEM Nissan. My dad had the same issue and it took me a year to find a nice used quarter. I found it at Z car source dot com.

You can see the process in his thread

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25643

[saridout]

also, he said something that i thought was a little fishy... i asked him if the panel he has is the correct style for my year, and he said they're all the same. aren't the 75-78 years smooth while the earlier cars have an indentation for the bumper?