Is this normal on the rear quarter?

[Strat067]

Stripping the undercoating and I found this on the inner wheel well in the rear. Was this area brazed from the factory, or does it look like the inner or outer skins where replaced?

[Strat067]

If it's been replaced should I worry about it? 

[Patcon]

Nope! Not normal. From the looks of it, some one caved the quarter panel in and they replaced it or a section of it and beat the wheel well out the best they could and undercoated it.

The repair looks crudely done

What are your plans for the car? How far down the rabbit hole do you want to go? What kind of DIY skills do you have?

[Strat067]

17 minutes ago, Patcon said:

Nope! Not normal. From the looks of it, some one caved the quarter panel in and they replaced it or a section of it and beat the wheel well out the best they could and undercoated it.

The repair looks crudely done

What are your plans for the car? How far down the rabbit hole do you want to go? What kind of DIY skills do you have?

I have alot of rust repair I was working on. Floor pans, front and rear frame rails, shock towers, rockers.

 

I guess I'll strip the paint off the rear quarter and see if they replaced the outer skin, if it's just the inner I might be able to salvage it

[Patcon]

6 minutes ago, Strat067 said:

I have alot of rust repair I was working on. Floor pans, front and rear frame rails, shock towers, rockers.

 

I guess I'll strip the paint off the rear quarter and see if they replaced the outer skin, if it's just the inner I might be able to salvage it

I am confidant they replaced the outer skin. The question is how did they do it? The full quarter or just scab in a patch? You might be able to tell by looking from the inside after removing the interior panels.

I would try to get rid of the brazing as much as possible. It can cause problems when you paint over it. Also the wheel well seems like it could fit better, but that may be because they couldn't get the inner fender to flatten enough to line up with the quarter panel wheel arch...

Do you have a good welder?

[Strat067]

5 minutes ago, Patcon said:

I am confidant they replaced the outer skin. The question is how did they do it? The full quarter or just scab in a patch? You might be able to tell by looking from the inside after removing the interior panels.

I would try to get rid of the brazing as much as possible. It can cause problems when you paint over it. Also the wheel well seems like it could fit better, but that may be because they couldn't get the inner fender to flatten enough to line up with the quarter panel wheel arch...

Do you have a good welder?

I do have a good welder. I'll take a look at the inside and start stripping paint off the exterior and report back. I guess I'm signed up for replacing every bit of metal on this whole chassis

[Patcon]

39 minutes ago, Strat067 said:

I do have a good welder. I'll take a look at the inside and start stripping paint off the exterior and report back. I guess I'm signed up for replacing every bit of metal on this whole chassis

Hope not! The quarter metal may be workable. It just may need some better detailing. The inner wheel well metal is available from Tabco. There are some other patch panels available from them too. Disepyon on the site makes inner rockers and reinforements. Charles Osborne makes good floor panels, rcokers (maybe) and frame rails I think...

[Strat067]

17 hours ago, Patcon said:

Hope not! The quarter metal may be workable. It just may need some better detailing. The inner wheel well metal is available from Tabco. There are some other patch panels available from them too. Disepyon on the site makes inner rockers and reinforements. Charles Osborne makes good floor panels, rcokers (maybe) and frame rails I think...

Yep. Entire quarter panel was replaced on both sides. They simply did a lap joint with the new skin on top of the old and then filled in with about 1/8 inch of Bondo. Also took the rocker off and the inner is completely trash. Thinking I would have to completely redo the rear quarter and the inner wheel well as well as the inner rocker panel. I don't know what to do now. Its try to do all this or buy another shell, which I've had no luck finding. Am I crazy for even attempting this? I also threw in some pictures of where I'm at in the front end

Edited December 11, 2017 by Strat067

[grannyknot]

Why do you think the rear quarter panels and wheel arch need to be redone? For sure the inner and outer rocker needs work and although the welding job on the previous repairs to the quarters isn't all that pretty it doesn't look rusted in anyway.  If it were mine I would grind down their welds and smooth out their work so it would take less filler to even things out. These cars had filler on them from the factory, true not where this car needs it but Nissan wasn't above using filler if it was needed.

 

[esmit208]

WELL 067

You do have a monumental task, but we all have seen these cars resurrected from much dire straits. I am not quite sure what you want to do though. A better job than was done before, or just try to get the surface smoother? You do have an entire car so now it's more a matter of how much you want to do and can do. Skills can be developed over time but how much time and $$$$$ do you want to spend? I would probably just try to smooth the surface in some of the rough spots, even doing that you are looking at close to or more than 100 hours of work. Solder or something pliable like lead would be good but still another skill to be developed. Maybe get some advice from a restoration shop in your area and see what they wiuld suggest. You are at a crossroads now considering how much more you may uncover. Good luck, keep us posted.

[Mark Maras]

 I don't like over-lapping seams. They tend to rust out faster. I'd cut off the over-lap, clean it up and butt-weld the quarter panel seams. Best way to start out is find a small easy spot to replace and see how it goes. 

[Patcon]

I am glad some others chimed in, so you have more than just my opinion. I agree with Mark. I don't like the overlap seams. They can rust out quicker but my main objection is they require more filler. I would grind down the rear quarter seam then cut through it to make a butt weld seam. You have to weld short little sections to prevent warpage. These cars were never that perfect and some filler is ok. Even multi million dollar restorations have filler on them. The nice thing is with rising car values you can afford to spend the money to fix the car and not be upside down. Findng a nice shell can be hard to do. Even if you find a nice shell if it doesn't have a clear title you get into another can of worms that we flogged to death in another thread recently...