Father-Son 1974 Duster Project

Hey Bear,

I'm sure the butt weld is the preffered way to go....I'm feeling really good about pulling it off and having them come out nice.

However, I was thinking about it, since many shops these days use panel-bond there must be an acceptable way to lap seam it somehow. Should the new skin tuck under the existing panel or vice-versa?

As I stated previously, I have seen many videos on the topic and one in particular was pretty good about how the bodyman cut the panel in to the car. He said the fitment was not great so he abandon the flanges on the skin and lap welded it on the car at the bodyline, tail panel and the door jamb. Of course he used the flanges along the bottom and the wheelhouse.

I'm going to be using an economy panel from a supplier on Ebay, so I'm figuring they wont fit so great to begin with. I wont be getting to it till December anyway as I have so much sub structure to make sure is together and sound.

Thank God Misty's frame rails and her bottom were solid other than the front floors and a few spots in the trunk.

I also need to hammer out a dent in the drivers rocker that has me pondering how I'll go about it, but I will not use a slide hammer that one would need to drill holes in the rocker!

I saw this dent puller that tack welded small studs to the panel and you pulled on those. When the dent was gone you just ground them off. I think I could make a homemade version of that.... I'll figure it out.

Any suggestions on the quarters will be greatly appreciated!