73 dart quarter panel repair questions

-
Coryg79

Coryg79

Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2018
Messages
11
Reaction score
8
Location
Washington
Hey guys :) So I'm stripping the dart down, and the quarters have the usual rust holes.. My question is, Do you guys make your own repair panels or do you buy them? I'm in need of some help in this department lol. I've done some bodywork and such before, but never tackled replacing sheetmetal. Any helpful info,tips, tricks would be great!!

20181018_141601.jpg


20181018_113544.jpg


20181018_113527.jpg
 
How is the seam between the quarter and the roof? You can just barely see it in the first photo you posted. It's a common trouble spot on our cars...

The method you use to fix the rust-outs will depend in part on your intentions for the car and your budget. Keep it "forever" and cost is not an issue? Use a replacement quarter skin or entire quarter panel, either from a donor car or a reproduction piece.

Quarter Skins | AMD 710-2072-L

Otherwise, you can do spot repairs with your choice of body filler and associated products. In this case, you'd probably want to use some fiberglass cloth and fiberglass-reinforced filler like "tiger hair" or equivalent.
 
Coryg79 said:
Hey guys :) So I'm stripping the dart down, and the quarters have the usual rust holes.. My question is, Do you guys make your own repair panels or do you buy them? I'm in need of some help in this department lol. I've done some bodywork and such before, but never tackled replacing sheetmetal. Any helpful info,tips, tricks would be great!!

View attachment 1715239349

View attachment 1715239350

View attachment 1715239351
Click to expand...
I had about the same rust issues as you. I bought a full panel and cut it to what I needed. Was my first time welding and doing kind of major repair so it was a bit unnerving for me to cut the panel off the car. But wasn’t too bad end the end.

75CFA4B3-5E1B-4179-A93C-04BF27579CB9.jpeg
 
The seam from roof to quarter looks ok, a little rusty but nothing major. I've seen some quarter panel skins online for decent prices, but I'm not sure how far down they go. I'll need pretty much down from the lower body line to the bent lip under there. And a little bit of wheel well area
 
Coryg79 said:
The seam from roof to quarter looks ok, a little rusty but nothing major. I've seen some quarter panel skins online for decent prices, but I'm not sure how far down they go. I'll need pretty much down from the lower body line to the bent lip under there. And a little bit of wheel well area
Click to expand...

Here's a quarter skin, as sold by AMD (Quarter Skins | AMD 710-2072-L)

710-2072-L_800.jpg
 
Coryg79 said:
That looks like it may go down as far as i need. I may look into those then and cut what i need out
Click to expand...

FYI, reproduction sheet metal isn't usually a perfect factory fit, and typically takes some massaging to make it work. A panel from a donor car is usually better in theory, but most donors are going to have rust problems in the same areas as your car. So aftermarket sheet metal like this is sometimes the only real solution. I have used it on a couple of different projects and it has worked out great on most of them, but one or two gave me second thoughts. I have an AMD quarter waiting to go on my 72 Dart but haven't tackled it just yet.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top