When You Realize you have more filler than metal

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charger426

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Started working on cutting out the rust from the lower quarters on my Dart today. Funny thing happened when I started to cut off some of the rusted panel....I got covered in dust, not sparks. Well after chiseling at the quarter I found that whoever did the body work last caked on the bondo and filler. It was a little more than 1/4 inch thick! So what started out as a small patch became a bigger one. As with most things on this car when I go to fix one problem I find several more. Such is life with restoring old cars :)
 

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Found the same thing on my 71 Bcuda quarters. Also found quite a bit of filler on my deck lid. Nature of the game, I guess.
 
Yep seems like it. The weird part was they actually welded a new patch panel in but recess the filler panel. I'm guessing they couldn't/wouldn't butt weld the new panel so they just put the patch behind what was left of the factor panel.
 
That's it? I thought this was going to be about really thick body filler...lol. If it's not 1/2" thick it's just "the usual".
 
moper said:
If it's not 1/2" thick it's just "the usual".
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Especially in the Northeast, where bone is cheap and rust is plentiful.

I always like finding body lines where they were none when I started to strip a car back down to bare.
 
You have to remember this was just a mode of transportation, that is how they fixed them. Looked good enough! And by the looks of yours they did a decent job repairing some damage. We should all be glad they fixed our cars and did not just scrap them!
 
ramenth said:
Especially in the Northeast, where bone is cheap and rust is plentiful.

I always like finding body lines where they were none when I started to strip a car back down to bare.
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I was getting worried that maybe I was missing a body like it had one added while picking away at the filler.
 
Mopar Tim said:
You have to remember this was just a mode of transportation, that is how they fixed them. Looked good enough! And by the looks of yours they did a decent job repairing some damage. We should all be glad they fixed our cars and did not just scrap them!
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True about being a daily driver. Let's be honest the little /6 Swinger I have was never a super car that someone planned on keeping forever. With that being said it did stay in the same family for about 40 years. It was the grandfathers car first then was passed down to the grandson for his first car when he turned 16.
 
I was helping a friend with a 67 Mustang a few years ago, and we ran into something I still can't believe. We knew from looking inside the trunk that both quarter panels needed to be replaced. So I started cutting with a 3" cutting tool. I went through about 1/4 inch of filler and hit metal, but when I went through the metal I hit more filler (a dark grey filler). I kept on cutting an eventually hit metal again. This time, when I went through the metal, I was inside the trunk. We were really confused. After hours of cutting and grinding, we finally found out that the previous owner had GLUED a quarter panel (or at least most of one) right on top of the bad quarter with some kind of filler/bonding agent and then used pounds and pounds of filler to smooth out the quarters. It was almost an inch thick in places. What was weird is that from the outside, it looked pretty good. Yes indeed, the joys of working on these old cars.
 
Body was and still is an accepted method. If it's done correctly, even if it's thick, it will stay on a very long time.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Body was and still is an accepted method. If it's done correctly, even if it's thick, it will stay on a very long time.
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we ran into the same thing. I traded (about 6 yrs. ago) for a 68 form S fastback. looked pretty darn good . when getting it ready to repaint, and fixing everything we could find, the right front fender, behind the wheel well, had been hammered in and filled w/ putty-about 2 or so " deep. had a hard time finding a repair panel for it, and it didn`t fit worth a ----. after I welded it up, my body man did his expertise to it, and wound up w/ no more than about 1/16" anywhere on the body. I also never saw a person so good w/ an air powered sander, when he gets done, the wet sanding is minimal . 47 old car w/ no rust, kick a$$ !:coffee2:
 
harrisonm said:
I was helping a friend with a 67 Mustang a few years ago, and we ran into something I still can't believe. We knew from looking inside the trunk that both quarter panels needed to be replaced. So I started cutting with a 3" cutting tool. I went through about 1/4 inch of filler and hit metal, but when I went through the metal I hit more filler (a dark grey filler). I kept on cutting an eventually hit metal again. This time, when I went through the metal, I was inside the trunk. We were really confused. After hours of cutting and grinding, we finally found out that the previous owner had GLUED a quarter panel (or at least most of one) right on top of the bad quarter with some kind of filler/bonding agent and then used pounds and pounds of filler to smooth out the quarters. It was almost an inch thick in places. What was weird is that from the outside, it looked pretty good. Yes indeed, the joys of working on these old cars.
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when I repainted my '66 mustang, I was sanding the lower quarters and found something strange under the paint. When I started picking at it I realized it was dirt. Over the years the trunk extensions had packed with dirt so it was like cement, and whomever did the bodywork on it just sanded it smooth and painted over it rather than repair the metal.
 
If you're going to replace the quarter, or use a die stamped patch for your lower quarters, here's a way to get the old filler out without all the nasty sanding dust. Use a torch to heat the filler, and it will come right off. Start where you have found an edge, and work a putty knife under it. Keep heating in front of your putty wrench as you slightly pry up with it. It just takes a small amount of heat, so a propane torch or a Harbor Freight heat gun will work just fine. Yeah, it stinks a little....but it's fast, and you ain't got all that friggin dust to deal with.
 
Well, at least they didn't...............

1962-international-truckcar-1.jpg
 
Thats why you buy rustfree cars from out west..damn,if its got that much mud there whats the rest of the car like..
 
stroked340 said:
Thats why you buy rustfree cars from out west..damn,if its got that much mud there whats the rest of the car like..
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EXACTLY!! Kansas does not have any inspections, so there are a lot of unsafe cars o the roads. I FREQUENTLY see vehicles (mostly trucks) on the street with horrible rust in fenders, bed (quarters) and rockers. I always think, "If what I can see is that bad, what are the floors and suspension (or where the suspension connects to the body) like. Cars like that should NOT be allowed on the streets. A little rust is OK; I am talking about cars with so much rust their structural integrity is compromised.
 
I've found all kinds of creative body work over the years of dealing with older cars. The best so far has been a car with a license plate and used underwear stuffed into a quarter panel and bondo'd over. I guess they ran out of chicken wire?
 
Sometimes, it "pays off." Once I had a 57 Chev. This was in about 67, before I went in the navy. One day I was under the car, and it turns out a fender had been replaced, and up under the lower lip where the far lower lip curls up in front of the door, there is a pair of working but somewhat rusty vise grips holding the fender on.

Of course I had to fasten the fender, as they were holding the lower lip on LOL
 
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