Quarter Panel Repair
 

Hey guys,

I searched for a bit and found a few good threads on quarter panel repairs, but nothing that was really concrete. As you will see below, my car has the classic midwest S4 chassis 1/4 panel rust.

Drivers Side:
Attachment 654586

Pass:
Attachment 654587

As I am not one of those people that wants to be "hella flush" and just slap an over fender on and call it a day, I was curious to peoples methodology on replacing the metal .

Eastwood has a nice quarter panel repair kit, but the only other option I have seen being used on the forum so far is to litteraly "hack off a quarter" from a good donor and cut/weld it in.

This seems fairly time consuming and expensive when I could go and buy another shell in a roller state with a clean body for $700-$2400.

The car was rough when I got it, and I have been replacing dented/unrepairable panels with S5 parts as I am rebuilding an S5 Tii atm.

Attachment 654588


The car is not really in that bad of shape. Needs some minor dent repair here and there, and a respray. But the Quarters have me worried....

Thoughts?

I Have, or have access to every tool needed to replace metal.... I just personally think most overs look horrible (depending on color) just riveted on. looks cheap and unfinished, especially when 3/4 of the cars I see with them are in primer... ugh I hate that! Call me old school (we actually restored a few first gen camaro's 67-68) and Replacing metal is just what people do to those cars...

I guess you could use fiberglass and bondo if you don't want to cut and weld in a quarter/ section of quarter from another car. Don't know which is more work the fiberglass or getting the welds smoothed back out to not be seen after paint.

pass side not too bad but that driverside looks in really bad shape. If your on FB theres a DIY bodywork/restoration page where it seems like literally half the people on there are restoring Rx-7s, you may get more opinions/experiences there. But it seems like you already know your options.

yea, I guess I am really just at the age old debate of "what's my own personal time worth" point with this car.

But I hate to give up on it, as its still very much original and stock form. Do you have a link to that group bryan? I would like to check out some of these other 7 restorations.

Thanks!

Any decent bodyshop will be able to repair the rusted section. I had the side sills under the doors completly rusted out on my 87 FC (both sides) Shop charged me 1700 € (2300 usd) here in Luxemburg to fix it. They cut out the complete section and made new panels by hand ! Welded in and painted it, looks OEM every way you are looking at it. Thats what they do when restoring cars.

The rear quarters should be an easy fix for any decent shop. I wouldnt touch bodywork myself but lucky there are people who know what they are doing.

I think repairing what you have is a good idea instead of buying another one for cutting it up. Replacing metal is actually the right choice instead of fiberglassing it. i would never fiberglass or bondo it, its not worth the time, do it once and do it right :)

I agree, If I keep the shell I will be replacing the metal via the eastwood quarter repair kit:

Auto Body Repair Panel Kit - Eastwood Panel Install Kit

I've worked at body shops and have done some body work before, so I am in no way scared to do it. The only part that sucks where my rust is at on the drivers side is the small "roll" that mazda put on the lip of the rear side of the wheel well. It is like a 27* slant to a roll. I feel alot of block hammering will be needed to make that look again. Idk, We will find out.

I already know what I have as far as this shell is concerned. So that is what makes it even more tough. If I were to buy another "clean" shell, did the PO actually restore it properly?

Decisions, decisions.

That Eastwood kit is a patch, not a repair.

You should be able to find multiple people parting cars out on this forum who can cut you that area of the quarter. Then cut the old one out, weld the new one in. Working at a body shop that should be no problem. I'm betting you'd spend more time on that Eastwood patch, which will begin rusting again in a few years, than cutting and welding it properly.

And yep, I have the same issue on my car which only occurred because it was improperly repaired in the past. Reminds me, I have to hit the local wrecking yard because they have a set of perfect 2nd gen quarters they are holding for me.

If it was not sealed properly I would agree with you more. And I completely agree with hacking a large portion of a front end wrecked FC off and welding it in. But this can rust to if improperly sealed.

The problem with the body lines on this model are where to decide to hack it off to make it look right and not disturb the rest of the car.

Numerous botch "quarter cuts" on muscle cars result in wavy panels after paint. I am not looking for show quality or a trailer queen so I guess this does not really apply to me either.

I saw one guy cut half way up to the roof just behind the door, and just past the drivers tail light on one such attempt.. He had collision damage to a degree though so the point is mute.

Keep in touch Aaron as I would like to see your approach on where you cut.

Also cheers for popping in, I respect you a lot on this forum and have used your build and site to repair many things on my car.

heres the link archaphil, you can probably post your pics there and get some good informed opinions, probably half the cars on there are rx7s
https://www.facebook.com/groups/267780489943905/

Thank you! I need to create a facebook account again, but I will definitely check it out!

There is a lot of strength in that area as the panels are double layers and there are stamped curves. I don't forsee you having too much trouble keeping the panel straight but it's going to warp some, that's just the nature of the game. That's why they invented body hammers and dollys. :)

I'd more assume that those cars ended up with wavy panels because the body shop doing the work was simply incompetent. Or they are trying to flip these cars quickly to people with more money than sense (trying to relive their youth) and don't put the effort into properly straightening the metal, filling and blocking.

The damage on my car extends up a little more due to a previous poorly made repair. Basically my entire wheel well is shot from the area just behind the door, above the well a few inches, and on the trailing edge facing the tail lights. I'm going to need to make a much larger cut so I'll likely be cutting just behind the door (where the strength is), along the body line above the well, and then drilling out the spot welds at the tail light.

Ironically enough, I have damage at this same point ( right behind the door at the molding height ) from the PO getting backed into while it was in storage in a barn *DOH* I just did not include it in my photos. I also believe its what led to my current rust as the "botched" body work behind the door has major bondo cracks now from spirited driving.

Do you think cutting a tad above the line would work better for this? I would hate to disrupt such a straight edge. but like you say, blocking, hammer can fix these things, but I am not sure I can get behind the main rear body line with the inner wheel well back there....

I need to go out to the garage and look this thing over some more, you have me curious ! haha

A little above the line might be better, yes. I considered cutting on the line because if the weld is on the body line it gives a lot of freedom to grind back into the shape of the line. But in the same sense it would be difficult to access from behind for straightening.

That may be the case where it's worthwhile to bring it to a body shop and let them spend an hour with a stud gun and slide hammer pulling it back out.

Just so happens a stud gun and slide hammer is next on my tool purchase list after I blow in more insulation in my house attic. Have to love growing up / life problems haha.

I will document the repair work as I get closer to doing it. I have been putting off a clutch replacement on my DD for a tad too long now and it is starting to show.

I had to repair the passenger side quarter panel on my s5 after someone did a hit and run. I found a donor car from another member here on the forum and had him cut the entire quarter panel off and greyhound it to me. I got the panel a few days later and decided to just cut what I needed to replace and tack weld it in place. I had to cut all the spot welds along the hatch seal area and the door jam and used an air powered saw to cut the bad area out. I did the same on the new quarter panel I bought but cut out the panel a few inches over sized so I could overlay the panel on the car and make the final cuts so the panel would match the rest of the quarter panel on the car. The gap between the panel on the car and the new panel was as wide as the blade I used to cut it so tack welding the panel to the body was a simple butt weld. After the tack welding was done I took a 120 grit flapper disk and lightly hit up all the welds to smooth them out and prepared the surface for primer and body filler. I used an aluminum filled body filler and it worked out great. I have never done any body work before this.

https://docs.google.com/uc?export=do...A5bUl2M0dQRF9j

https://docs.google.com/uc?export=do...96em5ZUks5dFpz

https://docs.google.com/uc?export=do...pHRHVSblFIbmhF

https://docs.google.com/uc?export=do...Z3Mm9nTzlabGFv

https://docs.google.com/uc?export=do...BIbk0zbGpPZWkw


dont forget to wear gloves when working with sheet metal :)

THANK YOU! That is exactly what I was looking for. A picture of the quarter hacked off! the entire job just clicked into place in my head seeing where the metal behind the actual panel runs to.

This is going to be a lot simpler then I thought.

cheers good sir!

Now I need to find a donor to give me this heart transplant....

np, If you have any questions just pm me.