Quarter skin - is this right?

[b-body-bob]

I was wondering if I could get some opinions on this quarter skin I'm installing. With the quarter trimmed to fit, it lays flat up against the car front back and top like it should, but the bottom where it wraps the rocker is no where close to being flat against the bottom of the rocker and against the pinch weld. I included two photos, one showing how it looks with the quarter hanging on clecos, followed by one showing how far it's off when I clamp the bottom where it should be, without the clecos to position it.

I've got some questions about that fit - if I cleco the panel in place, then force the bottom against the rocker, it puts a twist in the panel. If it's set up that way and I take a cleco out, it forcibly pops out so there's a load of stress in the thing clamped up that way. It seems like that would be a recipe for warpage to me, but what do I know? (not much)

I wondered if a) is it normal and I should just get on with it, or b) should I try to bend the bottom so it aligns with the rocker to minimize the stress in the panel?

If it needs bent, what's the hot tip for doing that without wrecking the panel accidentally?

Thanks in advance for advice and comments.

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Here's another photo from inside the trunk, to show how good everything fits when the panel is laying on the car with just the clecos in it

 

[Donny]

Qtr skins are more difficult to install; because of the increased amount of welding required. If the skin portion is bad, chances are the rest and critical areas are also toast. Full qtrs are the answer.

 

[Superfreak]

That little bit, I would just push up lower section and clamp it.

 

[1962polara]

Make a template profile of the pass panel and compare it?

 

[daytona kid]

I cut some out of one of my skins in that area to help the fit. I think most skin replacements take some tweaking to get right. Beware that you can pull the skin down to much and deform the top edge/line of the quarter, ask me how I know... But I say do what you think you need to do to get it as right as you can, just really think it thru.., and remember fillers cover scars nicely. Nobody will ever know, except the 50,000 guys you'll never meet that see it here, lol..

 

[b-body-bob]

Qtr skins are more difficult to install; because of the increased amount of welding required. If the skin portion is bad, chances are the rest and critical areas are also toast. Full qtrs are the answer.

There's nothing wrong with the rest of the panel. The car had some early patches in front and behind the wheel, and the lips had been rolled and trimmed. It's was convert to a race car in 76 so it wasn't all rusted up. No vinyl top either.

You'd probably disagree with the patch I welded into the rocker too ;) My approach follows the rule of the less metal I take out, the fewer chances there are for me to put it back crooked.

I'm not concerned here about restored value either although I'm not sure using a skin vs a full quarter is a factor there once it's finished anyway. Either way, it's not original metal.

That little bit, I would just push up lower section and clamp it.

The problem with that is it's not just push it up, it's both hands squeezing a non-chinese visegrip (because cheap ones flex out before it's in place) and watch the rest of the panel move out of place as it clamps down.

Make a template profile of the pass panel and compare it?

I could do that but the pass panel is definitely welded flat against the rocker.

I cut some out of one of my skins in that area to help the fit. I think most skin replacements take some tweaking to get right.

I've got that comment about tweaking things to fit several times, but this is the first place I've asked that gave specific advice. I also got a PM with the same tip. I should've known somebody here had run into this before since there's more actual build threads updated here in a day than other sites have in a year.

Anyway, cutting the panel near the wheel well seems like the way to go because all those angles won't flex and it transfers the bend up in to the loose part of the panel. Any chance you've got a photo of where you cut yours? (I'll look for a build thread in your name, maybe you already posted one).

Beware that you can pull the skin down to much and deform the top edge/line of the quarter, ask me how I know... But I say do what you think you need to do to get it as right as you can, just really think it thru

I had a gTx where a prior owner installed a skin and screwed up the top edge, and that's a big reason why I'm working to get this one to lay in place with no stress in the panel before I even roll the welder out. Making matters worse that dude had left a lip under the new skin so there was no way to metal work it so I just drove it like it was. You don't notice bad bodywork on a moving car ;)

remember fillers cover scars nicely. Nobody will ever know, except the 50,000 guys you'll never meet that see it here, lol..

You guys won't tell anybody, right? I think the wheel wells will give it away though. Mini-tubbed with a de-hump coming once I get everything fitting right.

Thanks to all. I'm going to mess with it over the weekend and will report back on my success or about how bad I screwed up the skin and when the full quarter is due in to replace it.

 

[Hemirunner]

The bend in that location is not sharp enough. I bent mine sharper to fix that issue. You can read through my thread and there are pics showing what I did. Not perfect, but passable.

 

[daytona kid]

You can see on the bottom left of this pic where I cut and then later spliced it together there with a butt weld to the rest of the new skin, which fixed my fitment problem. My other side went on fine with no cutting, just some other tweaking.

 

[69 GTX]

I ran into the same thing (my thread 69 GTX) Bends were not right (sharp enough). I was able to get the bends corrected & pulled into place. I also did mini tubs and it takes a trained eye to tell!

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[b-body-bob]

The bend in that location is not sharp enough. I bent mine sharper to fix that issue. You can read through my thread and there are pics showing what I did. Not perfect, but passable.

I'll hunt that thread down, thanks.

You can see on the bottom left of this pic where I cut and then later spliced it together there with a butt weld to the rest of the new skin, which fixed my fitment problem. My other side went on fine with no cutting, just some other tweaking.

Wow, that's more cutting than I hope to have to do!

I ran into the same thing (my thread 69 GTX) Bends were not right (sharp enough). I was able to get the bends corrected & pulled into place. I also did mini tubs and it takes a trained eye to tell!

That looks great.

The minitubs in my car were bodyworked in the trunk too, but not in the passenger compartment. It was a race car with no interior so the interior side of things looks terrible.

Two things I've learned since last post, well 3 but I already knew that life gets in the way of everything else you'd rather be doing.

1. You can knock an AMD quarter off the top of the box it came in (about 4ft off the floor) without a lot of damage. Makes a lot of noise though.
2. A small cut in the wheelwell lip goes a long way toward making the panel bendable.

I still haven't figured out a way to confidently bend the bottom so all I've accomplished is the little cut in the wheelwell and a try at force-fitting it again. It comes a lot closer to fitting now, but it needs bent because it still forces the quarter away from the car, most noticable in the door opening. Not nearly as bad as it was before I cut the wheelwell though.

 

[b-body-bob]

The bend in that location is not sharp enough. I bent mine sharper to fix that issue. You can read through my thread and there are pics showing what I did. Not perfect, but passable.

I found the post where you had made some folding pliers and fixed the lower bend http://www.forbbodiesonly.com/mopar...tch-that&p=910204745&viewfull=1#post910204745

I just made a pair for myself with an 8" wide L welded to it. Need a helper to make the bend though, no way to get leverage on it alone.

 

[b-body-bob]

Last update tonight - I made 2 pairs of the pliers like from Hemirunner's post with 1-1/2" angle each piece 8" long. I started at the wheel well end, with one pair clamped so it was on the bottom part of the panel aligned with the bend line. The other pair I put right behind that so the it was clamped with it aligned with the pinch bend. The second plier kind of slides inside the first one and the handles end up side by side.

I flipped the pliers so they squeezed to lock in opposite directions to make it easier. Once I got it all on there it ended up with the whole width of the underside covered with the angle iron for 8" at a time. Then by working the two pairs of pliers in opposite directions, I was able to get it to flatten out and bend along the stamped line. It's easier to do than to describe. I moved the pliers along the part that needed bending until I was happy and gave it a trial fit and first time it looks like it's about good enough to stop messing with it.

I'll take some photos the next time I have it apart to show how I positioned the pliers and how it worked.

Now on to the other 5 or 10 things left to do before it's all closed up.