passenger side 1/4 panel repair

94GTCoupe

10 Year Member
May 7, 2006
1,412
91
79
CA
boy,was it HOT today!!!
104 outside:eek:
today i started repairs on the pass side 1/4 panel.
the door never closed right,would rattle on rough roads.
also there was a small gap between the door glass and weather stripping.

when i bought it,i figured the door was just mis-aligned.
when i finally found out how bad it really was,i had already paid it off:(
so after i was involved in an accident a few months ago,i decided to fix the passanger side.
i did a pretty good job on the driver side,i have all the tools i need,and all week to do it til i go back to work.

about a month ago,i picked up a replacement panel for $50:nice:

here are some pics of what i got done today.

rear view,can you see how thick the bondo is?
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1/4 panel looks alittle wide,dont it?
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tail light removed
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for the bumper,remove the 10,7/16 nuts from inside the trunk
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and all the plastic push pins under the car
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bumper off,also removed the deck lid
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time to take the roof molding off.
pull off the weather stripping,
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remove the 6(?) torx screws
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pull metal rail off,
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remove the 3 philips screws,
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dont forget the 8mm bolt,
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pull up at the front,but dont remove from car yet,
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where the two panels meet,wiggle down,then away from the car,note the clip attaching the two panels togeather
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from inside car,remove the 4,7/16 nuts holding the sail panel on,
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also removed the 4,8mm nuts attaching the 1/4 window.
you can also see the extent of the damage to that side.
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check out how thick the bondo is
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removed the trunk hinge,
from inside trunk,remove two 7/16 nuts,
and dig it out of the sealer.
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cleaned it up to expose the spot welds,then center punched the welds before drilling them out.
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drilled out all the welds,panel loose.
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marked my spot and cut the top out,left it alittle long,i'll trim it to fit the replacement panel.
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next,drill out the 5-6 spot welds at the bottom.
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look at the s**t job some one did!
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and heres what the bondo was covering,
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i'll post up more pics as i go along.
 
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Looks good man! Yea.... someone did some ****ty welding and body work... hell i think i can do better... Dont be scared to do some heavy welding... i knew when i saw that from the inside that car had to have been hit hard.... it looks like they cut out the panel to hammer it out from the inside... once again anything i can do to help from the other side of the country let me know
 
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thanks for the support.
tomorrow i'm gonna clean things up,and i think i need to move the pillar out alittle.
went to the JY a couple weeks ago and took some measuerments of a straight mustang,mine looks to be pushed in about a 1\4 inch,thats why theres a gap between the side of the door glass and the door frame.
i have to get that correct before i test fit the 1\4 panel.
hope its not as hot as today,the news said it tied the record here today at 108.
just gotta make sure to stay hydrated,
 
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i'm melting!!
its 106 right now!
i moved the post out to where its supposed to be,looks pretty good.
now i'm trying to fill all the gaps in the panel that was cut out.
it sucks welding in the sun.
i'll post pics when i get home,just taking a little break.
 
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i'm melting!!
its 106 right now!
i moved the post out to where its supposed to be,looks pretty good.
now i'm trying to fill all the gaps in the panel that was cut out.
it sucks welding in the sun.
i'll post pics when i get home,just taking a little break.

Yea.... it was humid as hell here today and i pulled my dash... i was getting dizzy and dehydrated.... :rlaugh:
 
Yea.... it was humid as hell here today and i pulled my dash... i was getting dizzy and dehydrated.... :rlaugh:

+1... very humid here today too, cant take much more of this rain either... thank god we got a bunch of EZ Ups at work, grabbing one of the 10x15s for the weekend to pull the motor :nice:

lookin good harvey... awesome tutorial for people in the same boat... i cant get over that horrible weld job! do some digging and find the body shop who "fixed" it and go see if u can get a job and replace the ass hat who called that welding
 
Damn Davis, I outta hire you to replace my Cobra clone's rear quarter panel. A neighbor backed into it over a year ago, and I haven't had the time to even try to have the dent pulled.
 
Just so you know, you don't have to weld that panel back on. I went to collision repair vocational school for 2 years and we welded some of our panels But we also were using a panel bonding adhesive. You might want to check into it. Less prep work to get ready to paint the new panel. No grinding welds, no drilling plug weld holes. It makes it nice. I have aslo read that it is stronger than welding. Just throwing that out there for ya.
 
Stronger than a weld, maybe, but for how long? The problem with new technologies is that they haven't been time tested. Once a panel is welded to anther, it's bonded forever until you cut them apart.

If you have any links to that bonding system, let's see it. Sounds interesting!

And nice work Harvey, keep the pics coming!

On a side note, how did you move the pillar out? My driver side pillar is pushed in about 1/4 inch, looks like crap and filler won't fix it because of the side vent.
 
New Panel Bonding Adhesive from 3M Meets Latest OEM Specs
(St. Paul, MN) 3M introduces its Automix brand Panel Bonding Adhesive PN 08116. Used to replace quarter panels, roofs, box sides, utility doors and door skins, this new adhesive meets stringent GM (6449G) and DailmerChrysler (MS-CD 507) failure-mode requirements, and comes with a comprehensive lifetime warranty.

3M says its line of panel bonding adhesives offers a faster, safer method for many non-structural repairs by reducing or eliminating the need to weld. Surfaces are sealed and bonded in one application, and the adhesive cures on demand with the addition of heat. Glass beads in the adhesive work as built-in spacers for optimum bond line thickness. Using this product eliminates most overhead welding and the heat warpage of sheet metal that is associated with welding.

New Automix brand Panel Bonding Adhesive PN 08116 from 3M is now available through 3M's existing paint and body distribution channels


Here is a website that sells all different kinds of them
Metal Adhesives



Panel Bonding Adhesive Toughened Epoxy Size 200 mL Black Temp Range -40 to 176 F Curing Time 4 Hrs Application Time 90 Min VOC Content 0 Viscosity 200 Specific Gravity 1.2 Tensile Strength 3000 to 4000 PSI Substrates Aluminum Steel Brass Copper Rubber Plastics PVC ABS Polycarbonate Acrylic Fiber Reinforced Polyester High Performance
 
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darn,now you tell me about the adhesive!
already half way done.
i'll read up on the adhesive for next time,thanks for the tip.

for the pillar,at the bottom,where it attaches to the rail that runs accros the car,it is attached by a few spot welds.
i got some pics from today and yesterday that i'll try to post up tonight.
 
The best part of the adhesive is the prep time is significantly less for when you go to paint. You also will not have the heat damage to the metal you otherwise would if you use a regular wire fed welder. Plus you do have a chance of warping the metal when you weld it in place. Just some food for thought. Really easy to use though.
 
got alot done in the past 2 days.
here are some highlights from yesterday and today.

YESTERDAY

heres the major problem,in my opinion.
the black line is where its supposed to be,as you can see its pushed in quite abit.
causes all kinds of door sealing issues!
DSCN0956.jpg


in order to fix this,we have to move this pillar out towards the door

first,drill out these spot welds,(not a good pic,but you get the idea)
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than,remove this cap at the end by drilling out the spot welds.
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here you can see how mangled up it was
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straightened it out
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straighten out the cap,clamp it down and weld it in first,the pillar attaches to it.
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had my brother pull it out,while i tacked it down
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test fit the weatherstrip,it now will seal along the entire length of the side,before it only sealed tight towards the top.
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next,i started to clean up the weld remnents.all the way around.
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ugh,heres the part i was dreading getting to.
i started filling the gaps where it was kinda straight.
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didnt get alot done...
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got alittle too focused on welding,
smelled some smoke:eek:
the cardboard i had behind the area caught fire,no damage,just lost alittle insulation.
View attachment 252875

i decided that i've had enough for the day!

TODAY

was really cool when i got up this morning:)
thought i was in for a nice day,no such luck!:rolleyes:
View attachment 252876

in order to seal it all up,i removed this plate to get at all the gaps.
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cleaned it up,
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straightened out the panel and reattached it
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welded it up the best i could..
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test fit my 1/4 window
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that was the best i could do,so i shot it with some primer.
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wheel well had a couple folds in it,so i banged them out.
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time to test fit my replacement 1/4 panel!
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i put tape on the area,
over lap the 1/4 panel,
then cut along the top with a razor,
remove the tape below the cut,
and trim to that point.(i know,a pencil would have been eaiser,but i didnt have one)
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after some trimming,i got it real close.
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looks better than the other side i did!
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thats where today ends.
after that,my girl hosed me off and we jumped in the pool,
floated around for a little bit.
was nice and refreshing:nice:

TOMORROW

still need to test fit the bumper,tail light,and deck lid to get the gaps right.
then,weld,fill a couple small dents,sand and primer.