[Dave81461]

Hello, I am seeking advise on replacing the passenger side quarter panel on my 76 Trans Am. I have never done body work before and I want to be able to tackle this on my own. I have all the equipment needed to do the job or have access to what I don't have.

I have owned the car for 21 years and have always wanted to repaint it and have finally began the work. It will not be a stock restoration as I want to race the car and drive it to cruise nights. So far I have sand blasted the front sub frame and suspension components and have powder coated them. I have also painted the bottom of the car black, I know it is not factory, but thats what I wanted to do.

As you know there is not a full quarter panels for this year so I purchased a quater skin from a company called KC Auto Panel that appears to look pretty good as far as I can tell. My question is has anybody ever attached one of these to their car and if so how did you go about attaching it. I would like to attach most all of the panel, my question is would you go ahead and attach it to the striker panel like I would like to do in the front or cut it off just before? I think the easiest method would be to attach it to the striker panel and but weld the rest to the existing quarter panel.

I hope I have explained this clearly and I am on track on my plans to install this, if anybody could provide feedback I would greatly appreciate it.

I have attached a few photos of what the panel looks like, that is if it worked.

Thanks in advanced for any feedback.

[cnc]

Here is a great link for some quarter panel replacement its a Charger they r workin on hope this helps

http://www.moparmusclemagazine.com/t...val/index.html

http://www.moparmusclemagazine.com/t...l_2/index.html

[Dave81461]

CNC,

Thanks, that is exactly what I was looking for !!

[n20ta2]

It looks like the sub panel behind the wheel is toast as well,do you have a replacement for that too? Your plan sound good,how is the outer wheel house and the quarter in front of the wheel?

[Dave81461]

Originally Posted by n20ta2

It looks like the sub panel behind the wheel is toast as well,do you have a replacement for that too? Your plan sound good,how is the outer wheel house and the quarter in front of the wheel?

Yes, I will have to replace the trunk extension with a panel from Cross Canada that appears to be an exact replacement.

Most of the outer wheel house seems to be fairly solid, I will know more when the panel is removed.

I have included some pictures of the front of the rear wheel.

[n20ta2]

Yeah,you are wise to replace the whole thing.I would wrap it around the stricker panel like the factory did,I did it that way on my old 80 camaro with a doner panel and it worked well.I read the link provided above and that is exactly how I would approach your repair.Good luck with it!

[chuckies76ta]

Here is a guy on this board that has full quarters made by GM..

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=584673

Charles

[chuckies76ta]

Go with the full GM quarter is budget allows. You won't regret it.. I had new quarters installed on my 76 Trans am during Restoration.
You can also install new trunk fillers and if required rockers at the same time.

Charles

[Dave81461]

Originally Posted by chuckies76ta

Go with the full GM quarter is budget allows. You won't regret it.. I had new quarters installed on my 76 Trans am during Restoration.
You can also install new trunk fillers and if required rockers at the same time.

Charles

Chuckies76ta,

Thanks for posting the link and the pictures of your car, very NICE! I also checked out your Youtube video, your car turned out very nice. Where your quarters very rusty and did you do the work yourself? I am a novice at body work but willing to learn, I wouldn't mind the full quarters just not sure I want to try and tackle that much ! I really prefer the mechanical aspect of this hobby than body work !

Thanks for your help,
David K

[chuckies76ta]

Hi David: Thanks for the kind words. The quarters needed to be replaced only on the lower portion. The door jam area also had rust inside. When we cut them open I decided I wanted the whole quarter done at once. I had a body shop do them. Full Quarters are much less work to install the the partial quarters.

I had been talking to a guy in the States who had two full GM quarters and I bought them that afternoon from the guy.

I have never looked back. Best money I ever spent on the car. Well, the TKO-600 and new Moser rearend are also nice.

I guess the 455 HO is also nice too..lol

Charles

[wytnyt]

unless you can weld good without warpage i would just a bodyman rough it in for you.
you can really destroy your new panel not to mention the area surrounding the quarter.
if you do install i would fishplate it at the top of the quarter and bounce around with your welds.best of luck with your project

[x-bird2]

at the price that guy is offering, i'd grab those quarters. you don't want to know what 70-73's go for--and unless someone steps up to the plate with a good full repro you guys are gonna be in the same boat. if they were 70-73, i'd buy at that price just to have them in case something ever happened. btw, i have one NOS quarter (driver's) and one partial quarter on my car. the partial took a ton of work and i'm still not happy with it. i'd cut that partial off in a heartbeat if i could find a 70-73 passenger side NOS quarter for less than $2000.

[79TA455STROKED]

Do the FULL quarters even if you find a good used one and cut it off the car.I tried the new partial,bad fit,and the marker light hole is not the correct size.Try putting your marker light in and you will see what i mean.
I did a full one on the driver side,pic is below,its now painted.

With the full quarter,you only have a small seam,which is the factory seam at the top of the sail panel.The spot welds just get drilled out everywhere else.
If you want pics,i think there are some in my photobucket from when i did it,let me know.
Good luck with the project!

[soupman]

The repo quarter is not that good. Compare the bottom portion with your driver side quarter. You will feeel a small indentation or flute on the original one. The repo just is straight down from the marker light. Might be hard to see, since you cannot compare them side by side, but you can definitely feel the indentation.

[Dave81461]

Originally Posted by 79TA455STROKED

Do the FULL quarters even if you find a good used one and cut it off the car.I tried the new partial,bad fit,and the marker light hole is not the correct size.Try putting your marker light in and you will see what i mean.
I did a full one on the driver side,pic is below,its now painted.

With the full quarter,you only have a small seam,which is the factory seam at the top of the sail panel.The spot welds just get drilled out everywhere else.
If you want pics,i think there are some in my photobucket from when i did it,let me know.
Good luck with the project!

I have been following your progress on the Autobodystore.com website and here as well, where did you find a full quarter and did you install it your self ? I did look through your photobucket but don't recall seeing the quarter panel install, maybe I just overlooked it. If you could provide pictures I would appreciate it.

Soupman, I did compare the quarter to the other side and it does have the same indentation that the factory panel does.

If I continue to go the patch panel repair I plan to tack weld it completely moving all over the panel in until it is fully welded, may do it in increments of seval days to eliminate wrappage.

The side marker light did appear to fit somewhat awkward but I thought I could massage it to fit good.

Thanks for all the responses so far, I may have to just try to purchase the full nos quarters if he doesn't sell them before I get a chance to buy them.

Again, I'm am faily new to body work, more of a mechanical and race person that I do with my 81 Trans Am.

Thanks again,
David

[79TA455STROKED]

I bought it off a memeber here or on Transamcountry.com.Cant remember which.
It was cut off a car.He just cut off much more then i needed and i just drilled out all the factory spot welds to take the whole skin off.
I did put it on myself too.
Ill put up a couple pics in the morning,going to bed!LOL
They are in my photobucket though,the donner quarter was blue.

[soupman]

Thats good they have that swale or indentation at the bottom. When I restored my 71 t/a the repo's just went straight down. glad they at least fixed that.