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Mounting Replacement Sheet Metal/Quarter Panel OVER Existing Quarter Panel

CDA 455 II

ANFAQUE2
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How would one go about taking this sheet metal quarter panel:
1987-1996-F-150-6-bedside-skin-passengers-side.png

And placing/mounting it over my existing quarter panel:
1987-1996-F-150-6-bedside-skin-passengers-side.png


BACKSTORY:
When I did the 1ton rear axle swap I used my old '99.5 F-350 front leaf springs, in turn it moved the axle rearward 5" (which I specifically wanted).

I got a little carried away with the cutoff wheel on the rear part of the wheelwell.


My thinking is to take an LMC sheet metal panel for a '92 to '96 long bed truck/center the wheelwell over the tire AND mount/install over existing quarter panel.

MY QUESTION: HOW CAN I DO THIS?
I'm interested in function first; form second.

My first thought is to use .25" rivets to mount it.

Most of the flared part of the wheelwell is rusted through, so I'm probably going to just cut out the whole wheelwell flare so the replacement panel can lay flat over it.


Any suggestions on a simple way to mount said replacement quarter panel besides using .25" rivets?

From 20ft away I want it to look like factory quarter panel at first glance.
 
Drywall screws and tar. :flipoff2:

Why would you not cut it out and do it properly? Multiple layers are gonna collect shit and rot.

Why not get JY Bronco panels? Chop it out up to the door, use the extra length to move the wheelwell back, keep your tail light area.

Is the truck panel the right profile? You've still got to deal with the tail light. What gauge is it? I've seen some real garbage replacement sheetmetal.

Why not get a Bronco panel? Not available?

https://www.fullsizebronco.com/threads/rear-quarter-panel-repair-replacement.214259/
 
Looks like for $450 you can get a set of bronco panels. Cut the replacement panels so that you have enough material on the front end to move the wheel arch rearwards. I would cut out @ the red lines and then I would buy a Flanging tool, flange both panels weld them together. You then could use the sections of the replacement panel that you will cutoff to repair the blue square sections.

image_11953.jpg
 
It’s going to rattle, rust, trap dirt, and look like hammered dog shit.

From 100’, not 20.

First that comes to mind is an episode of Xtreme 4X with the 6X6 Suburban where he does what you should do and looks fairly simple.

Or go all in and skin it like OJ.
 
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Looks like for $450 you can get a set of bronco panels. Cut the replacement panels so that you have enough material on the front end to move the wheel arch rearwards. I would cut out @ the red lines and then I would buy a Flanging tool, flange both panels weld them together. You then could use the sections of the replacement panel that you will cutoff to repair the blue square sections.


This is the best solution IMO.
 
Makes perfect sense. A white bronco and you got carried away cutting it up. Is that you, O.J.? :mr-t:
 
Drywall screws and tar. :flipoff2:

Why would you not cut it out and do it properly? Multiple layers are gonna collect shit and rot.

Why not get JY Bronco panels? Chop it out up to the door, use the extra length to move the wheelwell back, keep your tail light area.

Is the truck panel the right profile? You've still got to deal with the tail light. What gauge is it? I've seen some real garbage replacement sheetmetal.

Why not get a Bronco panel? Not available?

https://www.fullsizebronco.com/threads/rear-quarter-panel-repair-replacement.214259/

Valid points
 
Drywall screws and tar. :flipoff2:

Why would you not cut it out and do it properly? Multiple layers are gonna collect shit and rot.

Why not get JY Bronco panels? Chop it out up to the door, use the extra length to move the wheelwell back, keep your tail light area.

Is the truck panel the right profile? You've still got to deal with the tail light. What gauge is it? I've seen some real garbage replacement sheetmetal.

Why not get a Bronco panel? Not available?

https://www.fullsizebronco.com/threads/rear-quarter-panel-repair-replacement.214259/


From your link; someone made a good point that factory panels are thicker than replacement panel.

Definitely might take this route.
 
Looks like for $450 you can get a set of bronco panels. Cut the replacement panels so that you have enough material on the front end to move the wheel arch rearwards. I would cut out @ the red lines and then I would buy a Flanging tool, flange both panels weld them together. You then could use the sections of the replacement panel that you will cutoff to repair the blue square sections.


/
So after I cut at the red line; I would then flange along the red line?

Or flange the replacement panel?
 
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Harbor Freight. I like these. Clamp, and maintain a gap. Helps if you zip a slot in the bar, so it's not falling out inside your fender all the time.

OP, you've got some learnin to do. I don't know jack about bodywork, but I can see that. (I started a thread on the old site asking how to use fluxcore for patch panels! :laughing: )
 
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Thanks for that link with that tool. Ive changed panels in the past but that makes it look much easier.. Not that I have any plans to change a panel anytime soon but I still want that tool.

Have you yourself used it?

I have not personally, I just watched a friend do the fit up of a quarter panel patch on his 70 mustang. He used the flange method. It also helps with the welding as you aren't butt welding two thin sheets on the edges. On the mustang the new patch panel was flanged vs the existing panel.
 




Harbor Freight. I like these. Clamp, and maintain a gap.

Helps if you zip a slot in the bar, so it's not falling out inside your fender all the time. <--- ???:confused:

OP, you've got some learnin to do. <--- UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE YEAR:flipoff2:

I don't know jack about bodywork, but I can see that. (I started a thread on the old site asking how to use fluxcore for patch panels! :laughing: )

nOOB question:
With your clamp example; are the two panels not flanged?

Straight panel end-to-end?



I want to clarify/reiterate:
This is not a restoration project.

One option I'm looking at is doing something like what Autofab does with their rear quarter panels:
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But leave more of the original quarter panels to help re-enforce/maintain the replacement panel going over it.

What's driving my thought-process?

I'm poor; so I'm trying to keep it function-over-form.


And since I off-road the Bronco all four seasons; I don't want to go with fiberglass because I bounce off concrete snowbanks in Winter and rock outcrops, as well as tree branches etc during the other three seasons.

At $650 to $1,000 for a set of FG quarter panels; I don't want to afford a set PER SEASON! :eek:
 
for it to look right, you are going to have to do some massaging of the fiberglass since you adjusted the wheelbase. the guys who stretch their broncos use f150 fenders and center it up, chop the front and back, and bolt it on like the picture you have of the red one.

i think a metal f150 fender will be the simplest and easiest solution to accomplish your goal and attached it like the the fiberglass guys do with bolts.
 
For it to look right the guys who stretch their broncos use f150 fenders and center it up, chop the front and back, and bolt it on like the picture you have of the red one.

i think a metal f150 fender will be the simplest and easiest solution to accomplish your goal and attached it like the the fiberglass guys do with bolts.

/
Exactly; that's what I'm leaning towards, currently.
 
No pictures but in high school we threw patch panels on my buddys F250. Cut the rot with an angle grinder, laid the panel over, and pop riveted the bitch on over the top, exactly how you describe. That looked awful. So he bought a gallon can of bondoglass tried blending the seam. Still wasn't great. He did the entire truck from the body line down in bed liner, sorta hid it best, but I hate the bed liner look personally. Bed eventually was changed.

Get the patch panel, slap it on with a few rivets and stand back and look at it. Worse case you have 4 more holes to fill later.

I'll add for white trash extra credit, bitchathane roofing works the tits as temporary rust fix, covers nicely, takes paint decent, and when you want to fit it right it cuts off better than spray foam and bondo
 
No pictures but in high school we threw patch panels on my buddys F250. Cut the rot with an angle grinder, laid the panel over, and pop riveted the bitch on over the top, exactly how you describe. That looked awful. So he bought a gallon can of bondoglass tried blending the seam. Still wasn't great. He did the entire truck from the body line down in bed liner, sorta hid it best, but I hate the bed liner look personally. Bed eventually was changed.

I've done that. If you flange the panel and then do a double row of 1/8 pop rivets evenly spaced it looks like a patch but it looks like a good patch. I wouldn't do it on something that should be "nice"
 
I've done that. If you flange the panel and then do a double row of 1/8 pop rivets evenly spaced it looks like a patch but it looks like a good patch. I wouldn't do it on something that should be "nice"

Yeah I imagine flanging it would make it a bit better. OP sounds like he wants decent not "nice"
 
/
Exactly; that's what I'm leaning towards, currently.

It doesnt matter if you use a F150 or Bronco panel, I would still use the flange method. It is going to be the easiest/cleanest for the money. The tab method works with the fiberglass because of the flared fenders dont look out of place, with a factory panel its going to look weird being spaced out even that little bit.

Here is a better video of the HF tool, I didnt realize the one I linked earlier just 45*s the edges. This is the style flange I was referring to in my original post.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-gu3pJ2fkk
 
Ok, I'm not advising this to be the right way, but.

My last Bronco (that happend to be white) was rusted about the same as yours. I got "cut out" fenderflares from bushwhacker. They require cutting out enough metal that you will be ok around the wheel wells. Then I had two pieces of stainless steel bent to match the angle at the rocker panel. Cut them into three pieces each for the doors and screwed them on from the upper edge. (Were the metal was still good) Sprayed them white and it looked great.

i know this sounds hokey, but it really wasn't bad. The sheet metal under the stainless kept on rusting, but it couldn't be seen. Paint got scratched on the stainless, but hardly showed because it was silver instead of red. (Rust) I lived in Canada at the time and the canucks love salt. It always looked presentable. I kept the truck till the body mounts rusted off. When I sold it, it still looked good from the outside. (Rattled like hell)

I don't really have any good pics of that truck.

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If you really want to fix the rust, do what I did. Sell it and buy a Bronco from New Mexico. (Zero rust)
 
Ok, I'm not advising this to be the right way, but.

My last Bronco (that happend to be white) was rusted about the same as yours. I got "cut out" fenderflares from bushwhacker. They require cutting out enough metal that you will be ok around the wheel wells. Then I had two pieces of stainless steel bent to match the angle at the rocker panel. Cut them into three pieces each for the doors and screwed them on from the upper edge. (Were the metal was still good) Sprayed them white and it looked great.

i know this sounds hokey, but it really wasn't bad. The sheet metal under the stainless kept on rusting, but it couldn't be seen. Paint got scratched on the stainless, but hardly showed because it was silver instead of red. (Rust) I lived in Canada at the time and the canucks love salt. It always looked presentable. I kept the truck till the body mounts rusted off. When I sold it, it still looked good from the outside. (Rattled like hell)

I don't really have any good pics of that truck.



If you really want to fix the rust, do what I did. Sell it and buy a Bronco from New Mexico. (Zero rust)

Thanks for the tip/tech. :beer:



I would really love to see the nose of that B-25! :smokin:

From the canopy, forward.
 
Thanks for the tip/tech. :beer:



I would really love to see the nose of that B-25! :smokin:

From the canopy, forward.

I don't have any other pics in digital. The guy standing on the tow bar was Vic Tattlemen. He owned the plane and flew them in the pacific theater. He was flying that thing in his 90's. He's gone now, but you can google his name. Quite a character. That B25 was a rare one with a big cannon on the front. Vic told me he never flew one like that during the war.
 
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