This may not be the right place on this forum but could not find a body discussion area. Has anyone ever tried to use a fairlane 500 4 door rear quarter panels on a fairlane 500. I have a fairlane 500 4 door as a donor car. I just wanted some experienced advice before I start Frankensteining cars. If not does anyone have any good experiences with fit and finish of reproduction body panels? Thanks
Trent
EMS is the best available. All body panels are going to need some tweeking to be "right"..or at least close. On the rear quarters, the tweeking needed should be minimal compared to the actual work of replacing the quarter. Don't know if the rear section of the 4 drs are the same as the 2 drs. Obviously we're only talking from a portion of the wheel well back, and not the front section of the rear quarter. Some careful measuring should tell you. I'd start by tracing the wheel well opening on the 4 dr and compare the tracing to the 2 dr to make sure the openings are the same, then measure form a point on the wheel well all the way back for the length. My guess would be if those two things are the same, it should be usable.
We are talking about the rear fender well to bumper area. In front of fender well looks good but my rockers are in bad shape as well. I have only found the panels on eBay and I had worried about the quality of those panels. I wanted to avoid the pitfalls of others if there are some pitfalls. I do appreciate the vendor recommendation. I might post some pictures of the rusted out sections to get a few opinions from the forum experts like yourself.
Thanks
Trent
The ems link is listed in the suppier links section, as is Concourse, which I believe sells the ems panels. Classic Auto in Ok. City carries an off-brand.
I used EMS, the quarters come in two pieces, one piece from the center of the rear wheel opening to the rear of the car and the other half going from the center of the rear wheel opening to the front door and rocker panel. I would give them a call as to four door application, but believe from center of rear of wheel opening back is the same. I had both quarters replaced using EMS on my 500 and they seem to fit very well, the stampings are not as sharp in the transition area over wheel wells but a little bond filler can correct if need to blend to original. EMS 216 541 4585 they are good to work with and take returns with no issues, but do charge 10 % and of course your shipping, so make sure you need the parts ordered. My car is still in paint shop, jams, dash, under hood, trunk and fenders all edge and reassemble and now hopefully will be in paint this week. It's a bright Flame red two stage.
I used EMS panels on my skyliner and they all seamed to fit pretty well. Body is done and looks good. The lower rear quarter panel had to be extended due to length of the skyliners rear quarter.
Thanks It helps to have good references from poeple that use a company before.
I have not tried using sections of fairlane quarters from a 4dr on a 2dr, but I see no reason it want work. I have used a 4dr custom quarter on my 2dr including the trunk floor over too the spare tire well. It is a lot of work and requires a lot of measuring and fitting but can be done. My car had been hit in the left rear but all the damage was behind the wheel well.
Here is a picture of my rust out panel
About 95% chance you're also gonna be looking at the inner quarters....not that big of a deal. If your wheel wells are rotted also, you may be looking at inner wheel well repair...and that's a bitch 'cause nobody is making them...lotsa hand forming of panels to repair the inner wheel wells.
That's a fine example of the damage caused by not cleaning the trunk drop area. Drops are available for Customs, if they're not available for Fairlanes then lengthen a set of the Custom ones.
I'm about to strip the car to the frame. Do I fix this stuff before i remove it from the frame? quarters & rockers. I want the do it right so not to mess up anything worse. What do you think?
imho, it depends on the extent of the damage and panels you are replacing. If your getting into floorpans, etc. I would definetly do all the repairs, one area at a time, before removing the body from the frame. It seems like the guys that set the bodies up on rotisseries to make alot of the work easier, do a substantial amount of tack welded braces before they start cutting anything.
If the only area (I'd be surprised) you're looking at replacing is that lower edge of the rear quarter in the pic, then it shouldn't present a problem either way.
After further inspection I will have to replace the rockers on both sides rear quarter (front and rear) The rear floor pan is rusted out about 5 in sq. section. All rusted out metal is the bottom 4 inches. I do beleave if I cut the quart apart, I will find the inside quarter will be pretty tough to. I don't know yet. So I will remove front fenders, tire wells, engine, and trany. Then fix sheet metal before the removal from frame? Here are more pictures.
Trent. That is correct, imo. Unless you have a rotiserrie, I don't see any point in removing the body from the frame until after you do the sheetmetal replacement. You can see most of the inner rear quarter (some call it a trunk drop) from the underside. While you're checking for the extent of the body cancer, take a screwdriver and poke around in the areas where the floor braces/supports spot weld onto the inner rocker. Those areas are notorious for building up debris, trapping water, and rotting out. If there is any damage to the inner rockers, that's where you'll find it...along with probable damage to that floor support end.
When you do get to removing sheetmetal, concentrate on one area at a time to keep it from getting overwhelming. Be cautious to remove only outer layer sheetmetal, minimizing damage to inner panels. Spot weld removal cutting bits are strongly recommended. If your careful with them, and drill a pilot hole for the guide pin, you can get a number of spotwelds cut loose before you break one.
Rust is a fickle foe. We can speculate but actual inspection of the subject vehicle is the only way to make a diagnosis. If the inner rocker is damaged, the body needs temporary bracing. If the floor supports and/or the floor support braces (at the inner rockers) or the cowl/A pillar are damaged, repairs will be very difficult with the body on the frame. Economical rotisseries can be bought or made. The up front cost may sting a little but there will be a line of buyers when you complete your repairs and offer the rotisserie up for sale. The other benefits will be in the quality of repairs and hours invested. I'm not saying the repairs can't be made on the frame, I'm saying that my body doesn't move in those directions anymore and I'm not into slag burns in my ears. I put inner rockers in with body on the frame. PITA!!! With the doors still on for gap checking, I tacked the inner rockers and floor supports. Then moved to rotisserie to do the floors, finish welding, and outer sheet metal.
Just so I'm clear on the terms is the picture below labeled right? If so I will check them out. I'm sorry if I'm making a bigger deal of this than I should. Just want to do it right if it takes 10 - 30 years to do it. lol
Trent quote: "Just want to do it right if it takes 10 - 30 years to do it. lol"
that's funny....you're right where I was... let's see, 8 years ago. The only difference is, now I'm realizing I'm too old to take 30 years.
You do have the labels correct on Gary's pic.
If I were to start one all over again, the main thing I would change is spending the coin as Gary said for a rotiserrie. I had a lot more underneath stuff to replace than what it appears Gary did.
I have been giving the rotisserie alot of thought. I all most feel it is needed on this vehicle. But I did not know what prep work before the removal of the body. Sounds like I need to get the rockers replacement panels and then cut them out to get a good idea what is behind them. I feel like now that I went home at lunch and looked closer at the bottom of the rockers, the inners are going to be bad. Here a pic of that. Couple more questions. How much does a 57 fairlane cab weigh? And what is the recommended bracing for frame removal process if this is the route I go ?
You can skip the poking around with a screwdriver to see if your inner rockers have any rust.
(Don't ya hate a smart ass?!)
One more thought on the rotiserie...I did a body off after I did all my bodywork so I could do the frame and the underside of the car. I spent 10 days in our heat (I'm Texas also) with the body up just high enough so I could get under it scrapping, sandblasting, ect. I will never do that again. As bad as it would be on a rotiserrie, having your face 18" away from the sandblasted surfaces makes for one miserable day. I went thru 600 lbs of sand and 22 facemasks.
Do yourself a favor and get a twirly thing.
It appears you will need inner rockers...at least the part in the picture. Save yourself some money and shipping. Your local metal shop can easily make inner rockers from 16 gauge with a 90 degree bend using a brake. In the last year or so, floor supports have become available. In the past, only floor support braces were available (just the part that welds to the inner rocker). Any kind of light steel tubing will work for temporary bracing. I have used, and seen used, 1/2" or 3/4" electric conduit. It is available at any home improvement store and about as cheap as anything. It is galvanized and may require grinding anywhere welding is needed. Weld one piece across the inside of the door opening 6-8" above the floor (A pillar to B pillar). Cross two more pieces between the B pillars (top to bottom on one side and bottom to top on the other). If the toe boards are really bad, you might want to cross brace the cowl (A pillars).
trent...almost forgot. One thing that will save LOTS of time down the road. Before you disassemble anything, esp. doors, trunk, hood,...go around and drill 1/8" holes thru the hinges (on both ends) so that when you are reassembling you can use the holes with a 1/8 pin or drill shank to realign the pieces pretty close to where they were. I didn't know about that when I took mine apart...sure wish I did.
Rich
That is great advise. I will do. Thanks
The ranchero body I got from Randy Conner needs quarter, and outer rocker work, I'm going to leave it bolted to the frame for that. Then hopefully my friends nova will be off his rotisserie, and I'll jump on. The project is stalled, I bought a house needing a makeover and someone else paying the bills. Oh, also summer arrived finally. Mark