Body panel question

[trent17]

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

[RICH MUISE]

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.

[trent17]

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

[RICH MUISE]

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.

[rlibew]

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.

[mtwilsonboy]

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.

[trent17]

Thanks It helps to have good references from poeple that use a company before.

[glen b henderson]

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.

[trent17]

Here is a picture of my rust out panel

[RICH MUISE]

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.

[gasman826]

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.

[trent17]

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?

[RICH MUISE]

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.

[trent17]

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.

[RICH MUISE]

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.