ok. so i bought my Iroc not too long ago and ever since i bought it it has had a dent in it, on the driver side right where the door and rear panel meet. its a weird place for a dent, and ive never worked on one in this location before. do they make patch panels for these locations? and would that be a smart move? or should i pull it out and bondo it smooth? i got some pictures of them. here they are. i mean, for 400 dollars for the car this isnt a bad deal right?

 

yes. yearone and a few other companies sell rear quarter replacement panels, i think they go for as low as $80 aftermarket. As for the door, they're relatively easy to find on ebay or junk yards. I suppose you could always try to work with the metal that u have and use a spot welder and pull the dent out, but since it's on the body line, you'l have a heck of a time getting it to look right. best of luck

 

I would recommend using a stud welder and pulling it out and using some high quality fiberglass or bondo to smooth it over.. replacing the panel would be just as much work if not more and I personnally never recommend cutting into a panel if it is repairable without extreme effort. If you were on my side of the continent I'd be willing to help fix it

 

Try a suction cup style dent puller?
POZ

 

thanks blkbird. i am pretty good with metal. i can tig and mig weld pretty well...but i do agree that the body line would be hard to keep. i am definetly not a bondo pro. i know some people though. i can always try to pull it, and if i dont like the way it looks i can just replace it right? thanks for the info guys. has anyone ever had a bad area like this before? any insight? thanks for all the help, you guys really know your stuff.

 

I had a pretty nice dent in the same location on my 91 bird. I did what blkbird suggested. I welded a nail to the dent and used a slide hammer to pull it out. A lot easier then replacing the pannel. I had to replace the driver side quarter on my old camaro once...It took me forever to get perfect. I never what to have to replace such a large portion ever again. lol.

 

Please share some more pics, $400 is a good deal.

 

i thought it was a pretty good deal, sonsidering when i bought it all it needed was a tune-up to be running smooth. cost me 100 bucks to make it run like original. it only has 103k on it. im very happy i made the deal, i would just like to get the door looking good again. its the only problem area. no rust. how much would a paint shop want to paint that little area? the whole car? here are some more pics, next to my brothers 83 TurboGT. oh yea, there is rivalry there. his is pretty fast.

 

how much would they charge???? too much. If you have it prepped and ready you'd likely be looking at approx 400 at the most but only if you do the body work and have it sanded and ready for primer. Before you expect them to do the work call them first. many shops will not paint over someone else's bodywork. There's no way to guarantee the paint. Personnally I did my own bodywork and paint on my rear quarter when my neighbor reshaped my wheel well. It's the best looking part of the car. Now I need to paint the rest. If you want to do it yourself I'll be happy to give you plenty of advise but you have to have lots of patience. bodywork is tedious and shaping can take 2 or 3 tries to get the shape right, the reason I said I would recommend doing it on your car is you have a crease in the body to use as a guide and you'd be surprized how nice of a job you can do.

By the way, i've had a mustang and Fbody cars.. you've got it all over him..

 

yea, im pretty sure i could rip him to shreds, but he seems to think his 4banger with a turbo could take me. he has a few upgrades, and i dont have any though. im not worried. we are going to hit the drags here soon to really find out. but, from little jaunts on backroads where no one else is around ive had him, even at top speed. we will soon find out. i would really like to get some advice on how to do it, and do it well. i really want to learn to to do some body work. id be much appreciative. this is a great board, so much advice. thanks to all.

 

I hate to post these pics(hurts to look at),but you can get the dent out.Remove the 6x9 speaker & all the components inside the A-pillar.The high point(behind the trim piece) in the Qtr panel is very accessable from there.You can get most of the dent out this way.The door is a little tougher because the re-bar is in the way.In my case the door was a total loss.

 

Heres what it looked like after the qtr panel was fixed & the replacement door was installed.