OK i am working on fixing up my Camaro.. Need to replace the pass rear quarter but trying to figure out what caused this damage in the first place?

There is a cut in the panel directly about the middle of the wheel arch that runs right up to the weatherstripping and was fillered over at some point (pic 1 & pic 2)

I am more concerend about this gap at the front of the rear quarter where it meets the door (pic 3), the door does sag ever so slightly but not nearly as bad as the drivers and that fits perfectly when closed..

There seems to be a big gap around the top of the rear hatch too but i guess that just needs adjusting? Could the pass door hinges just need adjusting too?

Other things i have noticed are the gap between the body and the rear bumper support is a lot less on the pass side than it is on the drivers side (pic 4), and also when the rear quarter goes round the corner behind the tail lights, the pass side seems to move inward whereas the drer side seems to move outwards (pic 5 & 6). These could be normal but i have never seen one of these cars before so i just dont know...

I just want to make sure it is as aligned as i can make it before i start cutting out the old quarter, since the better aligned it is now, the easier it will be to align the new panel..

Please no 'scrap it and find a straight rolling chassis' posts. This is my project that i am working on for fun and to try and learn a thing or two in the process.

 

Pics 4, 5 & 6.

 

Seems like you've got a similar problem as to what I had, someone has done a crappy fix on your baby, bondo bondo bondo...>_< if theres that much onn that stop...there will be more, OH and that screen looking thing, its another cheep fix, its an "alternative" to welding the panel on xD, stuffs a bitch to sand lol. and the gap, could be because the doors out of alingn ment, or the quarter wasent repaired properly, or the frames bent!...who knows lol

 

yeah i would have to say she took a hit somewhere down the line, i got the same issue with my passanger door at the top sticking out ever so slightly, but i know when i bought the car i did a carfax and she was in a minor wreck in 99, so i didnt investigate any further.

 

The gap at the door and the 'crack' look related, both pass side I assume

Imagine something denting the pass side near the top of the wheel well, maybe even a little more forward. Now where is the surrounding metal going to go

Id guess the impact pulled the back of the pass door opening towards the rear and was not correctly repaired

You can see that someone did a partial panel replacement and the crack is the seam from the cut

Look at the small dots on the inner fender, these are body hammer marks. Notice how they stop on the other side of the cut/mesh

Hatch alignment sounds unrelated

Aint body work fun?

Your car is very fiaxable

Last summer when I repainted my clean carfax bird ...
I found both rear qtrs were mostly bondo, the drivers door was a re-skin, the drivers rocker support was off a black car and the nose/front ground effects were replaced at some time

 

So you think the rear half of the quarter is a replacement? I see what you mean about the dolly marks but if they had replaced half of that panel, wouldnt the cut be straight, not all jagged like it is?

It's obvious it has taken a knock at some point, i just can't decide if it was on the rear or on the side..

So the question is, how do i replace the quarter and fix that gap with the door? Do you think the door will adjust to fill the gap or will it need to be filled by placement of the new quarter? Where should i cut the old quarter out? should i cut out the door jam or cut just behind it?

I plan on fixing the door hinges before cutting it but i have the possiblity of a used replacement quarter, just not sure where i would want it cut..

Cheers,
Richard.

 

Whats your skill level?

My car was hit on the passenger side just starting at the rear of the door back to the 1/4 panel behind the rear tire where the front bumper of the other vehicle hooked the 1/4 panel behind the tire and yanked the whole thing back and spun the car. They cut the panel out, and did a lousy job IMO. This was a reputable shop in the area... but I have a different opinion. They cut just above the seam at the rocker (jagged edge cut I might add), same behind the rear tire, near the body sealer seam at the taillight, across the edge of where the rubber molding strip is for the rear hatch, and across the sail panel about 2" up from the bend (its a TA). I think they cut the panel at the edge of the bend where it bends towards the door latch and vent area. They put this new OE panel on top of all of that, presumably one or the other was bent with an appropriate tool so the panels would mate without overlap at the sail panel and everywhere else they just tacked it over the old stuff. I think they just cut the new OE panel at the sailpanel and nowhere else. Hackjob. They should have replaced the inner wheel well (did not, but charged insurance for it), and the door latch area. The sail panel seam isnt bad, the other seams are a joke. I had an increased gap at the door after the hit, and they didnt fix it. Its been like that since. Probably your car was hit between the door and rear tire somewhere, and someone took it to the same "quality" repair shop I had my car at. I kid you not when I say this place was reputable, they did numerous restorations and show stuff... and hacked my car up and put it back together in the shortest time possible. They even bent my rocker panel under the door with a floor jack... so all it takes is a few idiots in a good shop and you get a hackjob repair.

I'd remove the entire panel where the factory installed it onto the car, the panel at the latch plate, and put new pieces in place. Dont leave any of the old stuff if you dont have to and make sure the car doesnt fold up like a pretzel when you remove that panel so you'll need to disassemble it or support it appropriately for the work to be done right.

 

The door itself looks fine, its where the rear qtr meets, look at the gap near the top compared to the bottom. It look bigger up top

I would cut the panel off and fix it the long way. While the panel is removed you can fix your door alignment problem

As for fixing the rear bumper stuff, if you cant see it when the car is assembled then its a dont ask-dont tell kinda thing

You can fix this pretty cheap if you know what your doing. Find a donor car thats not rusted or hit and get the panel. Otherwise order a new aftermarket and hope it fits...

My brand new paintjob got completely fubared from an upper scale (does mostly Mercedes and BMWs) body shop thats been around for over 100 years
Only takes one monkey with a buffer to make it ugly, but its the management in those places that you jsut want to maim for their dont-give-a-**** attitude

 

Thanks for the replies guys.. I am trying to get used sheetmetal (need some other places on the car too) but might just get an aftermarket quarter panel for this side.. I will def be rplacing the panel one way or another, it will be a good learning experience which is why i bought this particular car.

So do you think when i cut this one off, i will be able to move the whole sail panel forward enough to close up that gap at the top of the door?

BTW, those marks you said looked like dolly marks on the inside, i have the same marks on the inside on the drivers quarter panel and that is def original, untouched...

Cheers,
Richard.

 

Anyone?

 

The higher up you cut the panel the more you can bend over, but the farther away from the seam you get the harder it will be to hide the seam

 

Sorry, i guess i am simple but i dont really understand what you mean by this?

 

I would guess that it was hit in the rear.... and that caused a crease in the rear quarter.... If you want it to look perfect you have to measure at various points to see if that quarter is still the same length as the other.... also look down the length of the car and see if that quarter bulges out at all. If someone cut the crease out, they may have taken out the slack though. If it is not the same length (pushed in) you will have to do some advanced repair.

This is only if you want it perfect... most people would never notice

 

You should take it to a frame shop first. My local frame shop said he'd put mine on the rack and straiten it for around 150.00 bucks. Mine wasn't wrecked though. It shouldn't cost much just to see if it's bent. I just wanted to see if mine was kinda out of wack from years of abuse, before I put the sub-frame connectors on. Take as much of the quarter as you can from the donor car also so that way you don't have to worry about coming up short when you put it on your car. Check the rear axle and surrounding areas under the car for damage that can also help you to know if the car has been twisted.

 

Definitely take it to a frame shop… and get the back end checked out.

I disagree with some of the previous assessment. What it looks like happened is that it took a fairly hard hit from the back, enough to tear the top of the quarter and probably bend the frame above the tank and axle/bumper/back of the quarter down. I’d bet if you measured it compared to a straight one you’d find that one or both of your wheel arches is tweaked also, probably sticking out more then stock and the whole opening might be smaller front to back than stock. The door could actually be unrelated, but that depends if that seam stays wide the whole way down or if it is wide at the top and gets narrow as it goes down, if the latter is the case then the weld seam there got pulled back when the quarter got bent down, otherwise it’s just your typical misaligned door.

I’d bet that a lot of it looks better when you get the back end of the car pulled straight. From there the easiest thing would be to replace the quarter, but in theory it could be fixed (a lot of work considering how boogered up the previous work was and with the rust I don’t think I would bother trying).

I don’t think that you’ll have to mess with the sail panel once it’s pulled straight, but the door seam might still be wonky if it’s actually crooked now. I’d remove the old quarter right at the door seam (you’ll find spot welds in there where its attached to the door jamb sheetmetal) all the way back. At that point repositioning the door seam is a matter of putting a board up against it and either giving it a couple of whacks with a heavy sledge hammer or a little bit of force with a bottle jack. After that I’ll bet the rest of the quarter replacement will go like any other quarter replacement.

 

Thanks for the replies.. A frame shop isnt really an option right now, it is my project car and i know it will never be a show car or anything, i just want to fix it up to be a good fun weekend car.. With that in mind, i am happy with it not being perfect and i dont mind things not being right if they're not seen.

How accurate do you need to be when measuring? I have just been out and measured both wheel openings and they are equal, and the distance from the door gap to the rear end is equal on both sides.. (but then i'm not being exactly 100% accurate with my Stanley tape measure )

I fully intend on replacing the quarter, most likely now with an aftermarket one.. do they typicaly include the door jam? I have just bought a Mig welder, never welded anything before in my life but i really just want to use this to learn how to weld so no flaming and telling me to get a pro to do it.. that would be defeating the object...

I agree that it must of been hit from the rear, and then quite poorly repaired, the whole quarter should of been replaced at that time i think, i can't see any visible damage of the frame rails or anything underneath.. the entire rear including gas tank is out so its easy to get underneath

I dont think the door is misaligned, rather the rear quarter is misaligned with the door, the gap is greater at the top than it is at the bottom but the other gaps around the door are fine..

From Crossfire's reply, it sounds like i might just be able to apply pressure to the sail panel area once i remove the old quarter to bring it back into alignment with the door which is what i was hoping for..

Thanks again for all the replies.

 

Your car has been wrecked and someone did a fast and wrong repair. They did whats called a splice on your qtr panel instead of replacing the whole part. Your best bet is to make certain that the door is aligned (change pins and bushings if need be and or adjust striker) then remove the entire qtr panel. Your new qtr panel will be aligned off your door and assuming that everything else is straight this should solve all your gaps and misalignments.