I have an 1989 RS its been thought some pretty crappy auto body. The rear Quarter panel where it flares out is all bent to hell. This thing had like 1 1/2 inches of bondo on it. So need less to say it needs replacing. I was wondering it anyone else has cut out a major part of the rear quarter on the drivers side then replaced it with another fender from a donor car or something to that nature. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

Yes I recently bought a donor car for my 89 RS. I cut out the floors and the entire drivers side rear quarter. I am not sure I will need the whole thing but I didnt want cut it and then regret it. I still have to do the passenger side. I wont lie its not that easy. Especially since I dont have the best of tools. One huge tip that I will pass along to you that I had to learn the hard way is: Around the fuel filler door there is a ring that glues it together. It spans 2-3 inches around the fuel filler hole. All you have to do to separate it is take a good heat gun and heat it until the glue gets good and hot and it will separate from there. It looks like you have to drill out the spot welds right inside the filler door but thats not the case. The rest of the quarter panel though, you have to drill out the spot welds. I used and ruined a perfectly good wood chisel to separate the welds and it worked great.
Another suggestion would be to buy a used quater panel from Third Gen Ranch. I have seen them sell them. You have to cut across the top through the weld. I tried using a cut off wheel on my grinder but it wore down almost immediately, but I found that a good metal cutting blade on my sawzall works well. It cuts right through and does not distort the metal. Hope that helps.

 

Yea i appreciate that. I was really just wanting to cut out that bulge and then weld it back into place does anyone really think that it could work that way

 

You can buy new reproduction quarters from places like year one. I think they're about $120. I plan on buying one for each side and only using what I need off the panel, not the whole thing. If you do smaller patches it's not that hard. But when you replace the whole thing it gets real tricky to line things up right.
Alex

 

Yeah I agree its hard to line up. I doubt I will use the whole thing but I am still taking it out just in case.