Can this be repaired or should I replace the qtr panel? What do you guys think? Thanks!

 

Get some body dollies and a good hammer and beat away. What, did you get "clawed" by a giant black bear or what!

 

hahaha no man, I actually spun around during a heavy rain pour and the steel cables on the guard rails stopped me from going into a canal that runs next to the Florida's Turnpike. It was scary since I had my teenage daughter with me at the time. That happened in Aug. 2012 and it's been parked ever since but now I got a new battery and replaced the digital dash and I'm in the process fixing her up to look like it did 10 years ago when it was a beauty.

BTW what are "body dollies"?

 

 

Never mind, I just did a search on ebay but do you really think it'll come out just like that??

 

Patience and time. If it looks like crap and not to your expectations, cut it out and weld a new panel in. You'd be surprised what you can beat out then smooth over with a little, dare I mention, (bondo)

 

Totally fixable. Had similar damage on my driver's qtr panel, cut it out and had a new 'patch' welded in, although the panel was cut from a new full-quarter so I guess it depends on what you want to do.

In the end you may need some body filler to get the lines just right, no shame in that, just don't try to fill that entire dent with it, haha.

 

Thanks guys, so I guess it's time for me to start doing some body work of my own lol I'll keep you posted.

 

Might require some patching, but you should be able to knock it into shape. Quarter panel replacement on these cars is a BIG deal, to be avoided if at all possible.

 

Can it be fixed? Probably. Will it come out just like that? NO. That will be a time consuming and challenging dent to fix even for a pro. If you don't have a decent amount of experience in how to move metal then I strongly recommend taking it to a shop.

 

Agreed.

I will also say this. A good bodyman can fix that, but a smart one won't. That poor panel has less than 25% of it's surface area still straight, the rest of it is pretty fubared. It WILL NOT simply bang out and get a coat or two of filler. It would be far less labor intensive to replace the quarter panel and the end result will be a MUCH better result.

 

It will prob need a patch or two, but you definitely don't want to Replace the whole quarter. That's a huge job on a third gen. Not like a frame car. I've only seen one person here do a whole quarter and he said he wouldn't do it again. I did a large section patch at the b pillar, it's very involved to do correctly.
It is a difficult location, might be above amateur level, but it can be fixed.

 

I'll take your word for it on quarter panel replacement, though like you said its not easy to patch correctly so I wouldn't recommend he try that himself either. You're not really supposed to patch spots that large anymore. 5 Years in a high production shop and I can only remember a body tech doing that once.

 

I think you'll find many of the strategies used in high production shops are not the way to go on thirdgens.
You wouldn't do a large patch on a newer car because it would be too many labor hours when you can easily buy a complete panel. Newer unibodies are more standardized in construction and much easier to seperate panels.
I have seen quarter replacements for sale, but I don't even know if they actually exist and from what I see listed aren't even complete panels, basically a huge patch.
Patches also require some filling and fairing which collision shops hate too as it takes labor hours and skill.
I am often reminding people on this forum that these are some of the first unibody cars GM produced, they are different than unibodies made since. Much harder to replace panels and fix rusty frame rails. Even floor pan replacement is a really different game.
If you took this to a collision shop they will give you a really high estimate if they are familiar with these cars since they don't really want to do it.
Or they will give you an average estimate , then you'll get a call when they try and pull the first panel, " uh, going to be more than we thought"

 

Thats a good point, very true, though if I remember correctly ICAR doesn't want it done anymore for safety reasons. Maybe he'll be just fine doing it on an older car.

 

I myself have replaced hundreds of quarter panels, including a couple third gens. I agree they are a little more involved than a lot of cars (some cars are just downright simple), but it is still the proper way to repair the car in question.

Buying a used cutout would not be a bad option (assuming the factory new panel is now obsolete?), but the front section would need to be installed in a similar fashion as a patch panel (on the sail and dog leg) so the job would not be so labor intensive. If done correctly, it will be plenty strong. If the panel were to be straightened, the metal won't have a ton of integrity left anyway.

That's just my opinion on what would be the best. But one thing that CANNOT be argued, is the fact that whatever method is chosen, it will be far above the skill level of a beginner.

 

Forgot to comment on this, GM had been building unibody cars for decades before the third gen was around.

 

Like what? If you mean things like second gens, I don't consider those unibodies, more like an engineering nightmare.

 

No way would I repair that panel if I had another option replace it with a salvage part if you can find one

 

There were probably a dozen or better. Chevy started the 60's with the Corvair and the ChevyII/Nova, so that's 20 years before the 3rd gen. There were many other GM platforms, and while they all were built very different from todays unibody cars, they are still unibody cars.

 

Thanks guys, I really appreciate all your input and will definitely take all your advice into consideration.

 

I have a similar issue, it's not as severe but still unsightly. I'll post pics in a bit.

 

Here is mine.

 

Yeah I see what you mean. I wish mine looked loke that lol

 

It's still going to be a pain. I might try to knock it out, there is pretty good access, but I don't have much experience with that. Might just wait, until I get the rest of it rolling and take it somewhere. Hopefully I won't get creamed, if anyone has a decent idea of what it would cost (estimate) I could compare rates to avoid getting ripped off.

 

absolutely, I didn't mean it in a bad way. I hope you find a good shop to fix it.

 

mine is similar.

 

Yeah it sucks man. My other camaro was kind of run over by a truck in the front and it just messed up the fender. I just got a new fender, two days ago I saw a firebird with the driver side rear quarter cut off so obviously it's very possible to just weld a new one on. I would probably be better off kind of hammering it back into place and trying to bend it the way it used to be. I would have to cut some things and maybe re-weld a small area near the rear fold. Use like a grinding wheel to clean edges, polish with a steel brush. Sand with low grit sandpaper to remove rust. Use a hardening filler, and sand again with a high grit sandpaper. All while making sure that the original shape is still maintained. Paint with coats of primer. Dry, wait until you can apply a paint. Apply paint. Dry. Polish high very high grit sandpaper, 1000+ until smooth surface. Polish with polishing cloth until desired effect is achieved.