Hey TGO, so I have some damage on the driver door and quarter panel of my 91. What are some possible options to get the body back to near "good" for some bits of body filler if needed? I don't have the tools or money at this time to have the old quarter panel cut and a new one welded in, so that's like a last resort.

Are there any ways I can get to the inside of the quarter panel to knock most of the damage out? The door isn't much of a priority as that is replaceable & may need to be replaced in the future anyways.

I recently gave the car a new touch-up paint job as it was covered in just primer before and that began to fade and some rust was beginning so I had to stop that in it's tracks.

 

Stud gun and pull it out as much as possible then fill it nice

 

If I remember correctly you can get to the other side of the quarter by removing the interior plastics. That said, the damage will not just 'knock out'. A professional would use a stud gun, hammer and dolly but I don't suggest trying it yourself. This is too big of a dent for a novice and you'll likely do more harm than good.

 

You can definitely knock out or pull that dent in the quarter, not the hardest job but not a first dent job either.
The door is probably harder because there's a reinforcement bar right where the dent is that's probably damaged. Most likely sone damage to hinges or latch mount you aren't aware of yet too.
There are good used doors around , I would prefer to go that route than fix that one.

 

Yeah. Door likes to bounce. lol. Replaced the pin and bushings on that door just to somewhat lighten the amount it was hanging and bouncing. Most likely will need to get a replacement door and maybe new hinges.

I would actually like to try the stud gun method myself, but with it being said as im a novice. I might just do some practice on the door when I get one to replace it and use those dents for some practice.

 

Body shops don't pull dents anymore, not in 20 years anyway. That would be cut out and a patch welded in. A very small skim coat of filler.

Back in the day, when shops would pull it out, it would require a ton of filler which would eventually fail.

-- Joe

 

I recall from another thread that you owned a shop years ago so I'm surprised to hear this from you. I've worked at two body shops and the techs in those shops pull dents regularly. There are plenty of lousy techs that would rough it out and hog on the filler, but a quality body tech would have no problem pulling this straight with minimal filler.

Tech school teaches not to weld in patches and insurance companies will never write to patch in a panel on a quarter. They write to repair it or replace the whole quarter. I'm not saying you can't weld in a patch, its just not the way things are usually done.

 

I'm sure some do. It's not allowed anymore by the insurance industry. I don't own a shop anymore, and have not in nearly 10 years but I still have a lot of associates in the business. I've even had recent conversations about this. The insurance companies will require an entire bed side to be replaced for a dent larger than a baseball. If the PDR guy can't work it out, the panel gets replaced. The insurance companies were sick of being sued for cracked filler, rot through, etc.

When I said "patch" I didn't mean literally make a small piece and weld it in, I meant cut it along the body line and drill out the spot welds and replace with a partial or whole panel.

I don't have access to the software anymore, so I can't even see what the available repairs are for a thirdgen. I know back in.. 2004 or 2005 I did a 1991 firebird. I clicked on the fender, bumper cover, and one headlight assembly and it was a "total loss".

-- Joe

 

Ah well that makes more sense. I've heard replacing a whole quarter panel on these cars is a real nightmare. Maybe along the bodyline wouldn't be as bad, not sure. Some techs are actually gluing patch panels on now instead of welding with the same stuff they glue box sides on with. Kind of weird but it seems to work good.