Week #85

I'm anxious to get the body up on the rotisserie for some sandblasting but I want to have all quarter panel related sheet metal cut, trimmed, fitted and ready to be welded in place before I got there. With only one side near that point, it was time to quit the lolly-gaggin' around and get to work on the other side. So, with fists clenched, teeth grinding and feet stomping I took my new attitude through out the door and into the garage!

With little hesitation and using the knowledge from the other side, I grabbed up the passenger side outer wheelhouse and started trimming and fitting, cutting and measuring, grinding and clipping. To my surprise it took only a couple of hours to get things meshed on this side where it seemed like months of work on the other side. In that short time I had the wheelhouse fitting flush all around and clamped in place. I was still was not looking forward to having to "adjust" the depth of this wheelhouse as I did with the drivers side. I would need to have the replacement quarter panel trimmed and in place to determine how much work that would be.

...and the only way to figure that out is to get the damn panel in place... DAMNIT! Down off the shelf the passenger side quarter came. I knew from the other side just what to do with it. I measured and scribed a line about 1 inch in from the lip at the front, top and rear edges leaving a good portion of the rear bottom corner for lining up purposes. I used the cutoff wheel to get some really clean straight cuts. With that done I simply held the quarter panel in place on the car and clamped in place to the wheel lip on the wheelhouse which was clamped in place. A quick look and a little shifting found this panel fitting VERY nicely... body line at the front lined up perfectly and the back lower edge that dips in behind the bumper couldn't have fit better. I grabbed the drill and a 1/8" bit and drilled 3 holes through the panel and the car at the front, middle and back just at the top for use with those panel holder thingys(boy do I love those things).

I really needed to look to see how bad the wheelhouse repop was as far as not letting the quarter fit properly at the bottom. I squatted down to give the lower edge of the panel a test fit to the car and... I'll be darned... the panel met perfectly! I couldn't believe it. The other side was so far off that I had to cut 1" almost out of the wheelhouse... and this side needs nothing... oh what a glorious day! I unclenched my fists, loosened up the tension on my teeth and stopped stomping... things where coming together!