so IM finally thinking about fixing my rust damage of my 72 skylark but I cant find any rear body panels for a convertible any Ideas on what to do, and is this something I should attempt to do on my own or should I seek guidance
You will need to use hardtop quarters and cut them off at the appropriate location. If you have no welding experience I would be very hesitant about trying this yourself.
I just did this on a 70 Skylark conv. If you don't have the proper tools: air shears, mig welder, sawzall, die grinder, 10hp air compressor, 4" grinder, cleco pins, air punch and flanger, etc. Have a body shop do it. Expect to pay a minumum of $1000 for a full qtr replacement including panels. You can get panels form www.tabcobodyparts.com Cost about $160 including shipping per side. Good Luck!
cut line George, On you convert, where did you cut your line or seam it in??....I hope you know what I mean. Most people cut it about an inch from the peak. I've also seen it cut about 3 inches above the rear wheel well all the way across. I'm just wondering how you did it and how it came out.....you got any pictures?? I'll be doing it to my 1970 GS455 convertible one of these years.... Thanks, Lon
No problem Lon. I used air shears to trim the coupe panel to have a straight line. I used a chalk line to make my mark and in a minute had the new qtr panel trimmed. I layed the new panel over the old one and scribed a line. Moved qtr panel down 3/8" because my panel flanger's jaws are 3/8" deep. Now, removed the new qtr panel and trimmed away old qtr panel on lower line with air shears. Used flanger to make nice clean straight flange. Then, used other side of flanger to make 3/16 holes on new qtr panel for Cleco pins. Get your self a bag of 20-30 Cleco pins and pliers from www.racerpartswholesale.com which will hold the new qtr in place while you skip weld the new qtr in place. Go around the entire perimeter skip welding to make sure you don't apply too much heat in one area welding. By the time you get to one end of the qtr panel, the other end will be cool and ready for you to weld again. Also, use some c-clamps or vise grips to hold panel in place around wheel well, lower trunk flange and rear trunk extension area. It is very time consuming but very easy once you get the panel in place. Also, you will note with my seam line it will be hard to see from inside the trunk. Once you weld on both sides of the Cleco pin, you can remove it and weld it shut in 2 weld increments. I have attached a pic.
SWEET!!! Looking good George!!!! Want FREE room and board in Cleveland for a couple of weeks to teach me your tricks??? I have a nice guinny pig car to start with.... I'm sure I could round up a few of the recommended tools...... The seam looks good....I've seen it a little higher but you would want to keep some structural soundness on those quarters.....now with "imfamous" quarter line above the top cornes of the trunk. From what I've heard they were filled with lead in the factory to have a smooth appearance.....On the restos that I've seen...some are filled and others have the coupe lines cut into them so the crack can follow up it...... Mine were filled on a repaint back in 1981 and I have some MAJOR cracks on both sides...wonder why???torque???or more torque......hhhhmmmm So you putting together another strory for the BuickPerformance.com website?? Nice job George..... Lon
You need to have the seams on a conv body as original due to flex. There is a compound called Flex-a-seal made for this. If you fill them in, cracks will reappear quickly.
