1969 Mustang Restoration: How to Replace a Quarter Panel Skin

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Use a grinder with a wire wheel to remove the paint from the door jamb area and the area that is welded to the taillight panel.


These spot welds as well as the ones on the door jamb will be drilled out after the majority of the panel is removed

Here I have started removing the quarter panel

. I grinded all of the corners and cut the panel just below the body line. This quickly got rid of most of the panel. Then I went back and drilled out all of the spot welds that were on the door pillar and taillight panel extensions. There are also spot welds on the inside where the rear window is down on the rocker panel.

I cut below the body line initially. This gives you a lip to hang the new quarter panel on so that you can trace where the final cut needs to be. After I traced the replacement quarter panel

onto the car I cut it with a cut off wheel on my grinder. When I cut it I left the line and then ground it down for the final fit.

This is what it looks like with the quarter panel removed. It is easy to see why it is necessary to put a brace on the taillight panel.

I used a rust converter on the surface rust and then sprayed it black.

Here is a picture of the quarter panel "hanging" in place.

I found some rust while working on the quarter panel. After wire wheeling it I found that it was pretty severe.

The affected area was removed. The blue lines show where I cut it.

I then welded in a patch. There was also a rust spot on the roof rail as well. It was cut out and new metal was welded in.

Here is the completed repair

This is what it looked like before.

Clamps were used to hold the wheel well in place. I clamped the quarter panel

in place and adjusted the wheel well until it lined up with the quarter panel

Next I removed the quarter panel

and welded the wheel well in place.

Next I welded the inner wheel well in place. I used the support that runs from the package tray to the wheel well to line everything up. The inner wheel well is an original (not to the car) and the outer is a reproduction.

Next it was time to weld in the quarter panel

. Before fitting it to the car I punched holes in the lip that gets welded to the door pillar. This will allow me to mimic factory spot welds using a mig welder.

The same procedure was used on the bottom flange of the quarter panel.

The first part that I welded was the door pillar.

Then I tack welded next to the body line using a hammer and dolly to make the metal line up perfectly.

Next I welded the wheel arch to the wheel well. I used a heat sink compound to prevent warping.

This is the heat sink compound that I used.

While welding along the long seam I used a piece of flattened copper pipe as a backer to fill the gap in. It also acts as a heat sink to prevent warping. The heat sink compound was also used. I welded the entire seam with very little warping of the panels. The small amount of warping that did occur was easily fixed with a hammer and dolly.