





Here is the replacement panel from my donor car. I basically cut it down from
the corners of the trunk opening and along the bottom of the trunk floor.
This wasn't a perfect panel by far but the lines around the license plate area
and the fuel filler were pretty straight. Someone had cut a hole in it
too for a light or something and I filled that in. Then, I held it up on
my car and marked an outline on the body for reference. I then came inside
of those lines and marked where the panel would join the car. The bottom
edge lines up along the bottom of the license recess area which made the blending
in easier. Then the measurements were adjusted for the overlapping
flanges, measured again, measured again and again and then CUT! Finally,
the panel was trimmed a little at a time until it fit the opening great.
|
Now that the sheetmetal parts fit, the flanging and drilling commenced. I used
a flange tool from Harbor Freight that left a nice 1/2" flange along the edges.
That tool also punches holes but they were too large for the 1/8" rivets
I was using. Next, I drilled 1/8" holes around the patch, matched it
up to the body, marked the holes and drilled the body. All the holes were
ground smooth. Then, I used Eastwood's countersink tool to get the rivets
flush with the panel. In hindsight, I wouldn't recommend this tool as
it created more problems than it solved by making the edges pretty bumpy along
the edges. I won't use this on the quarter panel.. |
You can see the results with these tools. With the adhesive I am using, the
rivets were only needed to pull the items together. I ground them smooth
after the adhesive set. Holding pins or sheetmetal screws would have worked
too. |