Things are going pretty well for me jobwise right now so my thoughts have turned to making life improvements. I was considering buying one of the newer style Mustangs but then I thought to myself I love my Thunderbird and I could get alot more for alot less if I get myself a loan and did all the stuff I want to do in one shot. My major goals are to get the transmission replaced, do the body work, get subframe connectors, and those AFR heads I've been eyeing. Now as far as body work goes there's 2 major areas that were sparked by some moron sticking wood screws through the sheet metal. The worst is the right quarter panel which is a total loss from the trim down. Has anyone had a body shop replace that section? I'm trying to get an idea how much money I'm looking at.
It would probably depend on how bad it got past the outer panel.
if its real bad the rocker and lower door jamb are probably rotted also.
how bad is it. got a pic?
I got to ask. what did they screw to it?
Actually let me clarify. the lower quarter panel behind the wheel. It hasn't gotten to the door jamb or anything. I'll see if I can dig up a picture.
That particular year the trim was stuck to the body with epoxy instead of clips. Over the years the ends have curled a little. Somewhere along the way someone drove screws through the trim into the sheet metal instead of fixing it properly. The screws promptly rusted and set loose a brown death in several points of the quarter panel. Luckily most of the panel is still in fine shape.
Here's a pic.
ouch---same thing my mud flaps did to mine
you have the same problem i did. really tough to make those flared wheel openings. a body shop will probably try to find another quarter for splicing in. if there's more rust in the inside well and trunk well, it will turn into a pricy job. hopefully its just the outer panel
If you have body skills you could find a quarter bottom and epoxy it under the body moulding yourself it would be fairly easy. or rivet it, but if it's in the well and trunk, its not gonna be easy
that moulding hides a lot of sin
It would be tough to say price wise because there are shops that do diff. quality work. shopping around is always the best way you can ask to see their work for the price the charge.
and find out if it would be cheaper if you got the panel. i hear some charge for locating parts
I know the shop down the road from me charges about 3x more than most. but they do show quality work
hopefully someone here, has had something like that done before to give an idea.
Yeah I was thinking about procuring a patch panel myself. Not confident in my ability to attach something that complex to the car without majorly screwing it up. Although good point about the moulding hiding the evidence :P
you can't just replace the whole rear quarter pannel from the roof down through the whole fender? I this was a bolt on.
The last time I asked about this I think I was told the quarter panels are spot welded in several places.
there's probably about 100 spot welds holding that quarter on.
It does all the holding together for the car
wonder how many spot weld drilling bits it would take LOL my 1/4 pannel is screwed from previous owner talking on cellphone and driving right into those poles on side of gas pumps.....dumbass :-| body shop told me 1000$ to fix quarter pannel and another 600 to fix the door i was laughing inside guess i need to get some bodyshop hammers and a dent puller eh
I'll bet 4 bits. a 3/8 bit with a pilot tip would be cheaper though
How bad is it?
1000 doesn't sound bad for a quarter fix. unless its a small dent. is that painted also?
You could always get another door
not painted cuz i can do that
Idk, 1000 with no paint, I guess it depends on what they'll do to it to fix it