Hi guys. I've been working on cars for years, but I've never ever tackled anything to do with sheetmetal repair. I'll be replacing both qp's on my 68 satellite with AMD full quarters. I'm not sure if I'll actually do the quarters myself, but I thought I'd start for now doing something I CAN do by removing one of the rusty quarters with my cut-off tool.

I just want to get the qp off togain access enough to put a full trunk floor in from one side and at the very least make things a bit cheaper if I take the car in to get the sheetmetal put on.

So I thought I'd cut below the vertical lip all the way along the top, leaving about an inch along the leading edge where it meets the door, and an inch at the back, cutting around the marker light hole to help with aligning the new qp later...I've seen it done this way in photos of other people's restorations and that's what I'm going by...

Any dangers in a novice doing this part myself? Am I doing anything wrong?

I tried doing mine that way and it didn't turn out good. I cut it off and got another panel and redone it and it worked out good then. You can cut it like that to get your trunk floor in. Did you get the full quaters to put on it are the partial ones? I put both mine on plus the finish panel below the rear window plus the trunk pan, you can do it if you can weld any at all. It just takes a lot of cutting and fitting before you start welding. I used the partals and cut them in on top of the body line and it seemed to work good. Any thing I can help you with let me know. Ronnie

Well...
This is just my 2 cents
(Others on here are "experts" so take it for what its worth!)

Since, the QP is a structural panel...

If you are not going to be installing the new qp's.
My advice to you is to leave the car alone.

Let the person who is going to install the new
quarter panels cut the old ones off. This is regardless
if you are doing a skin or a full OEM replacement.

If you decide to use a skin instead of a full OEM,
my advice to who ever cuts it off would be to do so
below that upper body line.

The line you have drawn is above it.
That line is factory, it looks good, so keep it...
if you are going to do a skin...

If the rear windshield corner is rusted out, I can
understand why you would want to do a full OEM replacement

but if the upper portion (rear w/s corner etc) is good
I would say do a skin....
Save as much of the factory quarter as possible.

This is assuming your body man is good at partial
welded panel replacement.

Best of luck to you either way!

Although there are some issues, you need to remember there is quite a bit internal bracing behind the quarter. There is the trunk hinge support, a support from the wheel house through the roof, the rear inner panel, etc. I think if you keep the tailight bucket installed to hold up the rear of the quarter, you are probably OK. The body may flex some so you would want to make sure everything is leveled up before you drop in the trunk. Then again, it may be easier to have the shop do everything.

thanks for the info, yeah, there is rust in the corner where the quarter meets the rear sailpanel....hence the full quarter replacement idea. The rear panel looks ok, looks lie some surface rust in the channel where the molding is; won't know if it goes through till I cut into it, but I don't think it does.

The area where the outer wheelhouse meets the quarter is completely gone, and so is the qp extension in the back, so there's not a lot holding the qp on....

Guess I got to figure out if I'm going to tackle the job myself, and if so; go ahead and cut.

Spend more time looking at other member's projects to get an idea on what it would take to get this job done,all the info is out there, just dig around.

Also keep in mind that you would need to invest in a good welder,grinders,sanders,air compressor and other tools to this job accomplished.

I would replace full quarters,no patching,to keep filler to a minimum.

thanks Stefan, yeah, I realize there's an investment to be made in a good welder. I pretty well own everything else I'd need.

If this isn't going to be my last car (and it probably won't) then it'll be worth it; plus the satisfaction of learning a new skill and being able to say I did it myself.

BTW, you're the one I'll be getting my sheetmetal from....you gave me a quote awhile back that the pricing is likeli out of date by now, but was the best deal...I'll eventually be ordering everything from you regardless who does the job.