1967 Pontiac Lemans budget build - Episode seven, Driver's quarter panel - updated 02/09/24

Episode one, introduction.

Episode two, trunk panel install part one.

Episode three, trunk panel install part two.

Episode four, door rust repair.

Episode five, tail light panel and rear crossmember.

Episode six, passenger quarter panel.

Episode seven, driver's quarter panel.

Episode eight, floor pan and rockers, part one.

Episode nine, floor pan and rockers, part two.

Episode ten, frame repair and prep, body drop.

Episode eleven, radiator core support and miscellaneous rust repair.

Episode twelve, trunk repair and more miscellaneous rust repair.

Episode thirteen, fender and inner fender repair.

Episode fourteen, panel prep and block and prime.

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I used the same techniques for the driver's side repair as I did for the passenger side (episode six), but there were some unique things about the driver's side. So I decided to document the driver's side as well. 

Original pic:

Cut out the outer wheel arch:

Basically the same situation as the passenger side, so the repairs I made were familiar.

I made a rough drawing of the rusted out front area of the wheelhouse:

Front of driver's side wheelhouse:

Ugh. Removed the rusted portions:

This is the reason for the diagram, because now it's impossible to tell how it should look. 

The big difference from the passenger side is that I had to deal with the rusted vertical seam between the inner and outer wheelhouse.  This required a bit of rebuilding of the mating flange.

First patch:

I did my best to recreate the seam by but there was enough of the it rusted away that I had to go inside the car and recreate part of the flange. By the time I went to do the smaller piece the seam was starting to disappear under the spot welds. So after I finished welding it I took the cutting disk to the seam and carved out the groove.

Finished repair:

Now for the wheel opening:

This side had a bit more original metal remaining, so most of the repair was to recreate the folded underside part of it:

Now it's time to tackle the repair of the outside of rear wheelhouse, which was first mentioned all the way back in episode two:

Repair of rear of wheelhouse flange:

Wheel house wheel arch repairs are complete, so I made a rough cut to remove the skin:

POR 15 on the inner structures:

Test fit replacement panel:

Replacement panel tacked in and ready to finish weld:

Welding completed:

Welds ground flat:

Some bodywork:

A bit of primer:

As usual, this is not finished bodywork, just some roughed in work in order to see if the welded area will accept a thin layer without metal showing through. I had some warpage, so I needed to know this. I did a little hammer and dolly work to bring it flat, so it only needed a little filler.

Months later I undercoated the inner surface:

Here's the tail light area:

Like the passenger side, the eyebrow had sustained some collision damage.

The last job was to weld the wheel arch and the lower rear flange. I decided that since the results of my plug welding have been less than spectacular up to this point, I would buy a real spot welder, as mentioned in the previous episode. Harbor Freight had just what I needed for surprisingly low price of $169.99:

The reviews were pretty positive, and the complaints were pretty accurate. It feels like it weighs as much as a bag of Sakrete, which makes spot welding a wheel opening flange a real bugger. It's like doing bench presses when you're laying on your back under the car. But it worked pretty well, provided you've done excellent metal prep on all four surfaces. It needs clean bare metal. It will not weld through paint, rust, or dirt. At all. And it will sputter and spark if there is any metal dust remaining.

I started by doing a couple of test welds. One side of the test strip was bare metal, and the other was weld through primer. It welded both with no problems. I tried to pry apart the two pieces and found the welds were solid:

I did have a problem welding on the car with all four surfaces coated with weld through, however, So I sanded off the top and bottom surfaces where the electrodes touch and it worked fine.

Here's the completed lower quarter flange:

And the finished lower rear:

This completes all the welding on the driver's side quarter. Next stop, removing the body from the frame and installing the floor pan.