1967 Pontiac Lemans #2 - budget build - episode six, rust repair installment three, Driver fender, tail light, inner fender **updated 12/16/24

October 5th, 2024:

October 6th, 2024:

Episode one, introduction, here.

Episode two, disassembly and assessment, here.

Episode three, rough body work, here.

Episode four, rust repair, installment one, here.

Episode five, rust repair, installment two, here.

Episode six, rust repair, installment three, here.

Episode seven, the doors, found here.

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This episode will focus on the driver's tail light rust and the inner fender rust.

Driver's Fender

I have already devoted a ton of effort on the passenger fender, since it had been crushed and hit and abused. So I decided to move over from the passenger fender and fix this one. This fender is perhaps the best fender I've ever seen, going back to my very first car projects decades ago. 

It does has the typical rust behind the tire:

I wirebrushed the inside and POR15d the surfaces:

Cut and shaped a patch:

Welded and ground smooth:

This fender also had some damage to the headlight peak. So I took a blunt chisel to the inside and hammered the peak forward. The damage was not as bad as the passenger fender, however. Here's the initial results:

I perfected the edge with some weld. I ground it smooth and did a test fit:

I'm happy with that.

Taillight Area

I got a cold dose of reality when I started digging into this repair. I knew there was some rust, so I was expecting to do at least some repair. Here's some of the what I thought was minor rust:

Also, you can see the ill-fitting trim piece resulting from a hit to the corner.

I thought the rust was minor, but that's not what I found when I started working on it. A bit of wire brushing tells all. Amidst the clouds of white dust it turns out there was thick layer of Bondo simply smeared right over the rust. 

Here's what it looked like after stripping:

Oh, my. Not only is there the much more extensive rust on the eyebrow, the area just above the tail light flange was rusted. Plus, the place where the flange intersects with the rest of the tail light panel was rusted to the point where the flange was hanging in mid-air for a third of its length. And there's some rust below the tail light in the pinch weld area where the bumper is located. Complicating matters of course is the collision damage, which carried damage into the quarter panel.

I needed to move the area rearward before I could deal with the ripple effect of the hit. I put the end of a flat piece of steel inside the trunk against the vertical corner area and beat it rearward with a mallet until the profile returned to its approximate position.

With the area about where it's supposed to be, I cut out the area above the tail light where the panels formerly overlapped, and also cut apart the side area of the eyebrow: 

I eventually replaced more metal than this, but I at this point I only needed maneuvering room for continuing my hammer and dolly work. 

I made a couple of templates from the undamaged passenger side. Here's the eyebrow template:

The other template (not pictured) is for the vertical curve of the side of the eyebrow, perpendicular to the first template. I might not need these templates since I will in effect be building to the trim piece, but it's nice to have them when making cuts or fashioning patch pieces.

First I tackled the tail light lip area, including the pinholes of rust on the right side of the opening. I welded up the pinholes, backing the hole with a piece of copper to prevent blowthrough. 

Then I bent up a patch:

This piece took some work to shape. I bent it on the vice into a long narrow "Z" shape, being careful to get the lines straight, then welded it in:

Looks good, especially compared to what was there:

Now it's time to turn to that nasty gash above the tail light. This repair was intimidating me. Not only was I rebuilding a complicated shape, the eyebrow trim piece needed to look right. 

First the upper patch:

I did a "cut and butt" along the top and tacked it in. The line for the eyebrow shape came partly from the template and partly from the passenger side eyebrow trim. Since it's a mirror image of the driver's side, I flopped it over to trace the shape. In addition, the horizontal line needed to be a straight line from the trunk edge. 

I made the cut then started on the pieces that make up the overlapping flange. The bottom first:

This piece has an offset along the bottom edge, plus it rolls into the rest of the tail light panel. I found a scrap piece of metal with an offset flange already formed in it and rolled over the edge on the vice. 

I spotted it in, then made the upper flange to intersect with the lower flange. This was spot welded to the lower flange. I filled in my stitch welds and ground them smooth:

Three pieces down, three to go. The corner is next. I'm going to leave the quarter panel area loose for now, until I can shrink the damaged area. I'll also need to fix the inside of the trunk flange area.

More to come.

Driver Front Inner Fender

11/9/24 My inner fenders are surprisingly good, requiring only one repair to the front corner of the driver's side panel:

I figured I could fix this with two pieces. First piece:

And second piece:

That wasn't terribly hard. 

More to come.