Rear quarter panel (3/4) replacement, hints?

[star63]

I had my 250 SL partially soda blasted yesterday. We discovered so many patches under the plastic filler that I'm now seriously considering new quarter panels. Does anyone have experience about using the 3/4 full length patch panels? How exactly did you make the edge joints (butt or overlapping)? Any pictures would be great...

Thanks,
Petri

[w113dude]

I did mine butt welding, it's a bit more labor involved keeping it in place and straight, but i just did not want to see any over lapping lips anywhere.
Just make sure weld very small sections at a time, cool down the welded spots with air blow gun stops from warping.

Good luck,

[Naj ✝︎]

Hi, Petri,

This one was used on my car from SLS.

He made an overlaping joint and was held in place with some special screws before welding.

Also, he did not disturb the bodyline, but cut about 20mm below the line.

naj

[star63]

Thank You!

How about the vertical edge next to the door?

[Shvegel]

The pins holding Naj's quarter on are Cleco pins. They use a special pliers to install and only use an 1/8" hole.

 Personally I would rather have a butt weld though. Less chance water is going to find it's way up into the seam. I think Cleco also makes holders for butt welds as well.

[Naj ✝︎]

Thank You!

How about the vertical edge next to the door?

Note the edging on the new panel along the horizontal line. He had a pneumatic tool to prepare this edge.

[star63]

The same pneumatic tool could probably be used for the vertical joint. That way the door gap would remain the same...

[star63]

Naj,

Do you have any pictures from backside? I'm currently fitting my quarter panel in (just like described in your previous pictures). The shape of the replacement panel seems to differ from the existing around the tail light corner.

Thanks,
Petri

[Naj ✝︎]

Hi, Petri,

Hope this one helps.

Naj

[star63]

Helps a lot, thank you!

-p

[dseretakis]

Definitely butt weld everything. Tack the piece together with multiple tacks spaced about 3/4 of an inch apart. Weld between the tacks constantly jumping around from one side of the panel to the other in order to minimize heat build up in any one area. The process of welding causes metal shrinkage which thereby causes warpage as the shrunken area pulls metal towards itself to compensate. In order to do a good job you should grind away the weld on both sides where possible and work it hammer on dolly to stretch it back up thereby undoing the surrounding warpage.  It's best to do this once you have a few small areas welded up. So you should weld, stretch, weld etc.