Now for one of the major problem areas, the rear fenders. Replacement patch panels are made for both the area in front of the wheel well and the whole fender. After working with both, we suggest only using the ones in front of the wheel well. The replacement ones for the whole fender just are not close enough. Eventually, we scrapped those, made our own patch panels and continued. But there was a lot of trial and error, and many choice words until we finally reached that decision.

While Dad worked on the drip rail, our son worked on the inner structural support on the passenger rear fender between the door and the wheel arch.

The rear lower corner of the fender is almost ready to be welded.

The driver's side wheel arch needs some interior work before we can weld in the replacement panel that was already created.

The patch panel for the rear passenger fender from the B pillar to the wheel arch.

The rocker panel and inner rocker on the driver side required a small rust repair. Compared to the fenders, this is easy.

The patch for the rear wheel arch, looking from the tire out.

The repaired wheel arch area and a patch on the rocker panel. While the rocker panel is open, we will be spraying rust encapsulator in there as well.

The black marks indicate dents in the sheet metal. They are too shallow to bother pulling and some are in difficult areas to metal work. We will try to work what we can to minimize the filler.

The driver's side area in front of the wheel, ready for body work.

Same area on the passenger side. A thin coat of putty should smooth out the welds.

We were going to reinforce this area with 1" bar stock, but after drilling a few holes we decided it was not necesary. The slight distortion from welding was easily pressed to correct form with an airbag.

Our son insisted on doing all the welding, here on the driver rear B pillar at the wheel arch.

The inner fender of the driver rear quarter panel needed the entire bottom edge replaced.

The rest of the passenger rear fender patch panel. This was cut from the whole fender replacement panel that was available.

The three patch panels for the driver fender. Looks great! Now we just have to weld it without distorting the original body line.

The seam of the rear fender welded into place. The sheet metal is distorted now. This will be a rough fix. More on that in a bit. Also, the replacement 5 lug rear axle is in place.

Inside the rear driver fender again, just before they welded it up. The wooden block is to keep the fender in the correct position during the metal work and was removed during welding.

The driver rear fender in epoxy, ready for body work. Or so we thought.

I laid in a layer of filler and starting working it, but things did not look right. So I took a good long, critical look at the panel. The warpage caused by something became evident as I took a contour guide and then a straight edge to the panel. After several days of discussions, we decided to remove the filler. Then took a straight to the body line. Almost 14" were warped, for about a half inch at the worst depth. More discussions ensued and this panel was put on hold for months as we switched to the mangled passenger side.

Evidently, the passenger side quarter panel was in a not-so-minor accident at some point. The panel was pulled back out and filled, but probably only to the level of technology of the day. Needless to say, we are going to do this better.

The brass color is brazing and really should be removed.

The removed inner ring. Note the rolled edge in the center.

Time to start on that inner ring on the passenger taillight.

The replacement ring, cut and formed. Remember Geometry class and the formulas for circles and equilateral triangles? Guess what we used to calculate the dimensions for the paper pattern.

To get the curve for the passenger side quarter panel, we used a contour gauge to help mirror the driver side.

A shrinker stretcher tool will put the bend in easily.

Just a little more curvature is needed in the center.

The finished replacement piece next to the metal being replaced.

Yes, that is my dusty hand checking the curvature of the replacement panel to the driver side. I gave up waiting and started body working the front fenders, well away from the spark zone at the rear of the car.

New piece on top and cutout old piece on bottom.

New piece tacked into place. Note the relief cut at the top and the gap at the bottom. As we worked the area we realized that it had not been pulled back out fully during the original repair. The taillight ring did not fit the opening correctly. We fixed that as well.

C clamps and locking pliers hold the inner ring and replacement pieces in during tack welding.

A stud puller was used to remove much of the dent on the tailgate side of the passenge taillight. A stud puller works by welding the studs to the panel, then using a slide hammer to pull the panel out.

The passenger side taillight area with new metal tacked into place. Note the stud pulled area in the bottom left.

Another relief cut to obtain original body lines. This mangled corner will be replaced once more of the fender is stabilized with new metal.

The mangled corner was removed. This happened after the main sheet steel was welded into place, but shown here to complete this taillight area.

The outside of the mangled corner.

And the inside of the mangled corner. Note the brazing.

The brazing was removed and new metal added at that corner, then the mangled corner hammered out and tacked back into place.

The completed passenger taillight area. Not perfect, but much better than what we started with. Over 21 pieces of steel were used to rebuild this corner.

A close up of the replaced corner. The few minor areas can be filled easily to smooth out the welds.