Fabbing '27 roadster quarter panels from a Chevy van hood.

Rat Rods Rule

Help Support Rat Rods Rule:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

2.3Turbo_T

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 31, 2010
Messages
222
Location
Santa Rosa, CA.
First, I wanna thank the mods for reinstating me! Second, I'm not much of a welder. This is pretty much my first time welding sheet metal so try not to laugh! I've posted this on a couple of other websites and it got good reviews so now it's RRR's turn. I guess you can consider this a 'tech tip'. Wasn't quite sure where to post it. So, without further adeu, here's my contribution to dirt cheap rat rodding.....................

Quarter panels are shot! The bottom halves are virtually missing and the good metal is paper thin! After pricing repos ($500 a pair!), I decided to make my own on the cheap.

P1010001_01.jpg


P1010001.jpg




First order of business was determining the contour of the original panel.

2Rearquarterwithtemplate.jpg




Off to Pick-N-Pull to find some donor sheetmetal with just the right curvature. Picked up a '91 Chevy van hood for $35 on half price day! It seems all late 80's to mid 90's Chevy & GMC vans have the same hood. There's enough metal to do 2 quarters.

391Chevyvanhood.jpg




Couldn't have been more perfect!

4hasjusttherightcontour.jpg





Had to remove the inner structure. About 50 spot welds! Easiest way I found was to grind the majority of the weld down with a carbide bit in a die grinder then drill out the final millimeter with a 1/4" bit. Took about 20 minutes!

5Diegrinderonspotwelds.jpg


6Drilloutholes.jpg


7Innersupportstructureremoved.jpg
 
Last edited:
Next, removed the quarter panel skin. Had to do some slicing with the cutoff wheel and some hammer and chisel work. The skin is spot welded to the support brackets in several places.

P1010003.jpg


P1010004.jpg


P1010005.jpg




Wasn't even gonna mess with the bun panels. Too many compound curves! I ordered a pair from Howells ($80). Mocked 'em up and marked a line about 1-1/2" below the bun panel flange and proceeded to remove the offending piece. This gives me room to jockey the old panel around.

P1010006.jpg


P1010008.jpg




Now back to the donor sheetmetal. This concave curve needs to come out of the van hood. I hammered it flat simply by chucking a length of angle iron in the vise and using it as a stationary dolly.

P1010013.jpg


P1010010.jpg


P1010015.jpg




Next I laid the quarter skin on the new metal and made a rough outline. Then I cut away any excess metal giving myself an extra inch or so just to be sure.

P1010018.jpg





You'll notice there's not quite enough metal to lay out the entire door. It's a little short in the upper front section. Simply a matter of welding in a small patch section later in the build.


Next, I mounted the support brackets to the subframe.....

P1010002_01.jpg
 
Then I measured the distance between the flange and the corner of the old panel and transferred that to the new panel. To the left of the black line will be removed, flange and all.

P1010003_01.jpg


P1010005_01.jpg





Mocked up the new panel onto the support brackets......

P1010010_01.jpg




Marked where both support brackets needed to mount and tacked 'em to the new panel.

P1010007_01.jpg


frontbrackettacked.jpg




Trimmed the flange off the bun panel and trued up the edge of the new quarter for a good fit.

panelwithclamps-1.jpg




Laid down several tacks, finish welded it and then
ground down the welds and here's the result. Not bad considering I'm a complete rookie at this!

Tackedbunpanel.jpg


P1010013_01.jpg
 
Cut the corner section off an old washing machine I had and used it to solve two problems. First I used it to extend the upper part of the new quarter panel that was short, as referred to earlier, and also used it to create a new door jamb. Please don't laugh at my welding skills.

Edgepiecewelded.jpg


doorjambwelded2.jpg




Sliced and welded this rear section so it would suck up against the rear support bracket.

slicedsection.jpg


rearsectionsuckedin.jpg




Used another piece off the repurposed washing machine. This is the side section of the top cover. It's perfect for a top cap on the quarter. Had to pie cut the heck outta it to get the curve but it turned out well. Now I got a place to rest my arm while cruisin'!

cappiece.jpg


capweldedin.jpg




The short side was used to graft into the quarter panel whereas the longer side allows some material for attaching interior panels if the need ever arises.

insideforhanginginteriorpanels.jpg




Here's the 2 quarters. The passenger side quarter was my test mule. I've got some tweaking to do on it but the drivers side came out rather well. Still have some adjustments to make and a little finish welding to do. After that a skim coat of bondo and I should be good to go! Considering they were both made from repurposed materials, and for very little money, I'm quite happy!

P1010002_03.jpg
 
Don't know why you got banned but this should go a long way in making amends :) Awesome "how-to" man! Excellent pics and commentary and excellent reuse of stuff [cl[cl I've always thought there was a nice looking visor hiding in one of those hoods (would have to include the fender ends too). I have a couple of those vans out back and I'm always seeing usable sections in them. Thanks again for the great post. [cl[cl
 
Thanks for all the positive replies! I'm hoping it'll help someone who needs a quarter panel but doesn't want to spend a fortune on a repo.[;)

Don't know why you got banned but this should go a long way in making amends.

They said I was banned because I sold parts on here without the proper post count and was repeatedly warned. Actually, I don't believe I've ever sold anything on here. I'm sure it was just some sort of administrative error. They probably got me confused with someone else. Anyhow, I'm glad to be back![cl
 
you welded washing machine!

yours must have been older than mine cause it didnt weld woth crap! I swear it wasnt too thin maybe 20 gauge but I could almost cut a clean line with the welder on #2 I applaud you sir
 
That is using your head

Very cool idea. It looks like the welds worked out. I was wondering if you used .023 wire? If not it make things a lot easier. We use E70S2 wire because it is a lot softer. If you catch it soon it can be hammered. Not very many places carry E70S2 wire but they should be able to order it. The repurposed washing machine worked well. Great job![;)[cl
 
WOW, you Sir are one clever Hombre! My hat's off to you. Wish my brain worked like that! If I see it, I can usually do it, but can't think outside of the box. perley
 
Thanks guys! Yeah, I used .023 wire. I learned to MIG weld sheet metal by reading an article in Hot Rod magazine about 6 months ago. I guess my subscription paid off!
 

Latest posts

Back
Top