Project 1990 country squire resto/modification by andyfanshawe

5 minute(s) of a 418 minute read

Been offered a 68 Impala!! Hmmm!

Right, if this thing is going to get a quality paint job, I don't want any rust bubbling through after a few months. So I need to dig deep and find any potential rust areas.

Rear wheel arch lips are notorious for corroding. So I need to remove part of the inner wheel arch and separate the inner lip from the outer one and have a look. Fun!!

Heres a view of some rust bubbling through at the bottom of the wheelarch towards the back.

Lets see how bad it really is

Now lets go inside and remove the inner wheel arch section.

Line marked for cutting

Starting the cut so the air saw can get in

Heres what my air saw did

Heres the state of the rear quarter panel after all remains of the inner one has gone

Its actually not too bad. A few pinholes but nothing that cant be saved with some media blasting and a small bit of welding.

These areas would have made a real mess of new paint after a few months.

Heres an interesting shot. Notice the rust creeping under the lower panel corner. Bet you can't guess what that would eventually do?!!

Blasting tomorrow.

9-1-2010

Back to the plot!

Whellarch lip repair and width reduction (sounds like cosmetic surgery!).

The wheel arch lip is way too wide, so here is my famous air saw in action again

Then I got involved in a friends rusty maxda mx5 rockers! Its sometimes not good to be the local welder/fabricator 'cos I get asked to do loads of jobs.

Anyway, reshaping quarter panel tomorrow (unless I get asked to do something else!)

9-2-2010

Today is quarter panel reshaping day.

Heres the panel under the rear bumper marked for cutting.

And heres the cut

Heres my friend Jay sat waiting to bend the quarter panel up. So this is the original shape

and this is the panel bent

I think it looks a lot better!

9-5-2010

Thanks guys!

Heres the spare wheel well removed completely

And the cardbord templates of the panels to fill the gap

Now just got to make them out of steel

Now then, one of my friends (Chris) has done a sketch of a possible finished product......

Have a look at this:

Not a bad sketch is it! He says he is available for custom sketches on any car of your desire. Send me a PM and he will do you one for a small cost.

Interesting design though!