What would the experts do?

JimKueneman

Mopar Nut
'63 Dart. It has some cancer in the wheel lip in the rear quarter.... There are spots along it that show it will be through soon. I drilled out the spots and rolled it down to see what it was like. There is a nasty pocket in there that captures crap so I am sure it is not great on either side.


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Here is the patch panel..

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/gmk-2110-655-63l

To make the seam on a body line I would need to cut it many inches up from the lip edge or cut it just at the lip edge. I hate going all the way up to the body line as I know the rust is just in the lip area as that is where the crap accumulates. Would you go all the way up to the body line with the patch panel or just cut it an inch or so above the lip and weld it in the smooth area?

Would you do the other side even if it does not show evidence today?

Thanks
Jim
 
There is lots of metal men better than me, but I would cut out a small area first and look at the backside, then just keep cutting until I get clean metal. Should be no reason to go all the way to body line, I would try to stay in the flat. As for the other side, maybe just cut a small piece on three sides and fold it out where you think the rust would be the worst and look at the backside. If it looks fine you can just weld it back up.
 
If it's rusted there, you likely have damage in the outer wheel well also. Check to insure you have room for planishing your welds, and it may be needed to remove/replace outer wheel well to do so. My suggestion for the cut line would as follows, along the blue line:

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…….but insuring that the dolly you plan to use for planishing will fit about centered on the weld (red arrows) without the edge of the dolly touching on the opposite side of the crease. This would cause marking that would be visible from the outside, so always leave room for the dolly you plan to use.

Looking at the proposed cut line, it appears (that means check to be certain) to have an outward crown (convex) along the length of the blue line, and an inward crown (concave) in line with the arrows. This means that any shrinking effects SHOULD be locked from moving/deforming due to these differing profiles. As the inward crown shrinks, it will attempt to pull the weld outward. As the outward crown shrinks, it will attempt to pull into a valley. Having opposing crowns SHOULD help to keep it from moving at all, at least along that particular line. Here's another sample of a weld seam I did that I couldn't planish due to an enclosed liftgate, and the opposing crowns worked in our favor to negate any shrinking deformity. We fabricated the lower portion of the lift gate (all three components) and in hindsight I should have installed the outer portion first to allow planishing. I didn't, and the opposing crowns saved my butt. :


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Cleaned up....

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Other side.....

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Only thing left on this piece is the plug welds in the window opening. Need to put the rubber on the window glass and fit it to the opening to see if this part needs shifting prior to welding...

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This might even work....

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