Where to start?

[Mule]

I started stripping the '69 Riviera.
A little filler started peaking through while stripping. After removing 1/3" of skillfully skimmed filler, I uncovered this on the left rear quarter.

It's a bit of a reach to get the dolly on the backside and still be able to work the front, almost a two man operation. Do I weld the holes up, then flatten the panel, or, flatten the panel and then weld the holes up?

Thanks

 

[crashtech]

I'm not a pro metalshaper but I will go first. I would work the panel as much as possible before welding, then weld, carefully grind, then work it some more. It's in a tough spot, so I wouldn't expect miracles unless you have a helper to hold the dolly. Keep in mind that the metal has already been thinned by the previous work and your stripping, so be very careful when grinding down the welds, some of that area could end up pretty thin!

 

[Mule]

Thanks Crash. Ya, it looks like the previous sculpture was sanding with a grinding wheel.

 

[crashtech]

The shape of that dent is suspicious, you should also look for signs of a rear end collision where the bumper has impacted the body. You might be dealing with a pressure buckle that needs to be relieved by pulling on the body.

 

['68 Coronet R/T]

I have seen this type of "repair work" done before. Yours looks fixable as Crash points out.

This was on a '62 Chevy Truck. Turned out the holes when most of the way down towards the bottom of the bedside.
What a mess! I couldn't reach it from the back side, so I cut it out and welded in new metal.

 

[Mule]

I didn't get a pic of the side after it was cleaned up. Here is one before taking the filler off. The red circle is the damage in the previous photo. There are a few holes in the area of the blue arrows, but not much damage.

 

[Mule]

The bumper doesn't show any signs of damage (if it's the original one). The trunk lid looks to be clean, with no damage.

 

[Mule]

So far, the only other signs of damage are on the rear of the quarter. Almost looks like a patch.

 

['68 Coronet R/T]

All in all it looks to be in great shape.

On the really rough looking panels you may want to use a polyester primer after your epoxy primer. Basically it's a spray on body filler that chemically hardens.
That '62 Chevy truck had dents and dings all over it and reaching the backside was impossible. Here it is in 2 coats of G2 Featherfill polyester primer:

This gets guide coat and then block sanded with 150 grit to be sure it's flat and straight. I follow up with 2k build primer and more block sanding with finer grits using guide coat every step of the way.

SPI Dark Red:

 

[Mule]

Thanks for the input guys. If I can get anywhere close to that, It's a win. I'll get to working it this weekend and see where I end up.

 

[MJM]

Here's my two sense......

Any hole to be welded up that you can't get access to from the backside too apply either epoxy or cavity wax, it would be best to fill the hole with fiberglass filler. Push it in well so it curates a pigtail on the backside. Also any hole to be welded up should have a countersink for the hole.

 

[Mule]

Thanks MJM. It's a bit of a reach, but with a sacraficial helper I think I can get behind it. I've been practicing on some junk metal and between you guys here, youtube and chatGPT I think I'm already an expert...