Steel rear quarter reinforcement

Ahhh ... I had been thinking about these areas of reinforcement .. thanks for the photo ... could you trace them and put them on a PDF file ... with one dimension on them ..then I can print it and use it as a template ??

Ron

Yo DOES200,

Can you take a photo of where this goes on the car? I think I'm getting dumber as I get older.....

These should go on the body right between the curvature of the decklid and the gill. This is where there is a tendency for the body to develop stress cracks. More importantly there are front ones available for the A pillar at the base of the windscreen, where there is even more tendency to stress crack.

Joules ,,,, that was the area Iw as thinking these were for ... and the fronts are a bit harder to duplicate because there is the possibilty of conflicts in the front with a bunch of duifferent items..like windshield gasket, mouldings, interior panels etc.
Ron

I can't do the PDF file, but I could measure them or place a ruler by it and do another photo if that may help.

That might work ... Thanks

quote:

I can't do the PDF file, but I could measure them or place a ruler by it and do another photo if that may help.

You know when these reinforcement plates were first made, I highly doubt anyone sat down with a computer and found optimal dimensions.

All they knew was this area was prone to displaying cracks and they felt it needed some form of reinforcement. So they made a piece that looked like this one. Then someone came along and had some firm cut out a bunch more. The point being you really don't need to exactly duplicate this piece; anything resembling this shape will do the job.

BUT, to confuse the issue some, anyways....

There is a lot of body filler lead in this joint. Some have said it is the lead that causes the cracking in this location. It gets a lot of stress here and the cracks are in the lead not just an issue of the paint.

If I was starting from scratch in this area, I would melt/grind out all the old lead first, weld up the seams you find, and then add in the reinforcement plate.

Larry

I melted out the lead ... its really solder .. and these look very damn close to what will fit back in there... i like the idea of the holes to spot weld them in .. its a greats atrting point with out reinventing the wheel.

Ron

Here is a photo with ruler for reference:

Here is a photo traced. Note that these are straight measurements point to point, not curvature. Also these pieces have a curve to the surface, as if someone took an english wheel to it.

Thats great ..thanks !

Ron

The dude that did my Group 4 said he also had some metal plates added around the tail lights, although I don't know what that piece looks like. So I suppose that is a good area to reinforce too since I have seen cracks on some cars there.

I'm trying to understand how/where they go? You remove the lead/solder and this plate gets welded in its place?
Will

quote:

I'm trying to understand how/where they go

See the curved section with the 4 3/4" dimension?

That curve is at the rear corner of the gills.

Larry

quote:

That curve is at the rear corner of the gills.

Welded-in on the back-side of the panel I presume.

How thick are these plates?

quote:

Welded-in on the back-side of the panel I presume.

I have always thought they where welded on the outside.

Filler as needed.

That was always my understanding ..these get welded in place of te solder ...then smotthen it out.


Ron

quote:

Originally posted by accobra:
That was always my understanding ..these get welded in place of te solder ...then smotthen it out.


Ron

That is correct.
I have a bunch of pictures of mine from 10 yrs ago but I will have to scan them to post. Mine has NO cracks after thrashing for nearly 10 yrs. Even with almost 700 hp!


Ron

My front lower front windshield pillar was cracked like they do. I melted out the solder and what a mess. Everytime I tried to weld there it just spattered. I was afraid I was going to catch the car on fire. I mixed up some long strand "kitty hair" and it has been holding well. If you ever have to spread filler over 1/4 inch, I recommend using the K Hair under it.. Bill 1362

If you look inside the engine bay at that point, you'll notice that there is a panel-overlap on the inner rear fender clear up to where the the weatherstrip fits, and the whole area may have lead or factory bondo. This stuff needs to be completely cleaned out befor trying to fix the area. The non-rigid panel overlap is IMHO why we get cracking there (on both sides).
If you're going to the trouble of welding a doubler outside, I suggest also seam-welding the entire inner panel all the way down to the rear subframes to stiffen up the rear section. Seam-welding all the rear panels where there are spot-welded overlap panels (like under the tail light buckets) greatly stiffens the rather flexy Pantera in the rear and prevents further body-cracking with big sticky tires. Finally, replace the stock (and useless) bay brace with a properly designed unit that jams into the holding pockets, rather than trying to hold cornering loads thru two flimsy metal tabs (with slotted holes) and bolts.