A look under the bondo

[terrible one]

Well guys, today I did some striping with the grinder on my lower quarters and other visibly rough spots. It appears that the car had some somewhat decent patchwork done to it before the guy with the bucket of bondo got ahold of her! The bondo measured 1/4" thick in places  


















And here is what I found in the passenger side quarter:

[inhrmswy]

Hell if its a craftsman take it back to sears and get a new one...

[The Ghoul]

welcome to michigan!!LOL
i knew I had issues when I saw diamond plate from inside the intirror.
this pic is before I pried the diamond plate out and with it the rest of the bondo.
other side wasnt any better 
looks like the just slid in the diamond plate then loaded on the mud.

[PocketThunder]

Oh c'mon, a little mud never hurt anything....................................... 

[terrible one]

Oh c'mon, a little mud never hurt anything....................................... 

Yeah, but a lot did! 

Really I think it looks pretty good.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems as if for the rear so far I will need quarter panel patches, trunk pan, trunk extensions, new rear valence, and then whatever I have to do for behind the back windshield.

speaking of, does anyone make a patch for that area? What IS made for that area?

[hotrod98]

The panel between the back glass and the trunk lid is called a Dutchman panel. Not a real easy panel to replace.
Someone is making repair pieces for inside the sail areas as well.

[Roth68rt]

Try Auto Body Specialties autobodyspecialt.com, they have every part you will need. 
Steve

[terrible one]

Thanks guys

[palindromes]

The metal you're replacing is pretty typical for our cars, I had to replace all those panels on my car too.  A lot of times that dutchman panel is referred to as a deck filler panel.  Repops for that panel as well as the sail panels extend all the way into the window channel, which is nice for the repair you'll be making.

You didn't show your upper window channel, but a lot of times that's rusted out too (mine sure was).  They used to make a replacement for that as well, but I've heard it's not available anymore.  That area's probably just as easy to fab from scratch anyway.

[terrible one]

The metal you're replacing is pretty typical for our cars, I had to replace all those panels on my car too.  A lot of times that dutchman panel is referred to as a deck filler panel.  Repops for that panel as well as the sail panels extend all the way into the window channel, which is nice for the repair you'll be making.

You didn't show your upper window channel, but a lot of times that's rusted out too (mine sure was).  They used to make a replacement for that as well, but I've heard it's not available anymore.  That area's probably just as easy to fab from scratch anyway.

Thanks man. I found the Dutchman panel or "deck filler" from Sherman and others. By the upper window channel, do you mean the upper channel of the back windsheild? If so, I think it's in pretty good shape. I'll find out when I try to remove the trim clips and all, but that part still has the original paint on it, and from what I can tell everything with the original paint on it hasn't been molested so I think it might be pretty rust free. If not, like you said, it should be pretty easy to fab.

[bull]

It all looks vaguely familiar.

[Blue Pentastar]

Just think how much lighter you car will be when it is finished. That is what I kept telling myself when I did mine there where at least two places where the bondo was close to 2 inches thick they put it on in layers so it wouldn't crack. I guess they never thought about just pulling out the dents. I don't claim to be a good body man but good grief even I know better than that.

[AKcharger]

Bondo is the same as Liquid metal!!

[BigBlockSam]

you got lucky. i've seen some real horror shows. yours is very fixable. good luck with your project. Rene

[JimShine]

I have been there! The previous owner got real happy with the bondo on my '68. I have been getting it out with those 3M stripping wheels that look like a sponge, but are realy hard. This fender I am showing below had 1/2" thick bondo in some areas. I was scared the fender was shot underneath, but I hope you can see in the pic of it all cleaned down it was actually rot free. Just dented up. Still no need for so much bondo. This was covered from end to end.

[palindromes]

By the upper window channel, do you mean the upper channel of the back windsheild?

That's the part I was talking about.  Yours may not be as bad as mine was though...it's hard to tell what shape it's truly in until you get the rear glass completely out.  

I had to replace the outside of window channel with the repop piece (you can see in the pic I had to cut the replacement metal since it wasn't a great fit).  Water had also gotten inside the car & completely rotted out a chunk of the inner roof structure(pic 2).  They don't reproduce those, so I'm cutting a piece out of my '68 monaco parts car.

BTW- I couldn't really tell in the pics, is the window still fixed in place or did you remove it & then just lay it back in place for the pics?  If it's in good shape, I'd take it out & keep it somewhere safe until you're ready to permanently install it.  Mine's been under the lving room sofa for 2 years now.  

[terrible one]

I have been there! The previous owner got real happy with the bondo on my '68. I have been getting it out with those 3M stripping wheels that look like a sponge, but are realy hard. This fender I am showing below had 1/2" thick bondo in some areas. I was scared the fender was shot underneath, but I hope you can see in the pic of it all cleaned down it was actually rot free. Just dented up. Still no need for so much bondo. This was covered from end to end.

Wow man, that's a bummer about all the bondo, but it's great to see a fender in such awesome shape underneath!

[terrible one]

By the upper window channel, do you mean the upper channel of the back windsheild?

That's the part I was talking about.  Yours may not be as bad as mine was though...it's hard to tell what shape it's truly in until you get the rear glass completely out. 

I had to replace the outside of window channel with the repop piece (you can see in the pic I had to cut the replacement metal since it wasn't a great fit).  Water had also gotten inside the car & completely rotted out a chunk of the inner roof structure(pic 2).  They don't reproduce those, so I'm cutting a piece out of my '68 monaco parts car.

BTW- I couldn't really tell in the pics, is the window still fixed in place or did you remove it & then just lay it back in place for the pics?  If it's in good shape, I'd take it out & keep it somewhere safe until you're ready to permanently install it.  Mine's been under the lving room sofa for 2 years now.   

That looks pretty rough man. I don't think that mine is nearly as bad. As far as I can tell, it's in really good condition. I havn't taken the headliner out yet, so I don't know about the inner roof, but I imagine it's pretty good. The car seems to have been sealed up pretty well all of it's life (besides the trunk). I have minimal pan rust as well. The rear windshield is still attached. All I have done is remove the chrome trim. I plan to take it out when I get ready to strip the entire car and start on the bodywork. I'm really scared about taking it out because I have heard it is extremly easy to crack!

Here are some better pictures of my upper window channel from the outside:

[oldschool_muscle]

Ahhh i know what you mean the first car that I bought was a 68' GTO and whoever had it before me bondoed literally the entire car it was horrible. Thats why I sold it and bought my Charger