Finishing Sail Panel Welding

I finally finished welding the patches into the outer sail panel on the drivers side of the car. After much cutting and piecing everything in, it turned out pretty well and will only require a skim of glazing putty to make it look good.


Before patching in the big hole at the rear, I tacked in a few tabs under the existing metal. This probably isn't the 'correct' way of doing this, but I didn't think I could flange the existing metal without ruining the curve of the body in that section.

Tabs Welded into Place:

Once I had the tabs welded in it was a pretty quick process to tack in the remaining patch. I had to go over the pin holes a few times to get everything sealed real good. As a precaution, I am going to spray the entire inside of the panel with a rust treatment before closing up the inside. This should keep my body work nice and fresh for years to come.

Finished Patch:

I noticed that after I finished the patch, that the area had a little warping had occurred from the heat. To remedy the situation, I heated the area with a propane torch, and then quickly cooled it with ice water. The metal shrunk back to its original shape after two times doing this. The below picture still looks as though the panel is distorted, but the dark areas are mainly from heating the metal.

After Heating and Cooling Panel:

Over all I was very pleased with the outcome of this panel. I'm glad that I did not have to buy a new quarter.

Thanks for reading!!! See ya next post!