Anyone ever pulled a quarter panel from a U-Pull junkyard?

ManglerYJ

ManglerYJ

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2005
Location
Lexington, NC
My step-daughter's Sunfire has a REALLY nasty dent in the passenger side quarter panel (right where the gas filler is). I'm trying to figure out how I can repair it cheaply and thought of a Pull-a-part junk yard for a source. The one I've frequented before had three Sunfires on the lot the same generation and if I remember right, at least one of them had a straight quarter panel.

My question is, has anyone ever got a quarter panel or similar large chunk of metal that couldn't be unbolted? If so, what tools worked best for your extract? I have a battery operated sawzall, but even with 2 18 volt batteries, I'd be afraid of not having enough juice. There supposedly are spot welds that can be cut or drilled, but that seems like a VERY time consuming task to undertake at a u-pull yard.

Any suggestions?
 
Do ur self the favor of drilling those spot welds and not use the saws all. The saw will wave the metal up and make ALOT more work in the long run
 
It's a 1999. I tried using a 2x4 and a jack from inside the trunk to "press" it out and it helpd a bit, but I can't get to the spot in front of the gas filler, so I gave up.

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broncosbybart said:
That would be a lot of work. I'd use an angle grinder with a cutting blade. Actually, I'd just leave it alone.
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Actually, leaving it alone was my vote..... wife says otherwise.

The back story on this car is that it belonged to my older step-daughter who got into a series of wrecks in it. (She's really not good with cars - she's 21 and is now on her 7th car). The back end damage you see is a result of her spinning on an icy bridge and hitting a guard rail. Then, she took the car out to the beach after losing her job and rear-ended another car. (she has an equal amount of sense to go with her driving ability) She had the car towed to our house where I replaced the front bumper cover, driver's fender, hood, both headlights and radiator, only to find out that the car had a blown head gasket. Her dad's mother paid for all the parts, but I did all the labor free of charge. She then tows it to a shop for them to work on and they tell her that the car isn't worth fixing. She figured she could get $200 scrapping the car out, so I offered to reduce her cell phone bill by $200 in exchange for the car.

My plan was to replace the battery, head gasket and water pump as well as a fresh set of tires and give the car to my other step-daughter who is 17. Since the replacement body panels I put on the car are red and the car is blue, my wife suggested I have a buddy of mine paint the car. Since she doesn't like the blue, I am forced to fix the dented body panels to give her a "nice" looking car instead of one that is merely car shaped.

Against my better judgement, I'll be replacing the rear quarter panel after I get it running. On a positve note, I get to keep any tools that I have to buy to fix the car, so it looks like I'll be getting a spot weld cutter!
 
two suggestions...
1. grab a buffer and see if you can't just use some compound and buff that out.
2. grab some tools, head to the junkyard and see how difficult it is going to be to remove the quarter panel. Pay particular attention to how much you screw it up trying to get it off. If you screw it up on the yard, just leave it and it only cost you your time and admission.

I'd start with the buffer though. I think with a little compound, you might can get most of that out.
 
ManglerYJ said:
Against my better judgement, I'll be replacing the rear quarter panel after I get it running. On a positve note, I get to keep any tools that I have to buy to fix the car, so it looks like I'll be getting a spot weld cutter!
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you will need the following tools...
1. millermatic 251
2. oxygen/acetylene torch set with tanks
3. complete set of snap-on sockets, ratchets, extensions, pliers, screw drivers etc. etc.
4. snap-on rolling tool chest for above tools
5. complete set of snap-on air tools
6. 220v air compressor with at least 15cfm@90psi
7. plasma cutter
8. tubing bender (sounds like the older step needs full exo-cage)
9. HVLP paint system
10. cherry picker
11. engine stand
12. 2 post car lift
13. garage to house above

That should cover the quarter panel and head gasket.

Anything else that needs fixin' that you need tools for?
 
rodnocker said:
two suggestions...
1. grab a buffer and see if you can't just use some compound and buff that out.
2. grab some tools, head to the junkyard and see how difficult it is going to be to remove the quarter panel. Pay particular attention to how much you screw it up trying to get it off. If you screw it up on the yard, just leave it and it only cost you your time and admission.

I'd start with the buffer though. I think with a little compound, you might can get most of that out.
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I agree with #2. This will be my approach. When I wrote the initial post, I didn't realize there was such a tool as a spot weld cutter. Neat looking little tool. I'll definitely be gettin gone of those. From the looks of it, the drill doesn't work very hard either, so between two fully charged batteries and a cordless drill, I should be able to cut a quarter panel free.
 
Agree with Blaze!!

I have drilled out spot welds. It isn't fun. The worst part is that when you are done, you have to weld a piece of swiss cheese back together. Think about a 3/8" to 1/2" hole, each 3" or so apart from the next. It gets really time consuming really fast and looks like crap when you are done. Now I use a grinder to remove the junk panel from the good one and do not use any kind of spot weld cutter.

If it were me, I'd hire someone to fix it on the cheap, if you don't have the skills. I do not (for bodywork) and know that it is easier and often cheaper to have someone else do it.
 
What you really need is a stud welder. The harbour freight one works fine. The steel may be stretched to far and thin to bring back to shape. You may be able to make some relief cut in and amd bring it back out, but no more complex than the panel is in front of the filler door, you could probably just about make a small patch panel if it all works out right. Quarters are a pain. Much easier if you have the car on-hand so you can take your time. But if I'm in a hurry, I usually use a sawzall with a badass blade amd cut past what I know I'll need.
 
braxton357 said:
Women...can't live with them--can't work on your own shit due to always fixing their crappy ass cars either...
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Amen brother!

Worst thing is that when I inherited this project, my wife hadn't informed me that in the entire time her daughter owned the car, she never changed the oil in it. When I pulled the valve cover, it didn't look horrible, but it didn't look good either. That's gonna be first priority after the head gasket/water pump.
 
sounds like maybe letting step daughter #1 drive it a bit more and she'll do it in for good and problem solved. I have a 9 and 10 year old, these stories make me dread what may be to come :driver:
 
benmack1 said:
sounds like maybe letting step daughter #1 drive it a bit more and she'll do it in for good and problem solved. I have a 9 and 10 year old, these stories make me dread what may be to come :driver:
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If my two boys are anything like me, I fear for everything in town.
 
In this case I would def. agree with Blaze and Charles. Stud welder and slide hammer as best you can, pull tail light and inner wheel well, hammer and dolly where you can back there. Weld up any holes and fill it. Cutting out body panels at a junk yard is not fun... never seem to have what you need no matter how well you plan. If you do cut it out, use a cut off wheel, saw will produce waves and spot weld cutter will be a lot of work and possibly a lot of cutters, plus you have to find all the spot welds.
 
Blaze said:
If my two boys are anything like me, I fear for everything in town.
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The real problem with these two girls is their father's influence (and his mother). To them, everything is disposable (thus the reason she was so willing to accept $200 for a car that she was told was un-fixable). I've been working very hard with my three biological children to avoid that trap. Being from the Detroit area, I grew up around cars - and while I can't fix everything, I know what is fixable with some work and parts. I also know where my skills fall short and this degree of body work is most likely that. I have a buddy who will most likely do the work since that's his forte. I went looking at all the spot welds in this stupid panel and there's a TON of them, and a lot of them are covered by the rear window. That's where I drew the line.
 
I've never pulled a quarter panel from a JY, but this is what first popped in my mind. I'd borrow or buy an inverter, take a car battery, and my angle grinder with a handful of cutoff wheels to the JY.
 
I'm w/ Blaze and others. I'd pull/psuh it out as best you can, then invest in a 5 gallon bucket of bondo. That giant V-crease... Honestly I'd just fill it all in w/ a shitpile of bondo and smooth it out into a new panel.
You've said yourself its not worth it. This is a classic example of polishing a turd.
Doing this "right" vs this way isn't going to change the value of this car by any measure enough to warrant all that work.
Especially if it's going to another kid, they don't need perfect cars anyway.
 
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