comments welcomed - Does this sound right or am I making a mistake ? 65 Polara 2 door

Detroit_Lives

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I've had the Michigan car for years, 65 2 dr, it has rusty quarter panels, has been sitting but engines not seized. Found a car from AZ. 65 2 dr. with good metal & I was planning to cut the good quarters off this car and weld them onto the MI. car. I then realized the AZ body is better than the MI car..why am I cutting it up...? The AZ car came without eng or trans, interior gutted, trunk full of new parts. It was assumed a donor because it has some collision damage: the drivers fender dented, pass door dented, worst is pass tail light got mashed. So I can swap fender and door, I can fix any issuses with the side windows, install the interior including the dash and all that. I can clean up the engine bay and I wasn't planning to pull the engine but this way I can pull it and go thru it like should be done anyway.. lots more work this way but I think results will be better and I'm willing to dive in.
So the question: does this look right? I put a line to show where I'm thinking I might cut out the dented tail area of the AZ car and I've made similar marks on the photo of the rusty car where I'm thinking I might cut out the solid area of the blue car as a patch for the dented tan car. I'm using the trim holes as a reference and going to the 4th hole from the rear where its not damaged and cutting vertical up and across at the same place to the trunk inner lip where the quarter is pinched with the trunk lip. Drill out the spot welds from there to the rear and spot welds around the tail light housing. Also whatever welds come into play with the trunk drop panel and wheelhouse etc. Then cut horzontally approx. 3" down from the trim holes to the rear leaving the good non rusted rear lower part. So, is this even remotely a good idea? Should I stick to the original plan and patch the rusty Michigan car cuz its a complete car or Is there a better approach? where would it make sense to cut, I'm just looking at where the dented distorted metal fades into decent looking metal and that lines up with the 4th trim hole then basically a straight line up. The blue car is rusted at the lower part so I would have to tailor fit the patch piece. How would you do it?
 
here's the pics
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If I were you I would try to straighten as much of the original metal as possible first but I learned from an old pro how to bump, heat and shrink metal back into shape. He always said metal has a memory and wants to go back to its original shape. That rear area looks pretty bad so I would have to see it in person to really say how I would do it.
 
Is there any other rust on the car other than the pictures you listed? If that is the only rust, then it shouldn't be too hard to fix it if you want to keep your original car. If there is more rust like in the trunk, floors and other places then I would keep the other rust free one. It would be easier to give an opinion if you posted pictures of both cars and not just the partial areas.
 
Thanks for your comments, I will listen and consider anything/everything. I'll put some more pics up.
I'm learning as I go, not afraid to do the work but I need some encouragement, lacking the confidence that comes with experience. What that really means is someone who has done alot of this type work and more significant, they've made alot of mistakes along the way. Thats where the real knowledge comes from, mistakes. But I don't want to have to fix my mistakes... I don't have alot of $ into these C bodies ..yet.. and I don't want to put alot into it. I'd rather buy the tools and stumble thru it. I have found this website to be a valuable source of knowledge and that type of experience that comes from making mistakes too. So don't hold back when you're posting on these forums , tell about mistakes you've made and its not limited to hands on work mistakes. Also includes decision type mistakes.
 
Rust never sleeps, keep the solid car and part the rust box.
As stated above, straiten as much as possible before cutting for new panel from rust car. Your idea sounds good.
 
Overall, the AZ car should be in much better shape. If the quarter panels are rusted on the MI car, there is rust all over; that is just the telltale!
 
Rust never sleeps, keep the solid car and part the rust box.
As stated above, straiten as much as possible before cutting for new panel from rust car. Your idea sounds good.
thanks for your input. I posted the question in a earlier post wether or not I should patch up the rusty quarters or build the "donor" car from the ground up with parts from the rust bucket car. The comment that collision damage is easier to work on than rust did it for me... Then it started to sink in how much more work to build the donor... then I convinced myself it was the right thing to do... so I started to work on the collision damage. I can get my arm inside the quarter and my other arm streched over the outside tried to use hammer and dolly like that but its too much reach not enough swing with the hammer and can't hold the dolly with any force, ugh. Maybe after I cut the bad section out I can beat on it if needed. The part thats got me hesitating is the lower area. The blue car is rusted at the lower part, solid where I drew a line, that makes it a strange shaped patch
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As far as the cut and patch quarter panel tail section idea, I can't think of a better line to cut and weld but not sure what the criteria is; thinking about warp and heat and just looking at how the body lines go, the lines I drew here just doodles. I'll do straight lines when I cut

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this is solid, just lite surface rust until you get to the bottom. What
you see is factory paint had some surface rust mostly under the trim, hit those places with a sander real quick and dirty then grey primer can years ago.

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Its hard for me to imagine these lines and profiles matching up , what I can imagine is something won't fit right and I'm screwed. it all has to match up and fit; rib, corners, across the top etc, I wissh I could make the cuts in a better place but why cut out any more than is dented/damaged...idk?
And using the rusty car as a donor also limits what I can do.

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The blue car does not sound that bad.
How are the trunk floor, trunk extensions, and rear subframe?
 
I've never done this, but I've heard of guys "pulling" panels to straighten them out. Maybe someone that knows more can say if that would work in this case.
Sure, pulling a dent is a common thing and I have a slide hammer, just need that cool stud welder tool. Was planning to first try to eliminate the area where its bulged outwards. I think that would allow the dented in area to be pulled easier. Just guessing. But as mentioned I'm not able to do it myself. Actually I just thought of something lol, I could use my slide hammer from inside the trunk to pull in the bulge hmm thanks for the idea. Ultimately it doesn't matter anyway because the plan is to cut that corner off. The tail light area is mashed so something has to be cut somewhere right? I've got the good replacent quarterpanel corner piece to use from the blue car (except for the rotted part) I gave up trying to straighten the bulges and dents simply because I can cut beyond the dents and all that, just cut all the bad stuff out and weld in the patch. Why would I hammer and pull and all that when the tail light housing is beyond repair anyway. so the question is: should I cut the corner off where I've indicated and straight across the top of the quarter to the trunk lip... or should I cut it a different better way..? Thanks again for any and all comments.
 
The blue car does not sound that bad.
How are the trunk floor, trunk extensions, and rear subframe?
The floors and trunk are solid on the blue car, the worst there is is the rear wheel openings, check out my other post "donor car decision" for a bunch of pics. thing is its a complete car. After deciding to part out the bluee one to build the other car I realized how much more work it will be to disassemble a ton of parts from ol blue and then clean prep etc, install onto other car...what am I getting myself into ugh. My other little naggy thought in the back of my mind id the fact that I've driven ol blue and I know it goes down the road right, the other car was dropped off in my driveway and I've pushed it about 10 feet. ie. I don't know if it goes down the road straight..
 
The floors and trunk are solid on the blue car, the worst there is is the rear wheel openings, check out my other post "donor car decision" for a bunch of pics. thing is its a complete car. After deciding to part out the bluee one to build the other car I realized how much more work it will be to disassemble a ton of parts from ol blue and then clean prep etc, install onto other car...what am I getting myself into ugh. My other little naggy thought in the back of my mind id the fact that I've driven ol blue and I know it goes down the road right, the other car was dropped off in my driveway and I've pushed it about 10 feet. ie. I don't know if it goes down the road straight..
I get it. Blue car already cut. Decision made.
 
decision made with hesitation, no action taken yet, havn't cut yet.
If the rust in ol blue is limited to the lower quarters, I'd save myself the hassle of a giant project and go with ol blue.

Giant projects - that can't be done increments between driving and having fun - are the most likely to become dusty expensive tables. Or tarp covered blobs in the yard. (from my experience :lol:)
 
If the rust in ol blue is limited to the lower quarters, I'd save myself the hassle of a giant project and go with ol blue.

Giant projects - that can't be done increments between driving and having fun - are the most likely to become dusty expensive tables. Or tarp covered blobs in the yard. (from my experience :lol:)
oh man do I know how right you are and thats a big part of my hesitation.
 
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