That's a very good point, Ron. I will have the panel but not the equipment.
I tend to be surrounded by colleagues and fellow hobbyists who, despite my
total lack of experience with welding, tell me "oh, it's relatively easy...
you can do it!", and "just practice on some scrap metal and you'll do fine."
Well, I'm not convinced of that. On the other end of the spectrum, I hear
from Alpine enthusiasts that, "the Alpine construction is such that only a
true master can do it right", and "most ordinary body shops will butcher the
work because they've never seen and alpine."
I suspect I DON'T want to tackle this quarter panel. The rest of the car
will be a lot of work but something I believe I can do.
Then, I have to take Jan's advice into consideration... to dump the shell in
favor of a cleaner one because of the time/effort to clean this one up for
the long haul.
At this point I'm not planning a complete strip-down. Maybe at a future
point. Now I want to strip the interior and sand down the exterior, and
rebuild it from that level. That means that dipping, etc., is not in the
cards right now. Since it's basically rust-free I think I can do that okay.
Won't come close to show quality but I'll have a nice driver to play with.
Decisions, decisions....
thanks for the feedback! (if anyone knows of a place in Sacramento that can
do a quarter panel weld, please let me know).
Bill
http://tubbs.cc/alpine/
-----Original Message-----
From: Ron Tebo [mailto:tebomr@cadvision.com]
Sent: Monday, June 10, 2002 4:41 AM
To: Bill Tubbs
Cc: alpines
Subject: Re: Quarter-panel welding
Bill:
You don't say a) Whether you have the panel and equipment or, b) whether
you intend to learn (and do your own) body work? Unless the answer is
yes to both questions, you better leave it to a pro. (Much of the cost
of good professional body work is often redoing what some misguided
amateur thought would do).
Ron Tebo
Bill Tubbs wrote:
>
> My 67's biggest problem will be to get a rear quarter panel welded on to
> replace a bashed in original.
>
> Does anyone have any detailed photos or a reference to some that show
> exactly what is entailed in such a project? I've never welded anything in
> my life, and I'm not familiar with the Alpine's construction. How
involved
> is replacing this piece?
>
> a. Should only be attempted by professionals?
> b. Serious amateurs??
> c. Anyone can probably do it?
>
> See the shots at http://tubbs.cc/alpine for the extent of the damage.
>
> Thanks...
>
> Bill
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