I have read some topics on replacing the rear outer wheel houses. Some say the quarters must be removed and others say they dont. I need to replace the outer wheel hoses and the trunk drop offs. Is it possible to remove the tail panel and loosen the bottom of the quarters in the rear to sneak the wheel houses in. I am not a body man but it appears the only way to replace the drop offs is to remove the tail panel. I am hoping this would help me sneak the wheel houses in too. I was told by Rick's it is possible to loosen up the bottom of the quarters to get them in but i am hoping i dont have to loosen the front part of the quarters in front of the wheels. I may be completely off the mark on this. I would greatly appreciate some help :confused: :confused: Thank you

You will probably get conflicting opinions on this but having been in the body and paint business for many, many years, I have found that there is only one way to do things and that's the right way. That would be to do these repairs with the 1/4 panel off the car. 80% repo skins are relatively inexpensive and you're going to be welding anyway.

You can do the wheelhouse but it involves cutting the outer one in half (not at the joint) matching the new one to the cut in the original rolling a flange into the original, then spot or plug welding the new on inplace. You can attach the outer edge of the wheelhouse to the quarter wheelwell with panel adhesive so it won't even damage the existing paint on the quarter by welding. Lot of work cutting and fitting the peices but it is possible.

Hi star,
be forewarned that the repro outer wheelhouses leave a lot to be desired try and find a NOS one.

You'll never find NOS outer wheelhouses for a 69. Buy the USA made ones that Ricks sells. They fit pretty good and are made of thick guage steel. It really depends on which repro wheelhouses you buy.

I agree with Jonesy, The ones I got from Ricks were higher quality then the repops I already had. It sticks to have to rebuy parts because a better one comes out. I did the inners and outers at the same time. We were going to save the inners but found some dents that made replacement the only option. The 120 or so spot welds holding them together also would have made saving the inners a PITA. I have pics of it in my webshots album.

Scott

Please more info. I did purchase the better wheel houses. I am about to try to sneak the outer wheel houses in by removing the rear tail panel and trunk drop offs. Will it work or can it work if i loosen the bottom of the quarters in front and rear. ANYBODY??????????

Star
I replaced both the inner and outer on my pace car. But,I had the whole trunk area gutted.I also did the trunk extensions and drop-offs without removeing the 1/4s.
Thanks,David