I just bought my 1968 convertible firebird . There was some body work done to the car before i bought it. The rear quarters were patched or replaced. I really started looking and the inner wheel wells have some of the lip that was roted away but it was blasted and primed. How hard is it to fix. Do i need to cut off the quarters to replace them? Any suggestions? One other thing on the rear of the frame rails where the leaf spring bolts to, it looks like the factory put some kind of overlap metal there. It is also slightly gone on the bottom but doesn't look like a support problem. Any help or advise would be greatly apperciated.
Denko

your inner wheel wells sound like theres more rust than meets the eyes. cutting out the problem rust and patching it can be done but will be a slow and difficult process. as for the brackets on the frame thats a problem what you described sounds like a lot of unseen rust and that area takes the strain of the body and the spring. you will have to cut out the rusted frame rail and replace it. no quick fix for that problem. good luck.

hmmmmm, it sounds like the lip inside the wheel well, that cant be seen until you get
below it and look up?
if they replaced the rear quarters or just the quarter skins,
what you might be looking at is a botched welding job. some body
shops will let a novice do the welding in places it cant be seen. if this is the case,
spray the area with your garden hose and see it water gets into the trunk. if it does,
ya gotta fix it. usually you can use an asphalt type undercoating.
BUT....
if it really is rust, you gotta cut it out and replace it.
a friend of mine replaced his wheel wells on his 67 gto with one from year one and,
was very happy with the fit. but, he said they were a lighter guage than the original
ones that he took off.
hope this helps,
dallas

You can replace the wheel houses without cutting off the quarters. It takes time and careful cutting, but it can be done. How do you think all these Pro-touring cars are installing mini-tubs without replacing the quarters?

If just the lip is rusted and this is a daily driver, you might want to wire wheel the rust, coat with something like "Rust-Mort" and fiberglass the inner lip. Prime and undercoat. Looks great, doesn't leak and your quarters are un-molested.

Hey guys thanks for responding to this problem. I think that i might try to get new inner fenders and cut them in half and cut half of the rusted ones out. It will always haunt me if i do not fix them right the first time.
Thanks for all your posts.
Dennis