Go to northerntool.com They have a panel flange tool for about sixty bucks. It also punches 1/4 and 3/16 holes for spot welding.
Nothern tool also has the applicator gun and supplies for the panel adhesive. That parts store is ripping you off. Look around on the web. You'll find it cheaper.
zanny

 

After searching the web, I have determined that to install the two upper whell arches will cost somewhere around $163+

The breakdown:

1. panel adhesive—$26 per 6 oz. tube (I woudl buy two to make sure I ahd enough)
2. applicator gun—$50
3. flange tool—$32
4. dimpling tool—$30
5. Rivet gun and rivets—$25

I also called a reputable welding shop in town and he told me they do stuff like that all the time, welding in body parts etc. He did not quote me a price over the phone, but if I had the rusted parts cut away and all he has to do is clamp and weld, it shouldn't take much time for an experinced welder.

What would y'all do?

I don't plan on making this a hobby, as I hate metal work.

 

The reason that I choose the glue method is that when you join the new panel to the existing sheetmetal, you have a solid seem between the two panels which creates a waterproof barrier so as no moisture can come come between the new metal and up under your bodyfiller,which in most cases can cause it to lift and bubble and other nasty things.If you get them welded in,from my own experience,then you should solid weld them in,meaning that you do not want any place where water or moisture can exit between the the new seems of your panels.In the past, I have just spot welded the panels on with a weld about every inch or so
around the whole area and found myself having to grind the filler out to reweld the whole thing again.I usually get quite a bit of snow and rain where I live so the moisture will try to sneak through any crack it can.I would think that spotwelding or tack welding the panels on would be appropriate if you live in a nice dry climate area,or never winter drive your vehicle.The bottom line of this type of project is cost, and whether you want to do this again in a year or three years or whichever.My opinion on any type of project like this is if you are going to spend the time and some money on any type of bodywork,make sure that your repair area is done properly and it will definately lessen the chance of having to do it all over again.

Good luck and hope this helps ya a little

 

tombob, those are all good prices on the material.
After you are done, you could sell the tools to a buddy. This will help offset your expenses. I'm surprised you found the flange tool so cheap.

zanny

 

I had concidered trying to glue in some repair panels above the rear wheels on my '79, and after reading this thread, I will. My question for you is, do you rivet the panel in place, after applying the glue, or can I tape it or hold it by some othe method till the glue sets up?

 

I myself choose the rivets just for the sake of holding the panel firmly in place a little more so than the tape.Unless you have some really kicka$$ tape.I have also used the long C-clamp type vise grips which work great as well. Good luck

 

Try using metal screws instead of rivets.You can unscrew them when the glue has hardened(try not to get any glue on the holes it makes the screws come out easier). Drill the holes first then glue.Then after they are removed fill the holes with fiberglass and finish with filler.

 

Also you can get some clamps called Clecos .They seem to work pretty good.
Hope that helps.

 

I'm about to do the rear wheel lips on my truck bed, and am looking at putting in the patch panels.

I found a flanger at Northern and its now only $35 (US). Not bad. The big question I have is regarding the corners. Its fairly straight forward how to crimp the straight line's of the area with rot cut out. But if its squared off to match the patch panel, how do you crimp the corners so that the flange to set the patch panel goes around the corners? Seems like you'll have a flush seam on the straight edges and then a high spot in the corners since the crimper won't get into them.

 

I was wondering about the corners also. I wonder if you could hold a body dolly (or a chunk of 2x4) behind the panel and just hammer the corners down even with the rest. Sig?, have you done yers yet?

 

yeah, last weekend. I used the flanger on the straight lines vertically and horizontally except for the corner area which I couldn't get the flanger into. I then cut the corners out of the patch panel (about 3/8 x 3/8). I ended up using the glue, and SEM's patch panel adhesive has a forever warranty. I'll try to post some pics.

 

My brother-in-law has a very reputable body shop and says that they just lap the panels without flanging....They do alot of Insurance Co. collission work, so it must be near perfect, I just can't see how it comes out that perfect without flanging.....Am i missing something? Also, I was thinking of cutting the panel down to avoid goin up into the body-line......any thoughts on this?
How did the flanging work out at the bottom of the panel? where the wheel lip is?
If you can't get the pics posted, could you send them to me directly? Trux429 @ msn.com
Much thanks and sorry for so many ??????s ...john

 

I just uploaded the pics to my webpage for the truck paint work. Let me know if you want the full resolution ones, they're about 400k each.

I used flanging and it still wasn't perfectly flat, so I don't know how they do it.

I cut the panels down to what I needed, as you'll see on the page.

The bottom of the panel at the wheel lip wasn't perfect, but its close enough and the molding will cover it.

A note of warning, I am using a free site and unfortunately they use pop-up ads. Not a problem if you run Nortons or another pop-up blocker. If you get a green page the free bandwidth I'm allotted was used up for the day.

http://www.samsgarage.150m.com/truck_repainting.htm

 

Good pics!
I have a couple of questions. Why didn't you cut bigger holes from the fender? Just wondering. Also what did you do with the inner fender where it was rotted away. I hope to do the same thing to my truck next summer.

 

First answer is two fold. The patch panels are relatively cheap and I've never done anything like this before. By cutting down the patch panel, I gave myself some slop if things went wrong...I could buy another set of patch panels the same size and have somebody who knew what they were doing do the job with plenty of original metal to work with. Secondly, I've always heard it is best to leave as much original metal in place as you can. The metal I left on the fender was solid.

As for the inner fender, I had no intention of replacing it or patching it. With the amount that I cut off, there is actually very little gap between the inner fender and the outer wall. This serves two purposes. One, it was not worth the effort or expense to replace something unseen and unneeded. Two, the gap is small enough to be unseen unless you really get your head up in there, and yet big enough that dirt and water can drain out and be flushed out...eliminating any moisture nests from forming and rotting it out again in the future.

My method only, I'm not a professional body man.