the prior owner had replaced the quarter panel and it was always bubbling and finally took it off and here is the mess I have. I know these are usually soldered, but I think it was just bondo. I think I need to sand to bare metal, but what is the best way to fix this?
I’m no body man but first I would remove the trim from both windows tape the rest of the car off and sand blast. You will probably find more of the same under the trim. I’m sure someone with more knowledge will chime in.
Prep it like 70-Camaro says, the 1/4 fits under the roof in that area so grind the paint and filler back till u hit clean metal , if the rusty metal is good and solid after sandblasting weld the seam solid from end to end than fill with a duraglass type filler.
i would go to inside also ,if its that bad on outside it probably rusted on inside.there should be access holes in that area, take the 1/4 sail panel off to access .its all in the details. do exploratory (if ever strip) the rest of finish on vehicle.sounds expensive and time consuming ,but??????
get a pocket blaster .that way you can confine your work area .do what 70 said take off surrounding trim first . Good luck
You've pulled the paint back pretty far already and still no good metal. My guess is you will go much farther. The roof paint edge looks "thick" with filler. I would start with a DA or similar and keep going till you get to good metal. Prepare yourself for some work. This didn't happen to be a vinyl top car at one time, did it? Others would know better than I, but I seem to recall that on vinyl top cars the factory didn't lead this joint, that they just filled it with filler. Also, they didn't paint the area under the vinyl top, only the Elpo primer was there.
Thanks everyone... I'll start grinding, sanding and maybe blasting. There is a build up of filler, but everything else looks real smooth. I am starting to see numerous small 1/8 " bubbles starting to appear on the roof, so I have to assume they did not do a great job with the preparation. Probably a few weeks out and will report findings.
Agree with any means to eradicate the rust, I've seen the gap filled with a sheet metal cap, a little welding, grinding, a thin skin of filler to perfect, should be as good as the original factory lead, maybe better.