Hi guys Im in the middle of bare metalling my 51 merc and im thinking now would be a good time to remove the rear 1/4's to get behind them and paint. It seems they have been welded onto the rockers but thats not much of a problem. I was just wondering if any of you guys know off the top of your heads the location and how many fixings hold it on? Also have any of you guys had any joy straightening out wavey 1/4's? The panels themselves and nearly completley rust free but theres some flex in the panel just above the wheel opening.
Below are photos of the pictorial drawings taken from the book shown. If you click on the photo once it will enlarge and if you click on it again it will get even larger. I think you will be able to see where the bolt locations are and you can count the bolts. If there is no interior in your car you will be able to see and feel the bolt locations from inside the car. I had waves in my rear quarters and paid an expert body man to hammer and dolly them out as 51 rear quarters are very hard to find. If you do ruin the panel you can buy steel 49-50 MERC reproductions for about $800 each and modify them to fit the 51. Hope this helps.
Movable metal or oil canning is a sign of stretch in the panel. There may have been some previous body work that caused this. There are several ways to shrink the metal but a person has to do a fair amount of research on how to do it correctly and some tooling is needed depending on which method is used. A shrinking disc on a big 9-inch grinder will work in capable hands but some prefer the oxy/acetylene torch. A torch man has to know well how to do the job or there could be dire consequences.
The Jalopy Journal
