Quarter Panel Replacement

Still working on the right rear quarter panel. It will be replaced in three pieces, since full patch panels are non-existent. With the discovery of more rust than expected behind the exterior metal, I was once again back to fabricating replacement parts. The reinforcement panel over the wheel well was a challenge, with multiple bends and curves, but I finally scabbed together a functional substitute.

 

After prepping and painting the area that will be inaccessible, I fit checked the largest of the three parts required to eliminate rust damage. It actually fits quite well and only needed a tiny bit of massaging. One cool morning this week, I’ll pull the car outside again and finish the final grinding to match the edges.

 

Another FWIW…before replacing any panels, I practiced with the flanging tool on some scrap metal and decided it was a big waste of time and didn’t make fitting any easier than butt welding the new panels to the old sheet metal.

Designing a five-button transmission shifter to fit in the original Plymouth housing is turning into a challenge, but one I really enjoy. The brass tubing arrived today, so along with the ½” Lexan that arrived last week, I’m now ready to begin putting parts together. I’m first carving a set of buttons out of wood to make sure there is no interference between adjacent buttons during gear selection. If their shape and locations prove out, I can make a new trim plate with five holes. When compared to the original PowerFlite arrangement, the neutral and reverse buttons will be swapped, but the others will be in the same position as later TorqueFlite layouts.

After that will be the real challenge of designing a park lever and housing that looks like something that might have come from the factory. It looks good on paper, so I hope it operates as expected.

The most worrisome problem I have at this point is if the buttons will operate easily, or if the force to move the cable to switch gears on the newer transmission will be excessive for selecting with one finger. I’d hate to have to revert to a floor shift after all the time and money I have invested in the pushbutton modifications, and there is no simple way to modify the throw distance except with a bell crank.