I've got a bum RF quarterpanel (Ray Mital's old green machine). I have good replacement panel to put on - how much should it cost to cut the old mangled piece off and have the "new" piece welded on?

Thanks in advance!

-pt

Are you talking paint ready? I would say allow 12 -15 hrs. Plus materials. I don't know what the shop rate is in your area.

not paint ready, just cutting the old qtr panel off and welding the new one on.

Rick youve got to be kidding?
I know you have some experiance in this area but that seems outlandish?

I actually figured longer......How long do you figure it takes to drill out all the spot welds? Make the cuts front, back, sail panel, fit the new panel and weld it back in?

I spot weld cut the entire rear panel off one this summer. Trunk floor and all.
A fender CANT be as hard as that, and it took me about 3 maybe 4 hrs. lets say double that for fittment of new and welding and ......

4 or 5hrs seems reasonable to me. i might try cutting it off myself so as to cut down on the pro welder's billable time. I'm hoping for about $200 or so.

Thing is, I've got to replace the right front and right rear (along w/rear trunk area). I'm thinking this is a perfect time for flares...

$200 won't get you 3 hours of professional welding time, and if you ask them to come to you, the charge will include portal to portal travel time.
If you do the old fender removal, cleanup, fitment of the new panel, all the weld prep and post weld cleanup yourself you might be in the ballpark.

BTW, I think Rick is very close with his time estimate for the full job.

I've got to agree with Rick and Chris on this one.

I suggest you take the job to a shop or two and quote it out.
thats a big BIG job.... gonna take hours.... is you pay 200 your gonna end up eating it during paint prep because the paint guy will have to work out the welding warp and mistakes....

pro work is not cheap and shouldn't be.. its a lot of work.
get some shop estimates and see....

heck I had a stupid dome light switch replaced in a door panel by VW on monday for 500... so in comparison, I doubt that a weld job like that by a pro is going to be cheap.

I also agree that teener rates for do it yourself will be less
but pro rates for quality work that won't cost you an arm and a leg in paint prep latter are not going to fall within the CSOB quote book.

brant

The 914 Fix-It Equation:

(estimate time required)xPi+(time required to consult forum for fuch up's)= Y(total time)+ explitives

After you do a couple of hundred you get pretty fast. Most shops will quote funny time. My estimate is based on real time using production methods. In my shop I would expect my tec to beat flat rate by 1/3. So We would write it for 18 hrs for insurance as most flat rate books would allow for a complicated R&R.

the actual welding was like 2% of total time spent, at least for me.

Now we're talking. I'm not trying to get cheap welding. I just don't want to pay someone else to wire brush the mating surfaces - I can do that. I need a professional to correctly mate the quarter panel to the frame & weld w/o losing the lines. I guess I'm starting to understand why folks go out and buy their own TIG & MIG's...

I think it would cost you as much as if you got the tools to do it yourself, in that I mean homestyle toolin. Get the tools and have some fun!

I'd rather be a fool for tools than a tool for fools bru

that would be a cool quote under the 914 club logo shirt/hat ( i'd rather be a....)