RE: fiberglass quarters

[jwynne2@domain.elided]

<snip>
  did you cover over the rivets with bondo or
anything so you couldn't see the rivet lines? Did the fiberglass panels go
over the lip on the bed of the Scout or do they just go up above the fuel
neck line?  Did you have to rive along the bottom at all?

Ok, guess I left a few steps out.

Yes, I did cover over the rivets.  I forgot the brand of bondo that was
used, but it was some stuff I was given from a buddy that used to repair
race cars.  I wouldn't recommend it anyways because it's too difficult to
work with on top of fiberglass.  If I was to do it again, I'd use something
like FeatherRite (FeatherLite ???), something like that anyways.  You're
not trying to reinforce anything.  All you want to do is cover up the rivet
heads.

The rivets I used were from JC Whitney.  If you go through them, by them in
bulk(boxes of 500).  You'll wind up using alot of them.  Well, atleast I
did.  They were the countersunk 3/16 aluminum rivets.  They require a 3/16
hole and then I used a 3/8 drill bit just to add a slight taper to the
holes in the fiberglass.  It allows the rivet head to sit just below the
level of the gel coat.  Just be really careful while drilling the counter
sunk hole.  The fiberglass will suck that drill bit into it and through it
faster than you'll believe.

<snip>
in a nutshell, could you get a little more specific on where you
attached it to the body

The top of the fiberglass rear quarter attaches to the bed rail that gets
covered up with the metal moulding that runs the length of the bed.  I have
the Terra model, so I don't know if there's anysort of a cover that goes
onto the top of the bed rail on the Scout II models.  The entire cap
probably covers the area.  Anyways, the replacement panel covers the entire
rear side.  Basically, there's no need to have any rivets exposed from the
outside of the panel.

On the leading edge of the panel, the panel is molded so that it fits
around and into the door jam.  Again, when the door is closed, no rivets
are visible, but I still went ahead and filled the rivet heads over with
bondo.  I put a then fillet of bondo along the length of the seam where it
meets the door jam (I hope this is making since).

On the trailing edge of the rear quarter panel, the panel is molded to wrap
around and attach to the inner sides of the bed.  This is the area that the
tailgate closes into.  This panel wraps that far because the end cap that
holds the taillight is all one piece with the rear quarter panel.  Rivets
are used here too to hold the panel against this area.  Using the same
method of counter sinking and filling over the heads of the rivets was
used.  This part of the panel that wraps around into the tailgate area
needs some extra attention.  The panel covers up the mounting holes for the
tailgate's lower hinge.  I drilled through the fiberglass panel and
continued to increase the drill bit sizes until the holew were large enough
to allow the hinge bolts to pass through with out interferring with the
fiberglass.  The hinge will bolt right over the top of the fiberglass lip
(now I know this is propbably getting confusing).  Trust me, it works just
fine.

The bottom of the panel infront of the wheel well opening is attached to
the same metal framing that the original panel was attached.  If your Scout
is in the same shape as mine was, then you probably won't see this metal.
Mine dropped off somewhere in the early 80's.  It doesn't take much to hold
the panels since they are pretty rigid.  I fashioned some sheet metal into
a new frame support.  Maybe I should call it a body support.  Anyways, it's
pretty simple once the panel's in place and you see what metal might have
vanished over the years.

Hopefully that covers it, because my memory is starting to run low on my
past projects.  If you want, I can snap some digital pics of the work,
since I haven't painted the truck.  The poor critter is sitting under that
dreadful blue tarp which has shrouded my Scout since I took this job so far
from my house.  Atleast I get to visit the ol' girl on the weekends when I
go to see my wife.  I fear that she is going to dispose of my Scout one of
these weeks when I'm away.

Until then though, I can sit on the porch and dream of the day of driving
her for more than 30 minutes without a major breakdown.

Goodluck,
John W.