How hard is it to replace the tailight panel sheet metal?

[RichMason]

My 914 ws smacked in the rear left a while back and I want to get it fixed. I went to a body shop today and got an estimate to have the left side pulled out straight (there is a crease in the left rear fender and trunk floor) ($288.00 seems reasonable). I plan on replacing the tailight panel with a new one (I have a factory new one) with the assistance of a few friends and their welders. Is this a fairly easy job once the car is straight or am I going about it the wrong way? I got an estimate a while back from a Porsche specialist and they wanted at least $1000 to do the whole job (not including paint) and doing it myself seemed like a good way to both learn how to weld and save a little money. Any thoughts?

Rich

[SummerSledSix]

Best thing to start with is to remove everything around it (if you haven't already) ie bumpers, tail lamps, etc, then find and mark all the factory welds that "touch" that panel. Then try to identify the location of the spot welds that hold everything together (look for little dimples in the overlapping flanges), and drill them out. That wavy stuff that may or may not touch that particular panel is seam sealer, which is a pain in the a** to remove (STIFF wire brush on your favorite drill/grinder), and there are welds under it. There are spot weld "removers" (try Eastwood, maybe Pelican too) that try to drill out only one of the two halves of the weld, but a light touch with a regular drill bit ( a little larger than the "dimples" you find, usually about 5/16") will do the same trick. If you can't find them all, drill some of them, then try to separate the panels, they'll show up.

Once you get the old panel out, get a cheap (~$25) set of body hammers and dollies to use to straighten out surrounding wrinkles and stuff. Panel beating is good therapy, by the way.
There are a number of books available on body work for us weekend warriors, check em out.

Absolutely clean metal is important for a good weld, this is an excellent excuse to buy a sander if you don't already have one.
If one of your friends has a TIG welder, buy him a LOT of beer (not while he's wailing on your car), if not whoever's got the MIG welder with a gas bottle is next. Don't let the guy with the 250 amp stick welder near your sheet metal! Good luck...

Oh yeah, almost forgot - one alternative is to leave the old panel in place, try your luck smoothing it with the body hammers, and just plaster one of those full-length reflectors over the wavy stuff.

[rfoulds]

I did the alternative. I watched the DentPro guy remove a similar dent from another guy's car in our parking lot. He used a cut off broom stick and a hammer. So I did the same thing, and whacked the dents out enough to mount the reflector.

Wish I never had done that. I don't like the dang reflector and now that I have drilled four more holes in the rear panel, it will just be more work to do when I fix it the right way.