1303 Front quarter panel, can't get it fitted

[Patrick_S]

I am at the moment trying to get the right front quarter replaced. I took out the old one because it had rust holes in the strut mount, and rust going on behind the quarter panel. The old panel had quite a bit of welded plates ontop of old rust, so I had a hard time getting the old one out. But now I have everything cleaned up, I just need to weld in a piece of metal and a new reinforcement bracket in the firewall.

So I bought myself a new after market quarter panel by NAN-JHI. One other thing, I am still very new to this whole VW Beetle part restoration thing, so I also don't really know what to expect when fitting such a panel.

But the problem I am having now, I have managed to pop in the quarter panel. I have the body still attached to the chassis and the front apron is also still attached. But, with the quarter panel popped into place, the top part seems to be very close to where I want it to be. The hood gap seems the same as the left side, the strut mount is in exactly the right place when measuring(+-2mm). At the fold seam on the a-pillar it seems to line up very nicely. But I run into two big problems. The reinforcement bracket on the quarter panel does not want to line up at all, it is stuck inside of the firewall, second picture(like I said, I still have to weld the firewall shut properly), and it seems to be at an angle, and when looking at it from the front it also seems to be at an angle, third picture. And also, the bolt hole that is placed over the frame head also does not want to line up, it keeps sticking out too much.

So I then try to push the bottom of the panel in, but then the top part pops out, or the top part bends so the hood doesn't close properly anymore. And the reinforcement bracket that should be welded to the firewall, I can't get it in a proper position at all, it just keeps sitting inside of the firewall instead of infront of it.

So I ask myself now, is the replacement panel not shaped correctly, is the body deformed, or am I doing something wrong?? Because, the top part I get in a near perfect fit instantly, but the bottom part seems to be impossible to get right.

And the bottom picture shows the panel when I have bolted down the front to the frame head, it looks completely out of shape. And forcing in the back side only bends the quarter panel so the hood doesn't fit to it anymore when closed.

I hope someone has a bright idea on how I should proceed, I myself am really stuck, I have done a lot of searching, reading forum posts of other people replacing this panel, but I haven't come closer to a solution of trying to get this thing fitted on my own Beetle the past week .

[beetlenut]

First, I'd remove that reinforcement panel in the second pic, and any other support pieces that clearly don't line up, entirely. No doubt you are dealing with both the replacement panel not shaped correctly and the body deformed from all that rust, possible hit, etc.... The hood can be adjusted down in that sixth pic by adjusting the bolts that go into the hood through the hood hinge. I'd be more concerned with mating up the parts you see, and dealing with the underneath parts second. It's been my experence that when putting in these preformed panels, if you start welding in one area and get it attached, you can then get the other areas to pull in and line up. I'd tackle the reinforcement panel and bolt hole that is placed over the frame head last, once all the other parts are attached. These big replacement panel jobs are always messy.
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scrapyards are for quitters
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[Dodgy]

It's depressingly normal to have to reshape replacement panels to fit. Any reference points on the factory body or floorpan you are confident are good can be used in this process and take precedence over the initial form of the pattern panel.
Your panel has fixings for rack&pinion steering but your car looks like it has steering box so you will have to modify the panel to suit before fitting. (R&P uses two threaded fixings under the side shown in your photo and no reinforcement crossbar, box uses three bolts through side and includes reinforcement crossbar)
Looks like you are making some good progress, even if it doesn't feel like it right now!
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'75 1303 (current project) owned since 1989!
'72 Squareback - full resto completed 2008 - now sold
356 Speedster kit, completed 2005 - now sold

[theKbStockpiler]

From the images posted of your project ,the wheel housing is only held close to where it goes. The cowl is not cut down enough and the bottom of the housing is not able to rest flush near the heater channel.
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My beetle is not competing with your beetle. I have the yellow beetle in my town. There is a red one, a green one ......
Use all safety devices including a mask.