I have bought a sheet metal wheel arch to patch my rusty rear quarter panel and would not like to do this replacement every year. What should I do to prep this panel before I get it on? I plan to use an expoxy to glue on the panel. It is not galvanized on either side (the rusty panel was galvanized on the inside I believe) Should I get it galvanized? Should I take it to a local body shop for paint?

My main concern is preventing rust.

 

I wouldn't epoxy it on there. The best thing to do is cut it out and re-weld a piece in. Epoxy is going to crack out and you'll have a real mess on your hands fixing it later.

As for the metal. Checkout eastwood. They have a lot of weld-through primers as well as self-etching primers. this is what you want to do.

Welding in patch panels isn't that hard. Just work the metal and don't add to much heat. Lay a spotweld every 1-2 inches apart and fill the area in between the spots welds later after everything is tacked into place. Varying the locations so you don't get too much heat in the metal. And trust me on this one. Sheet metal warps fairly easily!!

 

Epoxy Cracking? I thought they made an epoxy especially for body panels. I've heard great things about it.

 

There's nothing that I know of anyway.....that's not saying that there ain't something out there.

I'd still weld it in. If you don't have a welder, you could always rivit it in. Eastwood makes a rivit kit I know.