Wacked out fenders advice for a noob please!

[The Ghoul]

Ok,
After stripping down my rear fenders I now see that there was allot of putty work done to them.
I need to straighten out these quarters again. Its nothing major just the typical 30 year old 'cellulite' that the old road cars acquire from abuse.
They are definitely repairable but it will take allot of body and dolly work to get them to the putty stage.
So any advice for a noob on this?
The only words of wisdom I have gotten thus far was.
1- Buy a good set of hammer and dollies
2- Take a yard stick and hold it across the surface, if there are any lows bring em out. If there are any highs put them down.
3- Concentrate on getting your surfaces smooth side to side. It will be hard to see any up and down warps but it will very easy to see side to side ones.
4- Take your time on the hammer and dolly stage, the straighter you can get it there the less putty work you will have to do later.
5- If you have it straight to the site run your hand across it. Your hand will tell you more than your eyes.

Any advice?
I understand working the sheet metal with hammers and dollies but I am a bit clueless when it comes to the next stage the putty.
I keep hearing about this body filler that has fiberglass mixed in it that is supposed to be good for the first filler layer because it doesn't shrink as much?
I pretty much need tips on hammer and dolly work and on the next step of the process.

[Doc74]

Oof where to start...

Good tools are a must no doubt but the next thing you could really use instead of use trying to explain is to get a metal working book with plenty pics. Panel beaters are a different breed for a reason, there's a lot to learn and a lot to master even if you want to finish with bodyfiller instead of going straight to primer.

A few tips I can give you to get the metal work as straight as possible...
Figure out exactly how the dent got in, imagine seeing it happen in slomo, now reverse it, don't start with the deepest part, start where the dent stopped and work your way back to the point of first impact.Make it a rule and save yourself hours of work because you put your foot in it to get that ugly dent out. You really can make it worse like that if you don't know what you're doing.
Hammer and dolly, if they hit and you hear a 'bell' you're flattening and ultimately stretching metal, a non touching hit won't stretch it unless you give it hell.Non touching means you hold the dolly under the dent and hit the surrounding area bringing the low up and the high down.
Every dent stretches the metal but the smaller ones don't stretch it far enough to need shrinking, so you probably won't even notice.
Something you can really use is a 'slapper', it basically replaces the hammer, in many cases anyway.
You should be able to find one in a pro tools shop or find yourself an old suspension leaf, cut it to a about foot lenght and put a bend in it so you can hit with it without your fingers touching the panel.Make a handle on it with tape or liquid latex if you're into that for comfort .
This thing will help you out with a lot, hold a dolly behind a dent and softly in all directions slap the surround of the dent bringing it up and flattening the edge around it.Put a little pressure on the dolly but not too much, it may come easier than you thought it would.Always start gently untill you're sure just how tense the panel is, once you've it it too hard you'll have a lot more work cut out for you.
A wafflehammer is handy too, that'll shrink it but not needed really.
You'll know when the panel has streched when you can push it in and it stays or it clunks, time to shrink, many ways to do so, one is with a blowtorch, let's not  go there just yet   
if you have a slight stretch near an edge, hit that edge firmly but without damaging it, all over the length of the edge in the direction of the panel and dent, it'll shrink a bit making it more firm but this is really for small spots and you can't keep doing it.
Best thing to do is buy a shrinking wheel which you can put on any grinder or drill.It's a thick disc that heats up the metal in a small spot, just let it cool down or cool it with pressure and it'll shrink, very easy to use.
Don't ever cool down metal with water, i know lotsa old school guys do it with a torch, hammer and dolly the hotspot and cool with water but air works just as well and doesn't crystallize the metal like water does.
For fillers you can use metal to metal to begin with and a thin finishing filler to top it off, I'd stay away from fiberglass on metal, it will give in eventually.
You can also get the panel as straight as you can, use regular filler or only metal to metal and put a few coats of sprayfiller on top of that.Block it, primer, block again, ready to paint.
Sprayfiller won't hide dents, only tiny dings and imperfections like bubbles in the putty.
Really consider a metal book, I can't really give you any recent titles, maybe someone else can. You'll also learn about the English wheel, shrink plyers, making your own bodypanels and lots more.
The yardstick helps a lot, makes you see it much more clearly, just make sure it does follow the car's lines nicely, too straight is useless, a car panel is never really straight.
A handfile is very handy to see which spots need raising, this is final stage of panelwork, if you feel or see dents, you don't need it yet.
The eye tells you more than the hand but ONLY if you can see it clear, you can't see a lot on filler so the hand it is 
Another tip ion that, wear a thin glove or feel the panel with a rag between your hand and the panel, you'll feel a lot more than just with your hands.
Also feel with your 'other' hand, if you're righthanded, feel with the left, no kidding.
Wash your hands plenty, once your pores are filled with fillerdust you start to feel less and less, clear them pores, take 5 and try again, World of difference.
If you got any questions lemme now. Pics of dents and other problem areas help too, I don't know what you need done so I can't really help you out specifically.

[The Ghoul]

Cool thank you.
I will get pics up as soon as I finish DA'ing it.

[Nacho-RT74]

you also can start for a NOS quarter that there is right now on ebay

[mridolfo]

Nacho What item number?

[terrible one]

Doc,

That is some great information. I always find your posts very informative and seeing you and all these other body guys helping people out like this really gives me more confidence for when it comes time for all the metal work I have to do.

[T16]

Doc.. you have any comments about heat shrinking metal with a torch..?

[Doc74]

Doc,

That is some great information. I always find your posts very informative and seeing you and all these other body guys helping people out like this really gives me more confidence for when it comes time for all the metal work I have to do.

Thanks for the compliment, I help where I can altough that darn Engrish gets in the way sometimes    Speaking a foreign (for me) language is one thing, knowing all the technical terms is another. Good thing the others know wth they're talking about 
I'm looking into metal handbooks now and I'm going to try one or two and post a small review here, I think most of us can benefit from something like that.

Doc.. you have any comments about heat shrinking metal with a torch..?

Yes ! don't do it, you'll blow up the house

jk

It's the old school way and it's still around because it works like a charm.
What you do is find the weakest spot or spots on your panel, simply by pushing down gently to see where it's sturdy and what needs a hand.

You first need to find the weakest spot, the one that moves the most. In the center of that spot is where the shrink needs to happen regardless of what tools you use.
In case of a torch you give it a mild flame meaning keep it half yellow half blue and keep the flame short. Now bring the torch real close to the metal and make a small redhot dot, 10mm or so. It takes about a two seconds to do that.
That redhot spot is actually a stretch but when it cools down, or you force it to cool down with air, it shrinks onto itself a bit giving it more strength and you may have to repeat the process a few times and on a few spots until the panel is strong again.
This method only works with modest stretches, if it's a big clunk you may need a hammer and dolly to help you out.
Same process but once you have the redhot dot you need to hold a dolly right behind it and with a good planishing hammer hit the spot from the outside in, all the way round that little spot.You need to hammer the outer edge of that spot towards the center of it and because the metal right there is so hot you actually move it into itself causing a shrink.
After 5-10 seconds of hammering it you're done and you can either let it cool off or force it but please don't use water, yes it works but it's not so good on thin car steel, not to mention the mess it leaves.If you're making a sword then by all means go nuts and splash it 

I hope this helps a bit, if you have any questions then fire away.

doc