Trunk Rehab

[71_badmach]

Eric, Charles, Mike (Mister 4x4, Patcon, & 71_badmach) what is the status of each of your trunk rebuilds?

This is one of the many excellent threads on this forum. I vote it be moved to the Tech section.

I think the trunk & frame rail will be the first rust repair I'll tackle on my M-code to make it structurally sound.

I had the trunk floor and drop downs done at the same time they did my floor pans. I still need to do the lower quarters and tailight panel so I'll be back in that area eventually.

 

[Mister 4x4]

Eric, Charles, Mike (Mister 4x4, Patcon, & 71_badmach) what is the status of each of your trunk rebuilds?

I haven't exactly made it to the trunk area yet. I just got my floors in, and have been goofing with my engine the past few weekends. My next bout of sheet metal replacement will be the cowl damage. I saw a video on VMF about how to repair the cowl damage without pulling the windshield - and I'm gonna try it out in the next few weeks.

Once I get the engine together and the cowl damage repaired, it'll be all about the trunk, tail light panel, and rear frame rails

E..pull the windshield...Your going to need to paint the windshield channel anyway..& you could have hidden rust under it ..You've come this far & that area isn't a place to take a shortcut.

You know - I think I remember having this 'conversation' with you awhile ago. Makes perfect sense, too. Thanks for the reminder!

 

[jbnelle]

Thanks for posting the rustang pics. I get so tired of seeing the same totally perfect trunks, that I really need a good shot of why I hate the salt, water and sheet metal mix.

I'm with you on that comment...

 

[Mister 4x4]

Wow - haven't seen this thread in a long time. I've actually made some progress on my trunk - but mostly just in tearing it down.

Here's the latest pics of my trunk area:

Got all my stuff out, dropped the tank and pulled everything loose that was already loose, and here's what we have. You can also see the Redneck Gas Tank Hammock I was talking about as well - yeah... that's SO outta here.

Here's what I found under the passenger side quarter extension (the driver side is just fine):

And here's how I'm going to fix it (snagged this piece off the same donor car I got the front clip from) - gotta fix the trunk's weather-stripping channel as well:

Here we are with everything removed from the trunk right after Christmas. Since I was waiting on more trunk area sheet metal to show up, I moved on to the cowl damage instead.

Once I get back into the trunk (maybe even next weekend, if things go well this weekend), I'll be pulling the tail light panel, trunk brace, and whacking the lower quarters to get the trunk drop-offs plumb when the new ones go in. Since I have quarters now, I'll be able to move to those right after I get the new trunk sheet metal in.

And to think, 2 years ago I was 'afraid' to remove the rusted out corners on my 1980 Jeep CJ-7. Now... not so much.

 

[73mach1]

Did you have a fold down rear seat? I'm about to do the same thing and was wondering whether to remove it and replace the whole floor or patch a piece in. Mine is only bad from the taillight panel to about the middle of the gas tank. Good luck,

 

[73vertproject]

Lookin' good, Eric! Keep at it.

Doc

 

[Machman]

::thumb:: great work so far and good luck with the project

 

[Mister 4x4]

Did you have a fold down rear seat? I'm about to do the same thing and was wondering whether to remove it and replace the whole floor or patch a piece in. Mine is only bad from the taillight panel to about the middle of the gas tank. Good luck,

I wish - mine's fixed.

I'd say if you know your trunk pan is only half-munched, then only replace what you need to - the full trunk pan ties into the wheel houses, which is tough to remove the 'tabs' that weld directly to them. Another good thing about your damage being so limited to the rear of the trunk is that you might be able to get the 'patch' in without having to open up the tail light panel (or something else in order to get the entire trunk pan in since it won't fit through the trunk opening).

Good luck with it!

 

[Mister 4x4]

OK - forgot to post the pictures in this thread from the progress on my trunk last weekend.

Tacked in the 'redneck gas tank hammock' across the rear frame rails to keep 'em straight... then fired up the plasma cutter and zapped off the tail light panel, lower rear sections of the quarter panels, and rear cross member. After I cleaned up the ends of the frame rails, test-fitted the repop cross member and it fits like a glove. Should be able to weld it in tomorrow - just gotta grind off the spot-weld leftovers and fine-tune all the tabs.

I got the rear cross member all welded up after a little tweaking of the frame rail tabs and grinding off the last of the factory spot welds. Fits in there nice and tight, thanks to the Redneck Gas Tank Hammock's last gasp (tossed it aside once I got this piece in).

Then, dropped in the new trunk pan for some test fitting and discovered something really sucky: the pan from CJ Pony Parts (that I ordered because I thought I was saving a couple bucks) is actually 6" 'shorter' than the 'full pan' from Ohio Mustang Supply (WTF is up with that, anyway?!). Crap! Oh well - "my bad" on that one. Otherwise, it fits like a champ (except for falling short of the intermediate panel above the shock mounts, that is).

I got sheet metal cut to fit to bridge the gap the 'short' pan left, and also to fabricate a new front strap bracket for the gas tank hanger straps (for only $20). That's tomorrow's fun, along with getting the damage above the right tail light removed and the new piece in there. Also gotta get the remnants of the old tail light panel removed and hope to open up the quarters (one side at a time) to see how bad the outer wheel houses are.

 

[73vertproject]

Wow, great update, Eric. I would contact Don at OMS and ask for his opinion of the best way to fix the trouble with the wrong pan. He's always straight forward.

Still at the Hobby Shop, or did you give them the finger on your way out?

Doc

 

[Mister 4x4]

Wow, great update, Eric. I would contact Don at OMS and ask for his opinion of the best way to fix the trouble with the wrong pan. He's always straight forward.

Still at the Hobby Shop, or did you give them the finger on your way out?

Doc

Still at the Hobby Shop for now. Honestly, I'm kind of at their mercy until I get the rest of the sheet metal back on the rear end, and hoping I'll have enough time to do it before something bad happens.

I thought about getting the 'full' pan from Don, but couldn't justify almost $170-ish (shipping included) for a 5" 'gap.' So, I made a patch today. See below.



Today, I got the 'gap' patch and trunk pan in there today. Still gotta weld it to the frame rails, but that's for tomorrow. Also attempted to fabricate the front strap (gas tank) bracket, but the sheet metal I got was too thick to bend without a brake. So, after messing up a perfectly good piece of $10 sheet metal, I'm going to have the metal shop cut and bend it for me next week sometime. The 'gap' patch was thinner gauge and bent just fine for my purposes - turned out pretty good, I think (good enough, anyway).

Here's the frame rails painted up with some Rust Bullet Black Shell I STILL have left over from the front clip. Figured I'd get the insides of the frame rails and cross member since I'll never be seeing them again.

Here's the pan and 'gap' patch nailed down after lots of measuring and lining up.

And finally, a not-so-good shot of the 'gap' patch in-place. There's going to be a big ol' box with some subs riding on top of it above the trunk carpet, so it came out just fine, IMHO.

 

[73vertproject]

Atta boy, Eric. Looking good!

 

[mach71351c]

Looks good Eric.

 

[Mister 4x4]

In the spirit of keeping this thread on-track, I'll post today's progress here as well.

Made some huge progress today. I got the mangled mess removed from above the passenger tail light along with the last bits of the tail light panel from the driver side, deconstructed the 'patch' I scored from the junkyard '72 Fastback, test fitted it and the tail light panel, and 'blasted the patch. Things went a lot faster when I started using the plasma cutter to burn through the spot welds - Hey, gonna plug weld the holes anyway, right?

Also got a shot of the sub-frame connectors, but the driver side picture turned out like crap.

Here's the mangled mess (for posterity sake):

And here's the bad stuff cut out of there after my favorite thing in the world - drilling out spot welds (yay...):

Test-fitting the patch before 'blasting - that sucker fits almost perfect:

And while we're at it - toss on the tail light panel... just for fun:

 

[droptop73]

Nice work Eric

 

[Machman]

Well done

 

[mach71351c]

Right on Eric. Nice work.

 

[M Beauchamp]

Looks good Eric

I would trial ft the extensions and trunk before welding up the tail panel while you can still move stuff around

 

[Mister 4x4]

That's the plan. I'm planning on lots of measuring and expecting some adjustments as well. I've also got the new quarter panels on-hand, but still need to order outer wheelhouses (tonight, I suspect).

I'm at the point of wondering, though: do I get the tail light panel squared away before I start cutting off quarter panels, or do everything all at once?

My line of thought is to get the tail light panel and trunk surround squared away and lined up with the existing quarter panels, trunk lid, quarter panel extensions, etc. Then once that's done, cut one quarter panel off at a time, square up with the outer wheel house and trunk drop-off and move on to the other side. That way, some semblence of alignment with the original sheet metal is maintained.

If I'm thinking down the wrong path, please let me know. It's one thing to hide a minor fitment issue on a floor panel with some seam sealer, undercoating, and carpet... but different altogether if the body panels get out of shape.

 

[M Beauchamp]

I think you going about it the right way.

Its easier to keep something in place than to try to get a bunch of things back into place later.