I ordered a 7 piece trunk pan from e-bay and they shipped me a chevelle pan. I laid it in and although it was the wrong size, it made me realize that this is not going to be as easy as I thought. I know there are lots of threads on this, but I need a little advice from those who have done it already.
1. Since the new pan extends about 3/4" beyond the front and back lip, should I cut the old pan right at the bend and flange it so that I do not have to cut the new pan at all?
2. For the two center and front/back welds, should I spot weld only with seam sealer or weld continuously?
3. Lower wheel wells are rotted but not bad enough to replace the whole thing. tips for this area?
GYG,
I have done this repair, and I made a webpage about it. The way I did it is not the only way to do it, but it worked for me. It was very important to me to have it look "factory", that is, I did not want to see any signs that it was pieced together (center pan, and side pans). The pans are flanged and the seams can't be seen from the bottom because the reinforcements are there. But from the top, I stitch welded the seams and filled in the imperfections with filler. It looked very good when done. See the webpage for more details on how I spliced it on the front and back edges.
I also had to repair the lower wheel well sections. I fabricated these pieces. Lots of work but it was worth it to me.
Nice. Lots of good info there. I will read this thouroughly before I get started. Looks like it came out great.
I was thinking of flanging the front and back above the bend because I think it may be easier, and my welding skills are not the best. Any opinion on this method?
In my case I split choice....I flanged the back, because the seam would be over the crossbrace and not seen from under the car, and from the inside I dressed it with body filler. I butt welded the front edge of the pans. I made my seam from new to old on the almost vertical section of trunk pan as it goes up over the axle. Granted, not many folks will ever climb under there to see if there's a seam there, but I still felt better knowing it's basically an invisible butt weld.
Good luck,
Dave
Im in the same boat as your are bro. The trunk is the last step before I drop the body back on the frame, and I have literally stared at it the last 3 weeks without touching it because Im unsure how I wanna go about it.
My wheel wheels were rusted in the bottom and I opted to just patch them along with the rusted filler piece. Attached a couple pics hope it helps.
Squidtone, thanks for the post. You are indeed an artist!! I admire anyone who can weld sheetmetal. YOurs came out great. Is your car done now? Still Linden Green??? I'll need to replace the weak original trunk in my '67 one of these days...it's been shabby for about the last 130,000 miles......
Thanks GeeTeeohguy,
Yes, I am now in the middle of my second round of block sanding. I bought my paint. It is Linden Green, I'm going RM Diamont base / clear. I think I will be laying down final paint within the next four weeks. I will post soon on these forums as well as py.
GYG,
I forgot to mention, for that extra touch, cut out the holes in the new pans for the 3 "floor plates". They sell the plates themselves if you don't have your originals.
I also cut out the two small holes for the rubber plugs. Just another detail.
Im in the same boat as you guys and thanks for posting progress pictures. Id say about 50% of my trunk pan is completely gone and along with replacing the whole pan i'll have to replace the pan to 1/4 panel pieces but I have almost no experience doing body work. I figure I'll order a full one piece trunk pan since its so bad, Is a 1 piece pan a better choice or should i go multiple sections?
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