Rear Deck Panel |
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| As you can see from the
pictures above, the rear deck panel needed to be replaced. The
lower channel below the stainless had held water at one time and
this caused a good amount of rot. Luckily, the rot did not
make it to the trunk.
I started by removing the rear window and then the old deck panel. I used a spot weld cutter to remove all of the spot welds along the trunk end of the panel. Then I did the same for the rear window channel. At this point the rear deck was only attached to the car by the sides where it bends down and attaches to the quarters from the inside of the trunk. I did not have a way to drill out the spot welds from inside of the trunk. The trunk hinges were in the way so I could not get a drill in there to drill out the spot welds. To remove the sides I took pneumatic shears and cut from the trunk to the rear window on both sides. Now to remove the last pieces I used an air chisel. If I ever do this again I will take more time to remove the spot welds. The air chisel was a little destructive. I made a couple holes in the lip that bends down from the quarter, where the rear deck panel attaches. I needed to fab a few pieces to fill some rust holes in the quarters along the rear window. When I welded in the patch pieces I also welded in some of the holes the air chisel made in the quarter flange. |
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| Now it was time to prep for the installation of the replacement deck panel. To do this I used a wire wheel and a 5" sander. I brushed and sanded until the top was shining. Then I took some Por-15 and painted the top of the deck and the bottom of the replacement panel. | |||
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Once the Por-15 was dry it was time to fit the new deck panel.
Here I made sure I took my time. I drilled some holes so I
could spot weld the panel along the bottom of the rear window track,
and where the deck panel gets welded to the trunk along with the lip
where the sides weld to the lip of the quarter panel on each side.
I had to trim the panel a little to get it to fit. Being very careful I took my time to fit, check, trim, and clamp till I had it where I wanted it. Then it was the time I had been waiting for. Time to weld it in. Here I just went down the rear window trough where I drilled the holes and welded through the holes. Once that was done I did the same thing where the panel welds to the trunk. Now all that was left was to weld in the sides. To do this I had to climb in the trunk. When you do this you need to be careful. The sparks that fall are hot and they have no where to go except where you are LAYING. With that said I welded a spot and moved the clamp to get access to the next hole and welded it. I kept doing this till both sides were done. Now the only thing left to do was to grind down the welds. Since I am just learning to weld, I had quite a bit of grinding to do. |
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