Need help with trunk restoration

[AzzyEli]

Can someone please tell me what this is called and if I can buy a new one? I haven't had any luck with finding any for sale. 

If they're not available for purchase, how would I fabricate a new one?

 

 

Edited October 1 by AzzyEli

[Dave72dt]

trunk weatherstrip channel, I doubt they're remanned, take a look at "Fitzee's Fabrication"  Youtube channel.  He does a bunch of videos on making replacement panels/parts from scratch with simple tools.  

[65bcoda]

Either acquire a piece from a donor car or fabricate your own piece..............only choices I know .

[Los_Control]

Because I fitzee .... I can look at the damage and start repairing it in my mind ... 1 piece at a time.

Good thing about it, it is all below the exterior body line and would not be seen when finished.

 

I would start with cutting the rusted area out very carefully in 1 piece if possible to use for a pattern.

I would try to stay below the top exterior body line .... there will be no exposed welding this way.

Then I would use 16 gauge metal and recreate the left vertical side of the gutter, and loosely tack it in place.

Then recreate the horizontal bottom and again tack it in place.

The right vertical side is more tricky because of the fattend top .... I can not tell from photo how it is made or say how I would reproduce it.

 

The piece is not straight, it rounds over and turns down .... you can cut that from one piece of metal for the left side. The bottom gutter you can bend to match.

Is that 1/4" metal tubing on the top of the right side, can just bend and shape into position .... or is that a 90 degree bend that is folded over?

If it is the latter, you might have to make it out of 2-4 pieces to get around the corner and keep the shape.

Once satisfied with fitment, I would grind the spot welds off of the left side and remove the piece from the car, turn it over on the work bench and fully weld it all together from the backside .... grind sand then weld it permanently to the car.

 

 

 

That is just a general idea of how you can repair that with simple hand tools and a welder.... heck out a few and you will learn a lot.

The gutter will be fun .... I'm wondering how much a trunk floor pan covers and how much you will have to recreate there .... break it down to 1 piece at a time and becomes doable.

 

https://www.youtube.com/@fitzeesfabrications/search?query=complicated pannels

[Eneto-55]

Here's how a guy on Rat Rods Rule did it.

[OnlyMopar]

Facing exact same issue, same location.  No luck yet finding a donor. Thinking of using the rat rod example given above,gonna be a challenge for sure. My need is for a 1947 Dodge Custom.  Following for ideas.

[65bcoda]

I have to agree with both Los_Control and Eneto-55 on both of their suggestions, both are doable, I by far am not a fabricator with a full-fledged shop at my disposal but with common tools and patience you can work wonders by gaining the experience.
 

When i first started my '65 Barracuda project I bought a Hobart flux core welder from TSC and my first project was building lower quatres from scratch as replacements were not available neither a good donor car.

Just saying some patience and persistence and you can have an acceptable product.  

Edited October 2 by 65bcoda

[Los_Control]

I am not good at all at it, I first bought my welder after I bought my truck .... then I had to practice and teach myself how to weld .... in the meantime I watched many fabrication videos .... one day I just felt confident enough to do the welding on my truck and got er did.

 

I like @Eneto-55 example because it is doubled up for strength ... same time the profile is different then the op needs but with variation can do it.

 

I would not do it this way myself, it will be more difficult to make the corners twice to get what you want.

Also would be concerned with trapped moisture in between the two layers of metal .... would have to be welded up 100% with no pinholes left to avoid moisture.

And if moisture did get into it, would be a incubator to create rust.

 

Imho. 1 layer of 16 gauge metal would be strong enough ... on op example the right side vertical is topped with either a round tubing to add strength, or it is bent over at 90 degrees to add strength, make it more rigid and is so the rubber seal can fit over it and have a place to grab on.

I would do the repair with one layer.

[Eneto-55]

11 hours ago, Los_Control said:

I am not good at all at it, I first bought my welder after I bought my truck .... then I had to practice and teach myself how to weld .... in the meantime I watched many fabrication videos .... one day I just felt confident enough to do the welding on my truck and got er did.

 

I like @Eneto-55 example because it is doubled up for strength ... same time the profile is different then the op needs but with variation can do it.

 

I would not do it this way myself, it will be more difficult to make the corners twice to get what you want.

Also would be concerned with trapped moisture in between the two layers of metal .... would have to be welded up 100% with no pinholes left to avoid moisture.

And if moisture did get into it, would be a incubator to create rust.

 

Imho. 1 layer of 16 gauge metal would be strong enough ... on op example the right side vertical is topped with either a round tubing to add strength, or it is bent over at 90 degrees to add strength, make it more rigid and is so the rubber seal can fit over it and have a place to grab on.

I would do the repair with one layer.

I thought the same thing when I saw it, but copied the photo because he showed how to construct the entire piece in separate parts, which might be more doable for those without a full range of shaping tools.  (I don't have any except for body hammers and a few dollies, some home-made. No English wheel, although that would really help, especially with forming the piece he showed in black.)  I think that the doubled areas could perhaps be eliminated by just doing a continuous weld at the seams.  But there ARE in fact areas in car bodies which are joined in a very similar way, although in the long run, body seam sealer gives out, and you end up with the rust problem you mention. 

 

I know that there have been discussions here about where the deck lid weather strip SHOULD go, in the trough, or on the bottom edge of the deck lid, but even though it would seem that on the lid is the better approach, both of my P15's had it in the trough. I think that gluing it the the lid would allow the owner to more carefully monitor and correct any failures in the seam sealer application.  (I haven't gotten that far yet, so would appreciate all input, whether just ideas, or from experience.)

[AzzyEli]

Thanks guys. I actually have a donor vehicle but I'm not sure how to get the channel out. I suppose cut it out. The donor vehicle has a bit of rust on it as well but not nearly as bad. It also has the bottom strip which as you can see in the good car, it has been rusted out . Here is the donor vehicle 

 

Edited October 2 by AzzyEli

[AzzyEli]

And as you can see here, the good body has the most issues in the trunk. The whole strip where the trunk latch is, is completely gone. On the donor car, it's there, just the weather stripping channel is rusted out. 

 

[Dave72dt]

Start by looking for spot welds on the good parts.  I doubt the channels were stamped with the rear quarters in one piece.  You may be able to remove them and transfer them over.  You may have to take part of the rear quarter with the channels if the metal on the good body isn't solid enough for good welds.  Before you cut anything , figure out how far back you have to go to get to good metal on the good body and then leave extra material on the donor parts.  Reference marks and measurements. 

[Los_Control]

Well first of all, lets not get carried away and expect to get a 100 point concourse car when finished ....

But the repairs can be done fairly easy. And this is how I would approach it.

 

First of all, do not cut past the red line .... Some welders like to cut exactly on the red line because it is easy to get to and weld grind without being seen.

any rust on the other side is a separate repair. .... just cut out the left vertical side along with the rest of the gutter to keep it intact for a pattern

 

My paint program is killing me on size ....

 

 

Just use whatever scrap metal you have and cut out the left vertical side and try to be precise to match original.

You can see in your photo the gutter turns in down at the curve ..... you can form that by hand. Tack weld it to the body.

 

Then cut the floor of the gutter wider then it needs to be ... the floor will go straight at the bottom where the side curves in. tack weld it in place.

 

then cut the right vertical piece to match original ..... What I see is a rounded edge on top ... A piece of metal line will fix that.

 

Just some scrap brake line I have, they sell smaller sizes .... figure out what you need and dimensions, make it work. Tack weld it in place.

Then when satisfied, grind the tack welds off to the car and finish welding it on the work bench .... turn it upside down, weld and grind from the bottom where nobody see's ... some seam sealer on top in the corners ... finish weld the piece onto the car and is work but simple work.

 

 

 

[Los_Control]

Here is a photo I'm not proud of, but because it also supports the gas pedal it had to be repaired ... while I searched for replacements ... they were not much better and $100+ to purchase.

 

I spent a afternoon and think it was 12-14 small individual pieces I welded in and made it a strong usable piece again.

 

 

Over a year later the truck is still not on the road, but the transmission cover is fine and solid. Will last longer then I'm alive.

Same with your trunk gutter.

 

Your bigger issue is the rear valance panel ....While you may be able to reuse the one from your parts car, it needs some patches made.

That will be a bit more tricky because of the curves in it. .... A very special but simple tool is a homemade roller.

 

I made this one out of scrap metal, there is a piece of angle iron bolted to it now. if you pull the metal to you, get a sharp bend.

If you push the metal away from you, get a curved bend from a 3" pipe .... I have 1.5" pipe and 4" pipe to replace the angle iron to dictate what bend I get.

 

 

Just something simple you can make at home .... If I was to repair or recreate the rear valance on your car, I would be using this tool.