1968 Plymouth GTX

['68 Coronet R/T]

The lock washers are in place.
Tried increasing the tension by one notch but it seemed to just make the POP noise louder.
Didn't have the problem when I did my signature car, so don't understand what's going on.

 

[ct71rr]

This happened to me too. I moved the trunk arm (at the white nylon washers) a little to left or right by hand and it went away.

 

['68 Coronet R/T]

Next question. How do I adjust the hinges? I need to move the entire trunk lid about 1/8" to the left.

 

['68 Coronet R/T]

Next question. How do I adjust the hinges? I need to move the entire trunk lid about 1/8" to the left.

I had some serious issues getting the trunk lid to even fit in the opening.

There was plenty of clearance at the front but the back was tight on the left side and overlapping a bit on the right side.

Had to drill out the spot welds holding the quarter panels and push each side out 1/8" to even get the lid to fit.
Here's the side that was overlapped at the rear now able to fit.

Found the only way to adjust the hinges is to bend them.
Being a bit fearful about cranking too hard on them, I just did a little at a time.
Here you can see that I need to adjust the hinges a bit more to the left. That should square things up.

Still a bit more adjusting to do as well, however I am close. Now to try to get rid of that popping sound when I open and close the lid.

 

[monaco66coupe]

Yeah, the problem down here is the sun destroys the interiors. All the trim is dry and brittle, the kick panels texture rubs off, etc.

not only that, all the wiring turns to toast, and I had to dispose of the snake nests!
when I restored my 69 Dart from Phoenix, nothing at all was usable.
but i found a donor car here in omaha, rusty but beautiful original wiring and Interior parts, front of the car to the taillights.

 

['68 Coronet R/T]

I need some serious help diagnosing what's wrong with my torsion bars. They hold the lid open but when I go to close it, there is some seriously loud popping as the front portion of the torsion bar slide about half an inch slamming into the back of the slot.

I tried increasing the pressure by moving the rearward most slot on the adjusting end. Didn't help and actually caused the bars to slip too far forward and pop off the hinge cam, thus shattering my plastic bushings.

Here's a pic before I disassembled the car:

Here's a pic of where I am now:

What am I not seeing?

 

[Nxcoupe]

Stupid question, may not matter anyway, but did you happen to switch them from side to side?

 

['68 Coronet R/T]

Stupid question, may not matter anyway, but did you happen to switch them from side to side?

I thought the same thing but if you switch them, the hook that goes under the hinge cam is pointing in the wrong direction.

 

['68 Coronet R/T]

When you look at this picture, right next to the little wasp's nest, how that the torsion bar is sitting in a recessed area of the slot that looks like a backwards 7.
For some reason my torsion bars will not stay in that position but jump toward the rear of the car and fall down into the slot.

Does anyone have a picture of that recessed area? I am wondering if mine are worn out or distorted.

 

[dana44]

I can take a picture on mine, if I make it home before dark.

 

[ct71rr]

I have a ‘71 so it might be a little different, do you have the captive washer on the pins that holds the arms that connects to the lid (if that makes sense). The pins that the lid support arms pivots on. I just reinstalled mine to fit trunk to quarters and found that if the arms have a lot of play on that pivot pin, it messes with everything. When I took mine of the first time, these washers went flying off into the depths of my quarters...thank god my car is on a rotisserie, a quick turn to upside down and they fell out...phew!

 

[68BabyBlue]

I just checked the recessed area in question on my 57,000 mile '69 GTX, and it looks identical to the picture before disassembly, functions perfectly. I think the previous post may have answered the question. I had a problem with play in the arms on my '66 Imperial when it passed 130,000 miles. I Mcgivered it with a pair of vice grips, and sold the car a year later.

 

[rich hourigan]

i just read all 13 pages, very nice work and very inspiring.. i will be following .. thanks for taking the time to document all the steps you are taking, much appreciated..Rich

 

[dana44]

 

['68 Coronet R/T]

Thanks guys.
Come to think of it, I have had to push those locking washers on to the arms repeatedly to reduce the play in the in arms. I'll start there and then if necessary work on the recess areas.
I will let you know when or whether I have resolved the issue.
Merry Christmas Everyone!

 

['68 Coronet R/T]

Decided to strip the trunk lid and get it ready for epoxy primer.
While sanding I noticed some rust inside on the back panel were the trim attaches.
Remembering how badly the hood and roof skin were rusted, I decided to remove the deck lid skin as well.

I expected there to be some spot welds along the edges and actually saw what I thought were small welds. However, after drilling them and then rolling back the lip, it became clear there weren't any spot welds.

Nothing along the front edge either.

On this corner, I was positive there was a spot weld but again nothing.

I still have to do the rear edge so maybe there will be a spot weld or two there?
The other thought was that the areas that looked like spot welds may have been pinch marks?
Hopefully I will have the skin off sometime tomorrow.

 

[ct71rr]

Glad to see your still at it on the GTX. I recently removed the skin on my '71 Road Runner's trunk. I didn't find any spot welds either. I did find 2-3 areas on each side where it looked like small blobs of weld were placed along the flange. I can post some pics if you would like.

 

['68 Coronet R/T]

Glad to see your still at it on the GTX. I recently removed the skin on my '71 Road Runner's trunk. I didn't find any spot welds either. I did find 2-3 areas on each side where it looked like small blobs of weld were placed along the flange. I can post some pics if you would like.

Yes, that would help. I was thinking there had to be welds somewhere on there to secure everything in place.
All I have left to undo is the rear edge.

 

[ct71rr]

I have three trunks and they all have the same spots. There’s four on each side. One at each corner and the other two spread out along seam.

Corner:

Corner:

Along seam:

Closeup:

 

['68 Coronet R/T]

Well I got the skin off the frame today. Never found any spot welds but there sure was a lot of rust.

Glad I opted to remove the skin as this was rusted way worse than I originally thought.

I was amazed at how well the adhesive/sealant was still holding after all these years.
Now to get it all rust free and epoxy primed, then put back together.