truck help

[stingger68]

any idea of why my trunk lid wont line up? i how tried two lids and still no lineing up. heres some pix of what im talking about. the driver side has a gap and the passanger side over laps the panel. bent hinges?

 

[74sundance]

Did the car get new quarters at any time???
It could just be misadjusted....Have a bud get in the trunk with the hinge adjuster bolts loose.Then close the lid with you bud inside then you set the hood in place and have him tighten the bolts when you have it where you like the fit.You should also remove the latch so it won't be in the way and so you don't lock your bud in the trunk ;)

 

[stingger68]

did that lol.. but this my be the problem.. when i lost it years ago, i only had the doner tailpanel temporary tacked on, but when i went to pick it up it looked like it was all done. he even said he finished it. :rolling: :rolling: :rolling: . well i got out my grinder after looking in the trunk. and guess what i found. some of the bondo was an inch thick. here some pix. but even with this nice and high standing body work, would it be not lining up that far up at the hinges? also even with the shity welds it looks lined up with the trunk lips

 

[Propwash]

Holy Smokes!! Talk about plastic surgery

 

[roadrunnerman]

it looks like someone welded a whole tail panel on.how bad is the frame and crossmember.maybe they're just weak enuf to cause your alignment problem.

 

[stingger68]

well first i see i put truck in the title when it should of read trunk lol. when first got it the whole back of the car was roted ( theres pix of this is another post) i put a new crossmember, rear valance. i got the doner tailpanel from sc and just tacked it on the car to get it lined up. i got a new trunk pan for it but i naver got past the tail panel, so i am dilling with the classic tail of i finished it for you tail. looks like i may have to start pulling it al back apart just to be sure its not on my end of the work.

 

[66_B_Body4ever]

Align the deck lid with the deck panel evenly first. Then note whether the 1/4 panels line up evenly from left to right once you have a good gap at the trunk to deck panel. From what the pictures show it's a structural problem. Maybe the car has been hit before in the back end? Rotten 1/4's welded in out of alignment?

 

[moparstuart]

frankenstein

 

[stingger68]

the car has been hit before in the back end and repaired in the late 70s or early 80s from what i was told when i got it. the trunk lid was lined up at the time i picked it up untill one of the morons helping load it push it with a tracter and bent the lip when i was with the seller doing paper work. i took off more bondo when i started it years ago then what im taking off now. im off sunday and i'll try what you said about lineing it up and i'l post pix.

 

[66_B_Body4ever]

Let us know what you find, I have frame spec's that I could send you for the underbody.

 

[stingger68]

well the frame measures from left to right along the rear crossmember 35 inches. and the whole trunk lid is off 1/8 of an inch. it is from the filler pan to the tailpan, its all lined up perfectly just pushed over 1/8. i measured the hinges and the driver side is 1 inch 1/4 from the trunk lip and the passanger side is 1 inch 1/8 from the lip. i'll post pix of it.

 

[stingger68]

and the driverside hinge is roted away from the top filler pan

 

[stingger68]

:black_eye:

 

[stingger68]

sorry that the pix are so big

 

[66_B_Body4ever]

My first impression is there is some structural misalignment at least in the upper sheet metal, I will dig up some frame spec's for you so you can check the rear frame rails. Looks to me like your not far away from needing to replace 1/4's and the rear deck panel anyway, if it's in your budget...that would help take care of some of the misalignment issues. You have to check your rear frame rails before anything as it's the foundation for proper panel alignment...
-J

 

[stingger68]

ok. i was planing on replaceing the driverside completly and skining the other side, and new rear deck panel ( their on my chrismas list lol ). im going to take the trunk pan back out being its only tacked in. now if i can only get a few days off of work lol. working 6 days a week at 12 to 16 hour a day dont leave much time.

 

[66_B_Body4ever]

Ya, time is tuff to come by, there's always something else more important...according to the wife...lol

 

[stingger68]

lol ya they also find way to spend the extera cash

 

[Meep-Meep]

I'd say the gap on the RT side is tight so the trunk lid should move over to the left to average that out. Then the rear corner of the LT quarter needs to be pulled in to get rid of the taper. Man, that be ugly! Looks like it's time for an AMD quarter or something.

 

[stingger68]

i got to do a lil bit of work on the trunk lid today. i hold down the hinges and lined up the hood. i think i may have got it lol. im going to try to adjust the hinges bars and see if that helps. here what it looks like with the hinges held down under the lid.