rmchrgr
Active Member
Working on a '72 Challenger with a vinyl top. Yesterday I found that the trunk hinge bracket spot welds had popped at some point and were poorly repaired by bolting them through. (!) I know this is not uncommon as the trunk can snap open with some force. If the metal is thin, it will eventually happen.
While looking under the filler panel to see what caused that to happen, I noticed that there was rot along the flanges of the deck filler panel where it meets the quarters (both sides) and at a few points where it butts up to the package tray. A bit odd but that's what I could see.
Today I figured out what caused it. This car was painted in the '80s. As you'd expect, the vinyl top trim was removed before paint. The trim is held on by clips that slide into studs along the base of the window. Whoever removed the trim gorilla'd it and somehow broke a couple of those little studs. To prevent the trim from flopping around, the same genius replaced them with regular screws but left the holes from the broken studs right next to the screws! Seriously! You gotta be unconscious to do that. OK, perhaps it's possible the bottom of the broken studs were still there when they put the screws in and they rattled themselves loose over time and fell out but who knows. Either way, there are holes.
How does this happen???
This is under the deck filler looking toward the back of the package tray.
Once it got inside the deck panel flange, the water would then run down the seam and settle in the gutter on the hinge bracket spot welds. Like I said, eventually it got thin enough that when someone opened the trunk without holding it they pulled through. This is obviously also why the filler panel flanges are rotted. I need to get the window out to know for sure but there is no other rust in that area from what I can tell. Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't see how I can avoid not painting the entire car as the vinyl top would have to come off to repair the deck panel.
The trunk is scaly but there are no holes. Unfortunately the same dumbass probably used whatever left over paint they had to cover the deck panel and painted right over the scaly trunk floor...yeah.
No rot through in the trunk but needs to be srtipped and repainted.
Might as well do the quarters while I'm at it since the flanges are rusty where they attach to the filler panel. Not sure if there is rot on the bottoms, can't see. Quarters also means left and right trunk gutters... I honestly don't see how the filler panel can be repaired properly otherwise.
This is the snowball effect x100. I don't mind getting deep into the weeds but this is not something I planned on with this car. See my Welcome Wagon post for more details on that. Sure I can leave it but the deck filler ties several pieces together and it's going to bother me to no end knowing that it's compromised.
Kind of a subjective question but if this was your car, how would you proceed?
Thanks for any input!
While looking under the filler panel to see what caused that to happen, I noticed that there was rot along the flanges of the deck filler panel where it meets the quarters (both sides) and at a few points where it butts up to the package tray. A bit odd but that's what I could see.
Today I figured out what caused it. This car was painted in the '80s. As you'd expect, the vinyl top trim was removed before paint. The trim is held on by clips that slide into studs along the base of the window. Whoever removed the trim gorilla'd it and somehow broke a couple of those little studs. To prevent the trim from flopping around, the same genius replaced them with regular screws but left the holes from the broken studs right next to the screws! Seriously! You gotta be unconscious to do that. OK, perhaps it's possible the bottom of the broken studs were still there when they put the screws in and they rattled themselves loose over time and fell out but who knows. Either way, there are holes.
How does this happen???
This is under the deck filler looking toward the back of the package tray.
Once it got inside the deck panel flange, the water would then run down the seam and settle in the gutter on the hinge bracket spot welds. Like I said, eventually it got thin enough that when someone opened the trunk without holding it they pulled through. This is obviously also why the filler panel flanges are rotted. I need to get the window out to know for sure but there is no other rust in that area from what I can tell. Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't see how I can avoid not painting the entire car as the vinyl top would have to come off to repair the deck panel.
The trunk is scaly but there are no holes. Unfortunately the same dumbass probably used whatever left over paint they had to cover the deck panel and painted right over the scaly trunk floor...yeah.
No rot through in the trunk but needs to be srtipped and repainted.
Might as well do the quarters while I'm at it since the flanges are rusty where they attach to the filler panel. Not sure if there is rot on the bottoms, can't see. Quarters also means left and right trunk gutters... I honestly don't see how the filler panel can be repaired properly otherwise.
This is the snowball effect x100. I don't mind getting deep into the weeds but this is not something I planned on with this car. See my Welcome Wagon post for more details on that. Sure I can leave it but the deck filler ties several pieces together and it's going to bother me to no end knowing that it's compromised.
Kind of a subjective question but if this was your car, how would you proceed?
Thanks for any input!
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