Dottie Rae's rotten Trunk Gutter
I had asked about dealing with some intergranular corrosion and a few guys got on me (with reason) about my girl's trunk gutter. I ordered the parts from AMD and I will show what a mess I can make on Day 1.
This is the drivers side top and you can see the rot where the upper curve piece slides under the rear cowl piece. I got the images out of order so you can see some holes from the spot weld cutter. I am not a body man so this is new to me and actually the first time I've ever cut a car apart like this. You feel free to laugh at me but this has had me pretty nervous. This isn't a hole in a front fender.
For those who need to do this you need to notice that the top piece slides under the cowl to allow correct drainage downhill.
Use a piece of rope to tie the spring loaded trunk hinge down giving you room to work.
After the spot welds are cut the top of the corner will go down. It will loosen up as you get more of the spotwelds cut.
HINT-you cannot plainly see where all the welds are located. I tried to tell by using a mirror from behind (bottom), but you can't.
I wound up cutting notches about every 2 or 3 inches and just bent those pieces both ways until they broke. The problem is the lip under the quarter panel will remain in place. You can see the rusty lip as I was able to identify more of the spotwelds and get them cut out. It's a VERY time consuming process. I spent a couple hours trying to work the bottom of the side piece out from the overlap between the quarter and the top of the lower gutter piece. I am not replacing the lower gutter section on either side and on the driver side there may beca butt weld there if you look at this tomorrow night.
I hope this has not been too hard to follow or understand. I am not a body man (no **** huh)
I hope I will be more helpful tomorrow!
I had asked about dealing with some intergranular corrosion and a few guys got on me (with reason) about my girl's trunk gutter. I ordered the parts from AMD and I will show what a mess I can make on Day 1.
This is the drivers side top and you can see the rot where the upper curve piece slides under the rear cowl piece. I got the images out of order so you can see some holes from the spot weld cutter. I am not a body man so this is new to me and actually the first time I've ever cut a car apart like this. You feel free to laugh at me but this has had me pretty nervous. This isn't a hole in a front fender.
For those who need to do this you need to notice that the top piece slides under the cowl to allow correct drainage downhill.
Use a piece of rope to tie the spring loaded trunk hinge down giving you room to work.
After the spot welds are cut the top of the corner will go down. It will loosen up as you get more of the spotwelds cut.
HINT-you cannot plainly see where all the welds are located. I tried to tell by using a mirror from behind (bottom), but you can't.
I wound up cutting notches about every 2 or 3 inches and just bent those pieces both ways until they broke. The problem is the lip under the quarter panel will remain in place. You can see the rusty lip as I was able to identify more of the spotwelds and get them cut out. It's a VERY time consuming process. I spent a couple hours trying to work the bottom of the side piece out from the overlap between the quarter and the top of the lower gutter piece. I am not replacing the lower gutter section on either side and on the driver side there may beca butt weld there if you look at this tomorrow night.
I hope this has not been too hard to follow or understand. I am not a body man (no **** huh)
I hope I will be more helpful tomorrow!