Trunk & Rear Quarter Rust Repair - 1965 Dart Convertible

[PocketAces]

The driver's side had less rust and dents, so I was able to use less of the patch. I kept the seam below the body line and and I left the bumper recess intact. The seam is fairly close to the body line and I think that helped prevent the metal from warping. After I welded the outside, I could still see the seam in parts of the weld from the inside. I wound up welding and grinding both sides where I had access.

I had to remove the factory sound deadener. Not sure what to replace it with. Either 3M body shutz, or maybe some kind of bed liner?

You can see in the interior shot that that dent in trunk floor just behind the rear wheel has been dollied out. The metal was stretched a bunch so I used the acetylene torch to shrink it. The first time I tried shrinking a door skin I just ruined the door. This time I followed the instructions and it worked better. You have to dolly it lightly aroud the hot spot while it's still red. It worked well and got rid of the oil canning.

I didn't get a picture, but I did paint all the metal that would be hidden.

 

[PocketAces]

OK, back to the passenger side which is the more difficult side.

This time I decided to place the seam above the body line. This was because there was some prior dent repair above the body line and holes drilled in the original sheet metal to remove the dents with a slide hammer. Seemed like it was easier to just replace it all. In hind sight, I think I might have been better off staying below the body line.

The body line looks crooked in the photo. It's not as bad as it looks and the bend is actually not where the panels meet, but further back on the replacement panel. It was worse the first time I welded it, so I cut it back out and tried again. The problem was that I clamped it in place at the front and then started tacking from the back forward. The welds shrank and messed up the alignment at the front. Live and learn.

I got a little warpage along the seam, but it mostly all dollied out.

 

[65dartcharger]

Great work you have done. Keep it up!