Trunk & Rear Quarter Rust Repair - 1965 Dart Convertible

[PocketAces]

I had some rust in my trunk and in the rear quarters. The rust was worst on the passenger side with rust through and severe pitting in the trunk floor and extension. There was also a patch welded into the top of the right extension. Both sides had rust at the bottom of the quarters and extensions. The driver's side extenstion was dented up from bottom, just behind the rear wheel. Also the rear quarters had bondo in them from some past collision repair.

 

[PocketAces]

I got part of a right rear quarter from a salvage yard in Washington State. Unfortunately, the back of the car had already been cut off. Drilled out all the spot welds to extract the extension and the part of the floor that I need.

The bottom corner of the extension is pitted and a little thin. Probably will need to patch this area.

 

[PocketAces]

Cut out the bad metal to make room for the patch.

What I learned from the floor replacement is that grinding butt welds smooth is a lot of work. This time, I choose to make my cuts on top of the frame rails so I don't have to grind the bottom of the welds. I'm giving up the ability to dolly the metal so I hope that doesn't bite me.

 

[PocketAces]

I trimmed the replacement metal to fit the hole.

 

[PocketAces]

It's really unfortunate that the donor replacement panel does not go all the way to the back of the car.

• There will be a lot more butt welding and grinding to do as a result.
• There is some deep pitting on the portion of the trunk extension that's not being replaced. The pitting is not on a flat section, but on the grooves that are pressed into the metal.
• The height of the extension, relative to the trunk floor was different on the two cars. I will have to separate one side of the other and adjust it to get everything to line up.

 

[PocketAces]

Did I mention how much easier this work is with the car on the rotisserie? Man that's nice.

 

[PocketAces]

I picked up a free 66 Dart from a FABO member here in Los Angeles. The car was already picked pretty clean, but it was a solid CA car with relatively rust free trunk and floor. I spent a big part of my Thanksgiving break drilling out spot welds to remove the trunk and rear quarters.

 

[PocketAces]

This gave me a complete trunk extension, instead of the partial extension I was planning to use. There is some severe pitting at the bottom front corner so it will need a small patch welded in, but no worse then the other one I was planning to use. The importantant thing is less butt welding, yeah!

 

[PocketAces]

I cut out the remainder of the original trunk extension.

 

[PocketAces]

I separated the partial extension from the trunk floor. I still plan to use this partial trunk floor with the new trunk extension. This part of the car will have metal from three different cars.

 

[PocketAces]

I welded in the bottom few inches of wheel well and ground everthing smooth.

 

[pettybludart]

First time I,ve seen your thread.Way to go on saving the parts car,for helping fix up your vert.I,ve also done the complete 1/4 trunk extension/wheel well replacement(helped a bodyman)on my 66 Dart.Oh,I also love the color of your car.Is it a 50th anniversary car?:cheers:

 

[MOPAR4Me]

Great job, is working metal your trade, or do you just do it on your cars? I hope some day to be able to do major body work like this, I have a couple of cars that are going to need the trunk wheel wells repaired. I just purchased some patch panels from Summit, and am hoping to do some repairs, but do not have any experience with auto metal repair. Did dome welding back when I was in high school metal shop class, which is why I though I might be able to pick up a welder at Harbor Freight and give it a shot. I am in OC/LA area myself, good to see another FABO member from my neck of the woods. Keep up the great work, and thank you for sharing, I will keep up with your thread so that I can hopefully learn from you.

 

[PocketAces]

Great job, is working metal your trade, or do you just do it on your cars?

Thanks!

No, I write software for a living. I taught myself to weld fixing rust buckets as a teenager in Pennsylvania. I never owned a car back there that I didn't have to weld in floor patches.

Mostly oxy-acetylene. This is my first time using MIG although I have used a Lincoln AC stick welder for various small projects.

Back then I used any old piece of scrap metal I could lay my hands on and coat hangers for rod. This is the first time I've tried to make the repair look factory original by using donor patch panels, plug welding the original spot welds and grinding the welds smooth.

 

[PocketAces]

Oh,I also love the color of your car.Is it a 50th anniversary car?:cheers:

I chose this car for the color. My dad had one just like it back in the 60's. Gold with white interior and a white convertible top.

50th anniversary was 1964. This is a 65.

 

[MOPAR4Me]

Early Abodies look great in gold/white.

The more I see white interiors the more I want one, was always thinking black was best, but I now think it more depends on combination with the exterior color.

 

[65dartcharger]

Hey, thats a great work you are doing. Take some skills to do it. I wish I had the knowledge but I never came to that point. Was the rear frame in good condition?

Keep'em pictures coming.

 

[PocketAces]

Time to fix the rust on the front corner of my donor trunk extension. If Jesse James can beat a flat piece of metal into a motorcycle gas tank, then how hard can this be?

I got this makeup case at the Salvation Army for a couple dollars and filled it with sand. Poor man's shot bag!

The plastic hammer with the white head came from Harbor Freight and worked really well for stretching the metal without marring the surface.

The trick with the weep relief is to form that first while the piece is still flat before bending the bottom flange. In my first attempt, I bent the flange first and then I couldn't form the weep. Threw that piece away.

I made cuts along the wheel lip to make it easier to form the curve. I also ended up making a relief cut along the bottom to raise the bottom flange up a bit. These got welded at the end.

I did some grinding and dolly work on the beads. They're not undetectable yet, but after media blast, a teaspoon of bondo should fix that.

My flanges are bigger than they need to be. I'll trim them with the grinder after it's welded to the quarter panel.

 

[OldVart]

You're doing some very nice work there. Keep at it, and everything will come together in the end.

 

[crvtec90]

way to go man!

 

[FISHBREATH]

That project would deter many from trying. Good work!

I, too, started with gas welding as stick welders were expensive and wire welders didn't yet exist. Things are different now, however.

Please keep posting your progress.

 

[PocketAces]

I got the floor patch and the new extension welded in. A good portion of the butt weld is along the top of the frame rail. I thought this would hide some of the weld along the bottom, but the downside is that you have to get the metal hotter to penetrate the thicker frame material. This results in warpage that you can't dolly out since the backside is blocked by the frame. It's not too bad but will require some filler.

You can see part of the butt weld from the underside. I'm grinding the welds pretty smooth but they're not perfect. After media blast I'll use a little filler to smooth them over.

The third picture is plug welding the trunk extension. I would hate to have to do this while laying under the car. But with the rotisserie, I could weld while seated on a horizontal surface.

The quarter patch is cut and fitted, but I decided wait until the other side was ready so I could paint both drops at the same time. There's really no good way to paint them once it's all back together.

 

[PocketAces]

I switched over to the driver's side. The trunk extension was completely rusted through in the front corner. It was severely pitted along the bottom to about two thirds of the way back and there was another hole about halfway back.

I got a better trunk extension from the donor car, but after going through all the work to extract and replace the one on the passenger side, I decided it was easier to fix this one in place.

First step was to fab the corner piece. These things are hard to make. Working with 18 gauge metal it difficult and the complex shape takes a lot of trial and error.

 

[PocketAces]

With the hard part done, it's just a matter of working my way back. I made the hole for the body plug with a GreenLee cutout tool. I was able to preserve the verticle grooves in the original metal.

 

[PocketAces]

Finished all the welds in the driver's side trunk extension and ground them smooth front and back. I can't believe I'm doing all this work on welds nobody will ever see.