# Trunk pan replacement - a few questions



## gotyorgoat (Jun 19, 2011)

I ordered a 7 piece trunk pan from e-bay and they shipped me a chevelle pan. I laid it in and although it was the wrong size, it made me realize that this is not going to be as easy as I thought. I know there are lots of threads on this, but I need a little advice from those who have done it already.

1. Since the new pan extends about 3/4" beyond the front and back lip, should I cut the old pan right at the bend and flange it so that I do not have to cut the new pan at all?

2. For the two center and front/back welds, should I spot weld only with seam sealer or weld continuously?

3. Lower wheel wells are rotted but not bad enough to replace the whole thing. tips for this area?

Thanks for the help.


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## Squidtone (Nov 26, 2010)

GYG,
I have done this repair, and I made a webpage about it. The way I did it is not the only way to do it, but it worked for me. It was very important to me to have it look "factory", that is, I did not want to see any signs that it was pieced together (center pan, and side pans). The pans are flanged and the seams can't be seen from the bottom because the reinforcements are there. But from the top, I stitch welded the seams and filled in the imperfections with filler. It looked very good when done. See the webpage for more details on how I spliced it on the front and back edges.

I also had to repair the lower wheel well sections. I fabricated these pieces. Lots of work but it was worth it to me.

Squid's Fab Shop GTO Trunk Replacement

Good luck.

Dave


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## gotyorgoat (Jun 19, 2011)

Nice. Lots of good info there. I will read this thouroughly before I get started. Looks like it came out great.

I was thinking of flanging the front and back above the bend because I think it may be easier, and my welding skills are not the best. Any opinion on this method?


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## Squidtone (Nov 26, 2010)

In my case I split choice....I flanged the back, because the seam would be over the crossbrace and not seen from under the car, and from the inside I dressed it with body filler. I butt welded the front edge of the pans. I made my seam from new to old on the almost vertical section of trunk pan as it goes up over the axle. Granted, not many folks will ever climb under there to see if there's a seam there, but I still felt better knowing it's basically an invisible butt weld.
Good luck,
Dave


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## Logchain (Nov 29, 2011)

Im in the same boat as your are bro. The trunk is the last step before I drop the body back on the frame, and I have literally stared at it the last 3 weeks without touching it because Im unsure how I wanna go about it.

My wheel wheels were rusted in the bottom and I opted to just patch them along with the rusted filler piece. Attached a couple pics hope it helps.


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## geeteeohguy (Feb 2, 2008)

Squidtone, thanks for the post. You are indeed an artist!! I admire anyone who can weld sheetmetal. YOurs came out great. Is your car done now? Still Linden Green??? I'll need to replace the weak original trunk in my '67 one of these days...it's been shabby for about the last 130,000 miles......


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## Squidtone (Nov 26, 2010)

Thanks GeeTeeohguy,
Yes, I am now in the middle of my second round of block sanding. I bought my paint. It is Linden Green, I'm going RM Diamont base / clear. I think I will be laying down final paint within the next four weeks. I will post soon on these forums as well as py.

GYG, 
I forgot to mention, for that extra touch, cut out the holes in the new pans for the 3 "floor plates". They sell the plates themselves if you don't have your originals.
I also cut out the two small holes for the rubber plugs. Just another detail.


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## 67 LeMans 4dr Cpe (Apr 30, 2012)

Im in the same boat as you guys and thanks for posting progress pictures. Id say about 50% of my trunk pan is completely gone and along with replacing the whole pan i'll have to replace the pan to 1/4 panel pieces but I have almost no experience doing body work. I figure I'll order a full one piece trunk pan since its so bad, Is a 1 piece pan a better choice or should i go multiple sections?


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## 67 LeMans 4dr Cpe (Apr 30, 2012)

Squid...When you did the wheel well patch, what thickness sheet metal did you use?


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## Squidtone (Nov 26, 2010)

Believe it or not I used very old steel shelving. It was about 20-21 gauge I think. Thin enough to be formed.


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## gotyorgoat (Jun 19, 2011)

67Lemans4dr, The one piece may save you a little welding, but the 3 piece seems alot easier to work with since you are fitting smaller pieces and not the whole thing at once. Also you would need the body off of the frame so you can install from below.

Squid - your webpage is about the only resource that I have found for this process. Thanks for the guidance. I am still a little unsure where to join the old and new pan and weather to butt weld or to flang/lap weld. I am not at all concerned about the appearance from underneath since there will be plenty of other rust to distract anyone who looks.

Would the pan be stronger if I caught the rear crossbrace like you did, or do you think a lap weld below the brace would be strong enough?


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## Squidtone (Nov 26, 2010)

gyg,
I don't think it makes a difference either way as far as strength goes. It may be just a question of convenience, like how you go about replacing the two braces that go front to back. The back of these braces hang onto the crossbrace. 

And here's another thing to think of regarding "strength", the pans they sell now I think are thinner steel than the original pans. I say this because I bowed out the panels a bit after I welded them in, and I was in there grinding the welds down. Mind you, not by alot, but the trunk pans bowed down a bit. I'm pretty light too. I bowed them back by putting a piece of plywood under there (no gas tank) and jacking it up back into shape. Something to be careful of.
Dave


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## tlillard23 (Nov 22, 2011)

wow! I was upset that my trunk and under-quarters had some small screwdriver sized rust holes. Good luck with that pan repair I can't weld, ha


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## 67 LeMans 4dr Cpe (Apr 30, 2012)

Gotyorgoat, I've decided to go with the 3 piece pan with the supports since it will be easier for me to work with the small sections. Currently the body is removed from the frame since the frame/eng/susp is completed. I've removed most of what was left of the old pan and am working on the edges here soon. I will have to replace the 1/4 panel to truck pan pieces and form a few patch plates for the rear section of the fender wells and also the lower portion of the right rear 1/4 panel has a horrendus previous riveted in repair panel that i must remove too. I totalled it up with product from Ames Performance and with everything minus paint it will run me about $1700 in parts to repair from the very end of the car to halfway through the rear fender well. Its a start and I have much to learn so i figured the rear is a good starting point. I'll post more pictures when I learn better how to do that on here.


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## gotyorgoat (Jun 19, 2011)

Making some progress on this trunk pan replacement. As is usually the case, the cancer had spread further than I thought so I've spent more time trying to reconstruct the wheel wells than actually working on the trunk. Squids page is the only reference that I have had since most of the metal was completely gone. I am trying to get this wrapped up so I can install the new gas tank and get back on the road. I havent been able to drive it all summer.

Sux to put in all this work and have the car look the same. There is so much bodywork left on this car just to get it ready for paint that think I might be in over my head.


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## geeteeohguy (Feb 2, 2008)

Nice work, gotyourgoat. I would say you are not over your head, just overwhelmed temporarily. When you get the trunk wrapped up, button up the car and drive it for a year or so before doing the bodywork/paint all at once. Or, do small areas of bodywork as you continue to actually drive and enjoy the car. They don't need to be perfect to be a blast. A lot of guys try to do too much too soon and get overwhelmed and lose interest or just sell the car. You show the skill and aptitude to handle the project, just do it in stages. There are a few guys out there that can tear down an entire car and rebuild it in a single season...but that is not the norm!! Hang in there.


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## gotyorgoat (Jun 19, 2011)

Thanks for the encouragement. If I decide to take a break on the bodywork I can always pull in nose first at the local car show and pop the trunk.


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## gotyorgoat (Jun 19, 2011)

I finally got this trunk pan installed, but it took my car of the road all summer and fall. I used a scotchbright pad to scuff up the e-coat and then applied rattle can 2k epoxy primer to the underside. I am then going to apply some 3M undercoating and put the gas tank back in.

Next is the tail panel replacement. Do I need to use a panel adhesive when replacing the tail panel so should I just spot weld it in? It seems like there is factory applied panel adhesive, but how would I use this and still spot weld? Is it one or the other?

It's getting too cold to do any bodywork in my unheated garage, so I think I am going to try to find a low cost shop to take it after the metal work is done.


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## Instg8ter (Sep 28, 2010)

nice work, like a friend of mine said "i may not be the best welder, but i am one hell of a grinder". Bodywork is pretty much the same concept, build it up to take it back down to smooth, except its at a much finer scale. I did mine body on frame up in around 11 months by myself and started with a nice high desert car, and i had not worked on my vehicles in 25 years. It takes four things, Space, Money, Time, and patients and you will need a boatload of each. Like GeeTee said do it as you drive it, so many tear a car down to the last bolt (sometimes when it is not needed) trying to make them perfect and they get caught in the quagmire of not having enough of one or all of the above, only to let the pile of parts sit for years/decades. Nothing wrong with doing it a panel at a time then covering them with an epoxy primer so you can keep enjoying it. I will say this, paying someone to do body and paint is paying them to "care" about your car and the outcome, thats why a good body/paint job costs so much. Much rather have a running car in flat black than a perfect looking pile of parts.


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## gotyorgoat (Jun 19, 2011)

That is good advice. I also catch myself spending too much time scraping or sanding areas that will never be seen and then I think to myself that it will never get done at this rate.

My problem is that I only have a few hours per weekend, so doing my own bodywork would take forever. The temps are getting too cold in Denver to do bodywork in an unheated garage anyways, so if I pick it up in the spring, it will be ugly next summer as well. 

Any thoughts on the seam sealer at the tail panel?


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## Squidtone (Nov 26, 2010)

Hey what a fantastic looking job. It looks really good.

The tail panel is/was spot welded from the factory, and they must have used a nice smooth sealer for the areas that show with body paint. I don't know they used, but it definitely wasn't meant to last for 40 or 50 years for cars with tough lives. In my case, I dug out all the old sealer and ended up using 3M "Drip Chek".
The Drip Chek is a sealer that does not have much "body" and you may have to put many layers on to build up a deep joint. It shrinks alot too. I used it on the seams where the quarter panels meet the rockers and the joint is meant to have a "line" showing, and the joint where the quarters meet the tailpanel that you can see when you open the trunk lid.

For seam sealing inside the trunk, (mostly the joints that don't get painted with body color), I was very happy with the classic 3M tan seam sealer that comes in a caulking tube. It is a bit pricey at 17 dollars a tube, but I found it to be the perfect consistency for spreading. It might be a bit old fashioned as it is talc based I think, but still good stuff.

And also, if you spatter paint your trunk, I'd recommend the Zolatone Black/ Aqua stuff. I ended up using it, and it was fantastic. Zolatone is also a bit pricey, but actually comes out about the same as using 3 or 4 spray bomb cans of spatter paint, and the additional clear coat the spray bombs require. 

For applying, I drilled out a 15 dollar Harbor Freight LVHP gun with a 0.080" drill bit. It's very easy to spray. You almost can't mess up.

Good luck on deciding on how to proceed with your bodywork!
Dave


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## gotyorgoat (Jun 19, 2011)

Thanks for the info Squid. I still plan to smooth out the seams with epoxy and then filler, but I figured that I would wait until it was painted in case there was some overspray. Too much work went into that trunk floor not to finish 'er off with some splatter paint. 

I am hoping that I don't screw it all up by cutting out the tail panel. I would hate to throw out a perfectly good Lemans.


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## gjones (Oct 8, 2012)

*trunk repair*

I redid the trunk area in the '66 Lemans convertible over the course of a couple of months. Someone poured about a quarter inch if fiberglass resin over the ENTIRE trunk pan about 20 years ago or so, then stuck about $200 worth of cloth on top of that.(I remember how much that stuff cost even back then-not cheap). Needless to say, I pulled and ground ALL that stuff up, then cleaned up the rust, installed some very stiff metal-lots of patches, some large, some small, then ground it smooth. Sprayed rust killer, primed, undercoated, painted & clearcoated it. Couldn't be any more happy with the results! It truly is breathtaking when you pop the trunk! Incidentally,as I was taking photos of the progress, a very disturbing image appeared on the left side fenderwell.(in the photo) Not quite sure what to make of it. It is an image of a longhair, sitting in the drivers' seat, with his left arm on the door sill.(you can almost make out his wristwatch, and fingers on the steering wheel) He is looking over his left shoulder. His nose is blown off(you can actually see the part on the nose area curved up, as on a skull). If you zoom in on the image, more disturbing details come to light... You can see the pupils in his eyes crossed, looking at his nose area, and his eyebrows are contorted. The red spot putty on the left,I assume, are the remnants of the nose. Yes, I painted it, but I did not paint the image purposely. About 2 weeks passed after completing the trunk, before I reviewed the pictures. You can just see the dash gauges and the steering wheel, and horn bar. I will try to attach the photo tomorrow, if anyone is interested- (No, I'm not a crackpot- this image is perplexing to me)


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## gotyorgoat (Jun 19, 2011)

Someone forgot to wear their respirator.....

just kidding. I would be interested in seeing that!


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## gjones (Oct 8, 2012)

*trunk pan replacement/ GHOST IN THE MACHINE*

Sorry to delay the reply- hope you had a great thanksgiving... I installed some more photos to my profile... if you click on my photos, you'll see two pictures of the trunk... the unfinished trunk photo is the one I'm talking about. If there's a way for you to zoom in on it, you'll see all that I described, and also you can clearly see his tongue hanging down to his chin....... I did NOT photo shop or alter this image in any way, shape or form... it kind of looks like an old photo negative.....


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## gjones (Oct 8, 2012)

*trunk patch*

Didja get a chance to check the pic. out yet?


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## gotyorgoat (Jun 19, 2011)

I think that I can make out the face and tounge, but I am not seeing much else other than a nice 66 Lemans.


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## gjones (Oct 8, 2012)

*ghost in the machine*

were you able to zoom in on it? That's when the details come to light. It's not a good photo on this site, if you can't zoom in on it. On the original image on the camera I shot it on, the details really stand out when you zoom on it. The other good photos of the trunk are on the old computer- still have to transfer them to the new computer. Sorry to hijack your post, just thought it was a cool anomaly. Have a good one.


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## 66 Gas Tires Oil (Oct 23, 2012)

the way i do trunks is after cutting out the old trunk i install the two body mount brackets then set your whole trunk panels inplace. i then use large sheetmetal screws with the drill bit tips to attach everything together before i weld in at 1" intervals. i remove the sheetmetal screws and weld the holes shut then apply seamsealer inside and underneath.

jim


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## gotyorgoat (Jun 19, 2011)

From this.....



To this.....



To this!!!!!!


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## mrvandermey (Jun 15, 2011)

GYG,
Very nice work. I am about to start my trunk floor repair. After reading your thread, I am not totally sure that I am up to the task. There appears to be more to the trunk than I had originally thought. Why I am admiring your pics, can someone tell me how the trunk floor metal is attached to the underneath braces? Looking from under the car, I do not see any rust on the braces, but from the experience of the ones that have done this trunk floor repair, is it likely I will need to replace the trunk braces when I replace/repair the trunk floor?

GYG, one quick question, the drain holes on your trunk appear to be in the front part of the trunk. Mine are in the rear part of the trunk (and I believe we both have '68 GTO's), does this mean, my trunk floor has been replaced before with the wrong floor?


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## gotyorgoat (Jun 19, 2011)

It took me a long time to get this done, mostly because the lower wheel wells, quarters and braces to the frame were totally gone. If I were just working on the pan, it would have been much easier. I think that you should try to save the braces if they are in good shape. They are probably spot welded to the pan. I cut the bulk of the pan out, then took a grinder with a cut off wheel and ground down the metal at each spot and then grabbed it with some vice grips and peeled it off like a can of sardines. I then cleaned up what was left behind with a flap disk. That would leave your braces in good condition so they could be wire brused, epoxy primed and repainted before you install the new pan.

Mine is a 67 so the holes are in the front. I'm not sure about the 68.


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## mrvandermey (Jun 15, 2011)

gotyorgoat said:


> It took me a long time to get this done, mostly because the lower wheel wells, quarters and braces to the frame were totally gone. If I were just working on the pan, it would have been much easier. I think that you should try to save the braces if they are in good shape. They are probably spot welded to the pan. I cut the bulk of the pan out, then took a grinder with a cut off wheel and ground down the metal at each spot and then grabbed it with some vice grips and peeled it off like a can of sardines. I then cleaned up what was left behind with a flap disk. That would leave your braces in good condition so they could be wire brused, epoxy primed and repainted before you install the new pan.
> 
> Mine is a 67 so the holes are in the front. I'm not sure about the 68.


Gotchya, thanks


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