HAMB'er FLOP sectioned the deck lid of his Pontiac. You might find something of help in his extensive build thread. (One of the best on the HAMB!) Take a look here: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/50-pontiac-coupe-chop-tons-of-pics.239775/page-5
Yeah that thread is the best. Maybe I missed how he did the inner structure. I'll have to go back and check it out again.
This deck lid was pretty rough so I figure I had little to lose. It's been hard finding definitive examples on how to go after the inner structure. I think I found a pretty simple sution. I'm not finished so we'll see how it goe but hopefully this can help someone in the future. I began by cutting the deck lid skin free 1.5" from the rear edge.
Then I marked off where to cut the reliefs on the inner structure. At first I wa going to cut the whole center section out an only leave the perimeter. I then decided to leave the rear section intact and cut a few reliefs so it could "hinge" down slightly.
Once the center wash pushed down enough to allow the skin to fit as well as it can the end of the cut sections overlap. The overlapped section will get trimmed off and the new ends will be butt welded together. This is pretty simple and straightforward and will hopefully look pretty stock once the welds are dressed.
I had to stop, but I made a strip to fill in the section at the rear edge that was created when the skin was pulled down to meet the trailing edge.
As you can see there will be only minimal pie cutting necessary. The fit is pretty good. There's about an inch to fill in on either side. If I were to do this again, I would only make the bottom cut of the pie cut and then push the skin down inside the outside edge, mark it off and the trim off the overlap. There would be much less filling and welding to do. I'm most happy though with the side profile. It definitely is sleeker but still has a subtle stockish appearance. I also like the fact that the profile pretty much matches the profile of the rear fender.
Thanks! I cant wait to button it up and get it back on the car. I think the welding will be slow, the sheet metal really wants to warp so I need to be careful. Work is crazy so I'm not sure when I can bet back on it.
Started filling in the gap and made some relief cuts to get the edges to meet up and blend the radius. Work has been crazy. Barely any time for this I was glad to get in some work this afternoon.
Nice work. Reminds me of the battles i went through... No time or money just picking away at it. Keep going, before you know it you will be buffing that thing out!
Man, Devin, nice work!! I am impressed and encouraged by your metal work. I have not yet begun fabricating my own panels, but you have given me a nudge to give it a shot. Looking forward to your progress. I wouldn't call it snail's pace....you are out pacing a whole lot of us out here.
A perfect example of "less is more" A subtle thing that most won't pick up on when it's done but makes a huge difference in the overall look of the car. Nicely done.
You haven't seen it up close then lol[emoji12] it's a bit warped and is going to require some filler but the overall appearance is an improvement I think. I just wish I had a solid block of time to get it done.
the internal metal is pretty rough. I'm going to have to fab up some new bracing or search for a more solid deck lid and start fresh. Are coupe deck likes different from sedans? I see a couple deck lid for sale on Craigslist.
I think you're singing our song with that one. If we all just had a good solid block of uninterrupted time to work on our cars, we'd be driving them instead of building them.
Nice work on the replacement, once again you have demonstrated what can be done if needed to reclaim a rusted part.
Devin: You make feel like a lazy ass old fool! I am going out to the shop and cut something up!!! with that said, GET BACK TO WORK AND POST SOME MORE UPDATES!!!!!!! lol great work as always Larry