For this project, I was able to repair the panel, but what if you need to replace a door skin? Before removing the old door skin, make any necessary repairs to the old skin to make sure the door is in alignment with the body. This ensures that no undue stress remains on the door frame and reduces the chances of the frame being twisted, something the previous body technician failed to do. Once the replacement skin is installed on the door frame, mount the door back on the car, and make any necessary additional adjustments. As long as the new door skin has not been welded to the frame, the door can be twisted, tweaked, and aligned without a problem. Once satisfied with the fit of the new skin, clamp and tack weld the panel in place before removing the door to complete the welding process.
Before I leave this part of the car, the door hinges need to be removed from the body. Prior to removing the hinges, I need to remove the torsion springs. I use a long, flat-blade screwdriver to pry the spring out of its locking position, then tap the top of the spring downward to release it from the hinge, as shown in photo 7. I repeat this procedure on the other side of the car, then remove all four hinges. Note: The hinge backing plates located inside the door posts will be loose and may even fall out once the hinges are removed. If the upper hinge backing plates don’t fall out, it’s OK. Once the dash is out of the car, I will have access to those plates at that time.
Photo 8 shows an exploded view of the lower hinge and spring. I normally don’t disassemble the hinges at this point; I wait until I’ve had a chance to order new bushing and pins, then take the hinges apart. At that point, I will sandblast, rebuild, and refinish all four hinges.
REPAIR THE DECK LID
As with every other aspect of this restoration, the first step in repairing this deck lid is to bring it back into alignment with the body of the car. I start at the rear of the deck lid and can see that the spoiler molded into the lid is touching the left quarter panel extension. I can also see that the gap between the quarter panel extension and the deck lid is extremely wide at the peak of the spoiler. The areas indicated by the marks on the quarter panel and the quarter panel extension in photo 9 point to even more problem areas where these two panels do not align.
PHOTO 4: A metal straight edge is used to confirm the alignment between the door and quarter panel.
PHOTO 5: The paint is removed from around the sloppy welds holding the door skin on the frame, and then each weld is circled to ensure that no weld is missed when I grind them smooth.
PHOTO 6: After grinding and smoothing, the finished welds should look like this, almost undetectable.
PHOTO 7: Before the door hinges are removed, the torsion springs on the lower hinge need to come off. Use a flat-blade screwdriver to pry the spring from its locking notch, and tap it out of the hinge with a hammer.
PHOTO 8: The torsion spring after removal from the hinge.
PHOTO 9: A closer look at the fit between the deck lid, quarter panel, and quarter panel extension shows that the actual fit leaves a lot to be desired.
Once the alignment problems are corrected, I’ll use structural adhesive to repair a crack in the deck lid, improve the fit between the deck lid and the quarter panel extensions, then finish by smoothing the deck lid by coating it with plastic body filler.
ALIGNING THE DECK LID
Looking at the right front edge of the deck lid, I can see an area where it rubs against the back glass filler panel every time the lid is opened. My first adjustment is to shift the position of the deck lid rearward on the right side to open this gap and stop the deck lid from rubbing the filler panel. This adjustment also results in the gap between the deck lid and the right quarter panel near the quarter panel extension opening and the gap between the deck lid and the left quarter panel extension closing.
Considering that the deck lid is already touching the left quarter panel, having it shifted even more to the left sounds like a bad thing. But considering that the gap between the top of the deck lid spoiler and the quarter panel extension spoiler is extremely wide on the left side, the shift will eventually help. Sound confusing? To help you picture this, find a square box with a removable lid. Invert the lid and place it on top of the box. Nudge it back just a little on one side and the other. When you see how much a small shift can affect every point of fit on the box, you will better understand how such a tiny shift in the position of the deck lid can change things.
What can be done to improve the gap between the deck lid and the left quarter panel in the area shown in photo 10? The left quarter panel where it touches the deck lid is actually lower than the deck lid. I can’t be sure if this is a problem from the factory or if it’s associated with some long-ago impact near the left rear, but this area of the quarter panel needs to be lifted straight up. Doing so forces the deck lid opening on the quarter panel to roll outward, thereby widening the gap between the deck lid and the quarter panel extension spoiler.
To lift the quarter panel, I place a hydraulic ram between the floor pan and the inner edge of the left quarter panel deck lid opening, and jack the quarter panel up slightly. Much care is needed here. Applying too much pressure can cause the quarter panel to buckle. Too little pressure and the quarter panel won’t move. But just enough will cause the inside edge of the quarter panel to move up slightly and roll outboard, widening the gap between the quarter panel and the deck lid, exactly what is needed.
The deck lid and the quarter panels have been aligned. Yet despite all of my efforts, the fit between both quarter panel extensions and the deck lid failed to improve significantly. Because all three panels are made of fiberglass, I determined an acceptable fit between the three panels could be achieved only through rebuilding all three parts.
REPAIRING THE DECK LID AND REBUILDING THE DECK LID AND THE QUARTER PANEL EXTENSIONS
Along with rebuilding the deck lid and the quarter panel extensions, I need to repair a crack in the deck lid that I found when I first inspected the car. At some point, a significant impact on the right side of the deck lid cracked the gel coat and left a ring of broken paint behind. This is not something that can be ground and filled using plastic body filler. If I tried that, at some point in the future the filler would crack because the problem would have only been skimmed over and not repaired correctly.
The correct repair is to first grind away the old paint and gel coat to expose the fiberglass layers beneath, then reinforce the fiberglass using Norton Structural Bonding Adhesive #4618. I will repair the cracked deck lid at the same time I am rebuilding the deck lid and the quarter panel extensions.
To rebuild the deck lid and the quarter panel extensions and to fix the cracked deck lid, I first grind away the layers of old paint and gel coat at both corners of the deck lid and on the tops of both quarter panel extensions. Why remove the gel coat? This exposes the fiberglass layers and gives me a strong foundation from which to make the repair.
The next step is to build up the deck lid and quarter panel extensions using Norton Structural Bonding Adhesive #4618 as a filler to get the three pieces to align. This is a two-part adhesive product designed for use over clean and sanded bare metal or fiberglass. It has a 40-minute working time, which is enough time to mix and apply as much adhesive as will be needed to make this repair. This adhesive will also be applied over the crack.
I need to add roughly a