Well, reccently I pulled out my trunk carpeting and my wheel well liners only to discover that I can see through the wheel well and into the trunk. I have holes on both sides where the "tubs" meet the trunk "shelves" on either side. My options for repair are somewhat limited. As far as I know (and PLEASE correct me if Im wrong) nobody makes trunk patch panels, which leaves me to wonder, can I just cut all of that out and do away with the trunk all together and still have enough structural strength for the rear fascia? I know the lambo kit car guys do this for thier longitudnal swaps, but it isnt clear to me if thier kits have some sort of structural reinforcement the stock fiero body won't have. Any ideas or advice would be greatly appreciated. Im really loathe to have to fabricate my own sheet metal replacements with the tools I have at hand.
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03:08 PM
PFF
System Bot
Nov 5th, 2007
Avery Montembeault Member
Posts: 392 From: NIskayuna NY Registered: Jan 2001
I have found badly rusted trunks on a few of the Fieros I did 3800SC swaps on and just removed the rust and welded in new steel. With the engine and tranny out along with the carpet and wheel wells it is fairly easy to get in their and repair the rust. Dan
if the rails aren't too bad, clean it all up and paint it with a rust stop primer. for the holes get a quart of fiberglass resin and some cloth and 3 or 4 cheap chip brushes, 1-2" size, available at all the big home centers. on the trunk panel, clean to bare metal on the inside with course sandpaper, you need some bite for the resin. do the inside first. lay a piece of cloth in and trim it roughly to size to give you about a 2-3" overlap. no need to cut slits for the bends and corners. make 2 of each piece. mix a batch (I use cat food cans, the ~ 5 oz size, half full is about 3 oz, count the drops of hardner per the resin container) after the resin is ready, paint the edges of the metal liberally with resin. lay the cloth out on a piece of wax paper, and soak it well with resin, then lay it in place. work out the bubbles with the brush, soak the second piece an lay it on, repeating the workout of the bubbles. coat the whole thing with resin. repeat for the other side of the trunk. Should be dry in 30 minutes or less. now repeat the procedure on the outside of the tunk pan.
when dry, lightly sand to get any splinters off and paint. if you are really paranoid and think it won;t stick to the metal, you can drill a few holes around the outter edges where there is still metal and pun in some short sheetmetal screws or pop rivets, but you really shouldn;t need that.
[This message has been edited by tjm4fun (edited 11-05-2007).]
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04:31 PM
flames4me Member
Posts: 915 From: Woodbury MN / Hammond WI Registered: Jun 2005
One thing to remember if you can't weld but are able to bend, cut or otherwise shape sheet metal. There are ureathane panel adhesives available that create a nearly indestrutible bond. Many OEM panels are assembled with this stuff. A good alternative to welding, but I wouldn't trust it say on frame rails, just on non stressed sheet metal.
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08:02 PM
frankenfiero1 Member
Posts: 441 From: maryville TN USA Registered: Oct 2006
I am originally from L.I.N.Y. I have an '84 pretty much stripped, but an absolute rust-free space frame! It is my parts car and I am sending it to the crusher, but I will GLADLY give it to ANYONE who wants it! I hate to crush a perfect spaceframe, but I have no place to store it. I do ask one thing though, if you come from NY please bring some Sabrett hot dogs! I am only going to be able to keep the storage people at bay for a few more months.
------------------ carpe diem
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09:16 PM
PFF
System Bot
Nov 6th, 2007
Avery Montembeault Member
Posts: 392 From: NIskayuna NY Registered: Jan 2001
The rails are still intact as the holes are only about an inch wide and 3-4 inches long. Thanks for the advice given everyone. Frankenfiero, I wish I had the space, I'd jump all over that. I'm even in NY and could bring the hotdogs. My only reservation with fiberglassing is my garage isnt heated and its starting to get chilly outside.
[This message has been edited by Avery Montembeault (edited 11-06-2007).]
OH dear F-n goodness.....Looks like my trunk area- but not quite as bad. So what did the rest of the upper frame rails look like? My trunk sides are cut out. I plan on cutting some aluminum to fit, pop riveting the pieces together and to the car, and using silicone to seal the individual pieces so water doesn't leak.
On this car the upper frame rails were almost non existant so I used some 2"X2" square stock and welded in new ones before putting the body back on. Just have a bit more work to do then this fiero is ready fo its engine transplant. Dan