Spare Tire Well Rust - Trunk Pan

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cidVicious

cidVicious

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Hi Folks,

I started cleaning up the rust inside my trunk yesterday on my 72' Duster and found a few holes (not the ones that chrysler put there intentionally). The rust had eaten through the sheet metal in the bottom of my spare tire well (underneath the keyhole brace in the center).

I guess at least a few of you have run into this with your A-Bodies, but I haven't found anything in the forums that discusses this particular issue.

1.) Can you purchase aftermarket replacement pans for the spare tire well? If so, where?
2.) If you cut out the rusted area and replace it, should you cut out the entire well or just the smallest section where you can elimnate the rust?

I'd like to hear how other people have delt with this particular issue.

Thanks,
 
I think they used this place as a source for inner fender wells on the challenger they are building on Muscle Car TV (Powerblock). Either this or Yearone. I am impressed at their selection though and if anyone has dealt with them give us a heads up on how the metal is.
 
I got a replacement from Year One. Fit was nice, metal was weldable and not too thin. I made a mistake and got the one pc. That was a challenge to get in and fit, but not impossible. Do yourself a favor and get new rear side marker lights (or new gasket), tailight, and a trunk seal gasket ... all of which is where mine was leaking.
 
I haven't heard good things about Jim's so I would probably order the sheet metal elsewhere.
I'm at the same step you're at; I began sanding down the surface rust at the bottom of my spare tire well and noticed the metal was quite thin. I also noticed a bit of rust beside the gas tank hanger tabs the "j" bolts on the underside of the spare tire well fit into. Since I don't want a hole the appear in a couple of years after I've spent a lot on the rest of the car I'm picking up a trunk floor this afternoon and taking it over to the body shop. I have a choice of going with the entire trunk floor which is in two pieces down the middle or just getting the bottom of the spare tire well (wraps about an inch up the well). Considering the price difference between the two piece trunk floor and the bottom of the well is only $40, I'm getting the two piece trunk floor.

Here's a vendor that sells both the trunk floor and bottom of the well.
http://www.penstar.net/index.htm
 
Cut the well out and put a nice fuel cell in there. Unless your doing a resto it will cut costs n time.
 
Here's the two piece trunk floor....

trunk floor pieces.jpg

gas tank strap mounts.jpg

trunk floor.jpg
 
cidVicious said:
Hi Folks,

I started cleaning up the rust inside my trunk yesterday on my 72' Duster and found a few holes (not the ones that chrysler put there intentionally). The rust had eaten through the sheet metal in the bottom of my spare tire well (underneath the keyhole brace in the center).

I guess at least a few of you have run into this with your A-Bodies, but I haven't found anything in the forums that discusses this particular issue.

1.) Can you purchase aftermarket replacement pans for the spare tire well? If so, where?
2.) If you cut out the rusted area and replace it, should you cut out the entire well or just the smallest section where you can elimnate the rust?

I'd like to hear how other people have delt with this particular issue.

Thanks,
Click to expand...

If it was really small, I would just replace the small areas, maybe even just fill it with some lead if it was just pinholes.
 
Thanks again for all of the tips guys. I think I'm going to just repair the pin holes. At 200 lbs, I can actually stand and move around inside the spare tire well without falling through, so I don't think it can be that bad.
 
jim's is seconds to only layson's, and okay maybe michells's, as the worst mopar vendor.
 
Another "short cut" tip....if money is a problem. After the rubber plugs have been removed and the tire well grinded, you put a plastic sheet under the trunk area. Get a large sheet of fiberglass and soak in rasin, place evenly in the bottom of the well. When firm, razer blade out the drain plug holes. With remander of liquid rasin, pour evenly around outer edge. It will flow nicely down the sides filling uneven areas and out the plug holes giving a smooth finish when dried. When dry, just sand the drain plug edges.....paint and replace plugs.
Done....Out of site...and mind.
 
I've run into the same problem guys but does anyone have any pictures of the new metal, welded into place?
 
I bought the spare tire well panel from http://www.autobodyspecialt.com . I have lots of pictures of the entire process on my home computer I can post up later if you want. What I did was cut the entire section out about 1/2" up from the bottom, used #8 self tapping sheet metal screws to hold the new panel in place, then cut through the old and new metal with a saws all one section at a time. Then I aligned that section with Butt Welding clamps and Butt Welded the two pieces together. I am a new welder so this was not easy for me. Probably over 100 hours of labor total to completely finish the job (paint entire trunk body color, new weather strip, install gas tank etc). My spare tire hold down bracket was rusted also and they are not available so I welded the rust hold shut, ground it down smooth, and reused the bracket. My goal was to get the metal back as close to factory as I could. Keep in mind if you need to repair the rust you must cut back to clean metal in order to weld new metal in. I didn't think I would need to cut the whole bottom out. But once I wire wheeled it down I could see it all had to come out.

Here is what I started with (click on image to enlarge):

 
First thing I did was measure the depth (click on image to enlarge):



Then I used a Saws All and a Cut Off Wheel to cut all the old metal out. Notice valance toward the rear. I drilled the spot welds out in that area:



Here is the old metal that was removed:



This is the original spare tire hold down / gas tank support bracket (not reproduced yet):



Next I screwed the replacement panel in using #8 self tapping screws. Measure the depth of the panel at this point to insure it is located correctly. My old panel was sagging about 1/4" in the middle so you need to spend some time here and get it right:

 
Then with the panels screwed together and overlapping I marked a cut line and made the cut (thats me making the cut):



Next pull cut metal out of the way and install Butt Welding Clamps to align the two pieces. Don't be afraid to use a hammer to get the panels lined up. Take your time here:



Then tack weld between the Butt Weld Clamps. After tacking remove the clamps:



One welding tip is to flatten a copper pipe and wedge it on the other side where you are welding. The weld will not stick to the copper, it keeps the weld area cooler by disapating heat, and helps prevent burning holes in the sheet metal:

 
In this image the seam is welded all the way around (click to enlarge). Note how the 2 1/2" body plug holes are not cut in the new metal yet:



Here you can see the seam under the car. Note how the rear valance is plug welded to the bottom of the pan:



I used two cut off wheels placed into a 4 1/2" angle grinder to put the two slots into the bottom of the pan for the bracket. At this point I used a 2 1/2" inch high speed hole saw bit to cut the body plug holes:



One thing I did do before proceeding with paint is to test fit the new gas tank and make sure everything lines up correctly. I didn't want to find out there was a problem after painting:



After all welds were grinded smooth, welded again, then grinded (and repeat about 15 times) I took a wire wheel to the entire tunk area, masked off the car, and painted the trunk. I ordered the GG1 Forest Green paint in Enamel spray cans from www.towerpaint.com :

 
Here are some pictures of the finished job. New weather stripping installed, side marker brackets painted etc:



Other side:



Shot of the bottom of the car with the new pan installed and new gas tank. I went with semi gloss black on the bottom:



Here it is back on the ground after the two month surgery:



Since the pictures I have since detailed the jack and lug wrench, installed new body plugs, and put 5 gallons of gas in the tank and made a test run.
 
No problem. If anyone has any questions of would like to see other pictures let me know.
 
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