The rest of the story now... with new paint on quarters and vinyl trim area and rear deck, the trunk lid naturally didnt match up very well. So off comes the spoiler to clean things to take to the body shop for matching paint.
Under the spoiler were gawd awful holes, each one drilled 3 times, probably never measured once at all. They were so goobered up some of the attachment screws underneath were driven in at angles.
Body shop says $350 to clean up the holes, weld over from inside the panel some of them, refinish inside and outside of lid and refinish spoiler.
With new lids at $140, and a painting cost of $150 (no body work needed on new) then remount spoiler, am I better off buying a new one? The old one fits perfectly but sure got butchered.
Any ideas on which way to go?


:eek: http://www.brainerd.net/~knudsen/69RS/DCP02571.JPG
http://www.brainerd.net/~knudsen/69RS/DCP02572.JPG

http://www.brainerd.net/~knudsen/69RS/DCP02575.JPG

Jim,
If you can't see it when finished, why spend a lot of time and money on it. I am pretty sure you are building a real nice driver but correct me if I am wrong. The holes look bad but the spoiler will hide them so it is a judgement call. If the spoiler will go on correctly and the holes don't leak, you can just run it IMHO. You could use some dum-dum if money is an issue. If you have the bucks, fix the original. Avoid repro unless it is the only option.

They absolutely must be sealed up after the spoiler is back on so keep that in mind. MANY trunk pans have been sacrificed in order for us restorers to learn to weld inside a trunk.

-Mark.

Yeah, since it fits perfectly and all that needs to be done is to weld the holes up, I'd want to keep it. It's gonna get painted anyway. Unless there are problems getting to those holes from the inside in order to fix them properly, I'd keep it.
I'm doing my damnedest to keep all the sheetmetal that came with my car because it all fit great. I'm more worried about final fitmant.
Good luck Jim!!

Thanks Mark and Joe, thats kinda the way I was leaning from all the horror stories I read in here on retro fit parts. Think I will stay with what I have. My body guru is very good and since I pay his full shop rate ($40/hr) I get pretty good service from him. His son really liked working on my camaro, the dad is pretty much front office, bids, phone etc. The kid loved the free pizza and soda's I brought in when I picked up my car. I tell you, that kind of offering goes such a long way to a better relationship with a good body man or mechanic.
Im gonna keep the lid I have and keep it original. It will be done by next Wed. that gives me time to get the inside done too.
graemlins/beers.gif

No body work needed on a repro? It took three lids from Classic industries to get one that was acceptable in the fit dept. It was wavy and needed to be skimmed and blocked to be straight. $350 sound steep to fix your old lid. Find a used one,they are not that hard to find. Theres a NOS lid in the parts for sale section here :eek:

Edit: i didn't notice that $350 included refinish both sides and mount spoiler.Thats a good deal.

Thats what I thought Chris , thanks for the confirmation on values for the work. Good to know Im getting great pricing.
graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Hey Jim, I agree with the other posts, try to save it, unless the underside factory holes have been tadered, then I would get a replacement. I had the same problem with mine, It was rusty between the inner and outer panels so I replaced it with an aftermarket, It was primed off the car and then mounted, only to find that it was about 1/16 narrower at the bottom under the spoiler, but because it was being painted a dark color (seams aren't that noticible) and under the spoiler, I decided to use it, but with a white color the body seams would have stood out too much. so try to save it. Hope this helps Jim...Mike smile.gif

I would try to save as much originality as possible. IT FITS, bottom line. The repairs will be covered, I think most would be happy. graemlins/waving.gif

I'm going to go against the majority and say I would just buy a repo. I had a similar situation, and opted for new Goodmark trunklid...it fit perfect, is as good or better quality than the original, and it only cost $120.00. A lot of original trunklids have hidden rust in the seams once you really tear into them. Just my opinion.

Gambitt

Hey Click,

Nice license plate! I got my plate before they allowed you to personalize. Sounds like your body guy is not only reasonably priced, he is very prompt. I'm paying $25/hour shop rate, but it's whenever they have a chance to work on it. My car has been ready for paint since early March. They have been too busy to get to it. graemlins/beers.gif