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repairing a badly damaged trunk (aka boot) lid
The EArth is not flat, but the boot lid should be
Using a stud puller
The inside of the boot lid looked as though someone had been tossing concrete blocks on it. It had several large dents and was caved in across the entire surface. A few shared photos from members of the Austin Counties Car Club confirmed that the boot lit should be flat not concave. I began by using a stud welder; a kit I bought from either Harbor Freight or Eastwood (I don't remember which). It is a simple attachment that goes onto the head of a wire feed welder. Once the studs are tacked in place, a specially designed hammer (included in the kit) grips the studs and repeated blows causes the metal to be pulled up.
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Making the cut
It turned out that the stud weld system was not going to get the job done - the damage was simply too widespread. In order to get all the surface flat and level with each other, I cut this access hole. It was not an easy decision - this is about the only part of the car that did not any rust, so cutting out perfectly good metal was a decision I did not take lightly.
With this hole cut, I was able to use my port-a-power tool with an expandable jaw attachment inside the boot lid and pry the surface up. I placed a piece of 1x4 about 8 inched long under the jaws where they contacted the outer skin so they would not create raised dents on the exterior of the boot lid. |
on the level
After many careful pryings with the hydraulic action of the port-a-power, I managed to get all the panels back in shape and level with each other. I used a level to check my progress, laying it across the panels width-wise and length-wise. Be careful not to overdo it or you will raise it too high and it will be very difficult to work the metal back down. I also used a pry to raise some of the smaller spots. Again, I used a piece of 1x4 under the pry bar so that I would not push the surrounding metal down. The wooden block spreads out the downward force. After I was satisfied with the results, I went back around each panel and hammered out any high spots using a body hammer and dolly. Next I will weld in a patch panel to fill the hole I cut.
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