Trunk Floor Extension

[nicka]

I'm trying to figure out the front portion of the left trunk floor extension that butts up against the outer wheel house.  Its for a 71 Barracuda.  I pulled the trunk floor pan back so as to follow the shape.  Looks like the slit portion is hitting the outer wheel house first. Is the intension to lift the slit portion up against the outer wheel house? Attaching pics.

[Rich G.]

 I don't think so. That's probably how they could get that bend on it. Depending on who's part it is , some fit better. Either way a lot of massaging to get them to fit nice.

[soundcontrol]

Mine was like that also, I had to modify the extension a lot, I thought the AMD pieces would fit better with each other.
But that corner was easy to fit, I hammered the corner down a bit then clamped it in place towards where the the wheelhouse corner meets the trunk floor,
then continued clamping, hammering and adjusting, it worked out fine in the end.

[nicka]

My first thought was a defect.  I also bought the outer wheel house from AMD and didn't come close to lining up. 

[soundcontrol]

My first thought was a defect.  I also bought the outer wheel house from AMD and didn't come close to lining up.

Same here, here is mine after all the "massaging", had to cut both the wheelhouse and the extension and weld it up again. Wheelhouse I can understand, it's a convertible and I'm using a coupe wheelhouse.

[70 Challenger Lover]

I'm working on mine now and I can tell you, most metal requires fitting. Some fit well out of the box but of all the AMD stuff I've used, it required the most fitting for sure.

I took a different approach on my assembly. My car suffered a minor rear end collision but because everything was so badly rusted, I couldn't be certain what moved around. I started with new rails welded to the back seat panel. New spring perches next. Then I added new wheel houses but purposely did not weld the flange of the back seat panel to the wheel houses. I wanted to be able to move the rails up or down a fraction of an inch if needed. They are still rigid but I can easily flex them up or down half inch. The wheel houses locked in the trunk hinge assemblies so I'll do the Dutchman panel next.

The reason I wanted some give in the trunk floor height was I noticed that when I test fit the new quarters, the trunk floor and tail panel seemed a touch high. It probably is but later, as I fit the quarters on better, I'll temporarily clamp in the trunk drop offs, floor, tail panel and readjust everything. I'd like to even test fit the trunk lid too. Once I'm happy with everything, I'll go back to the flange where the back seat side lip meets the wheel house sides and lock that in so the trunk height is perfect.

So why am I doing all this? Even if the trunk floor height were perfect, which is a huge gamble to just weld in, I still wouldn't know if the trunk floor needed to go forward or backward a half inch. I could match it up at the curve of the wheel well and assume the length is good but the way I see it, if I had to adjust for poor fit, I'd rather do it at the wheel house curves than at the back edge of the trunk where the tail panel attaches. After all, my new wheel house might not be as precise as the originals and I could never be absolutely certain I got them in just the perfect alignment. In fact, I assume the curve at the trunk floor will require fitting, which won't be hard.

To me, all the areas that fit here are critical but one area I cannot force to fit is where the quarters and tail panel come together and still let the trunk lid close right. I need that area perfect and I can massage everything else around that.

If you have your original trunk floor and tail panel in place, then this explanation doesn't help but I'm assuming if you are doing wheel houses and drop offs, you're doing it all. I guess the point I could have made much shorter is it's only metal and bends easy. Make it do what you need it to do and you'll end up with a nice result.

[jimynick]

Yeah, what the lads said. I used all AMD and the wheelhouses fit like $hite. When I called AMD's shop, the guy said "just throw them in and hang the 1/4 and go from there" WTF? If you put the wheelhouses together at their matching points they were off an inch in their relation to the outer 1/4, so don't be too surprised here and, as the boys have said, do what you need to, to make them fit. A box of Clecos can be your friend here by the way!