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914World.com _ 914World Garage _ How to Straighten Trunk Lid?

Posted by: bkrantz Oct 20 2019, 08:27 PM

So among the many issues with my 73 2.0 is a twisted trunk lid. The left rear corner sits about 1/2 high, and the rear edge turns up about 18 inches from the corner. The brace inside also has been dented and shows previous work.

Any way to straighten the rear edge, and un-twist the corner?

Attached thumbnail(s)

Posted by: mepstein Oct 20 2019, 09:27 PM

Is the hinge broken?

Posted by: bbrock Oct 20 2019, 10:32 PM

I had the same thought about the hinge but you can see the twist in the pic. I would start by addressing that brace. Depending on the work that was done on it, you may have to cut out the repair and fab a patch to put everything right. I had to do something kind of similar on my front lid where it was kinked and then rusted inside, but it still fit reasonably well. http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?s=&showtopic=307290&view=findpost&p=2741640

Once you have the twist out and it is laying reasonably well, I found it pretty easy to reshape the contour to match the body lines of the quater panels. Heree's a link to my process. It only shows the front, but I did it on the rear lid too.
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?s=&showtopic=307290&view=findpost&p=2750912

Posted by: rgalla9146 Oct 21 2019, 07:19 AM

What does the trunk floor look like ?
The bottom of the rear skirt looks bent and the taillight area too.
Can you borrow a good rear lid to evaluate the surrounding area ?

Posted by: dr914@autoatlanta.com Oct 21 2019, 09:27 AM

absolutely the place to start, borrow a good straight deck lid, make sure that it aligns perfectly with your body, and if so have a good bodyman straighten yours. These deck lids are so rare these days (most are rusted) that we need to save everyone we can

QUOTE(rgalla9146 @ Oct 21 2019, 06:19 AM)

What does the trunk floor look like ?
The bottom of the rear skirt looks bent and the taillight area too.
Can you borrow a good rear lid to evaluate the surrounding area ?

Posted by: IronHillRestorations Oct 21 2019, 11:13 AM

If you know the decklid is tweaked, it might be worth your while to consult a autobody shop with restoration experience. A good body man might be able to get it back in shape. You might be able to do it too, but if you have no experience, you might make it really bad

Posted by: 914GT Oct 21 2019, 03:25 PM

My trunk lid had this problem but not as severe as yours. Both rear corners were turned up and not meeting flush with the body. I found the problem to be caused by the factory injected urethane foam put between the sheet metal and the inner bracing along the back edge. This foam appears to expand with age and/or exposure to moisture and forces the trunk lid sheet metal away from the inner structure. This causes the lid to bow and pull up at the outside corners. I don’t know of an easy fix and trying to force it into position may buckle the reinforcing on the the bottom of the lid. What I did is remove the outer skin completely from the inner bracing to remove all of that foam. This also let me clean up the metal and weld up some rust holes. I treated it with a rust converter then sprayed epoxy before putting the two sections back together. I used a door skin tool to roll the outer skin around the inner brace and finished with some light hammer/dolly work. This brought the back corners back down to the original shape. Maybe yours has some other issue or prior damage but it looks similar to the problem I was having.

Posted by: bkrantz Oct 21 2019, 08:09 PM

Thanks, everyone. To answer a few questions:

The trunk is not on hinges, just propped in place to show the bend.

Yes, the rear trunk floor is rusted through, and probably has been for years.

Yes, the rear panel is not straight, probably from some mild impact, from a previous installation of a "PORSCHE" filler plate between the lights, and a hacked-in electric trunk release.

Looking closer, and poking harder at the trunk brace, I found some very thin spots from rust, including where the locking post bolts on.

So the brace needs work. Can this be removed?

Posted by: bkrantz Oct 21 2019, 08:24 PM

One more thing: it will be a challenge to borrow a trunk lid in any condition, at least from anyone nearby. I may just be eye-balling the correct curve, and matching the lid edge as I also straighten the read panel.

Posted by: Literati914 Dec 1 2019, 09:09 PM

The rear trunk on my project is lifted like this on the passenger's side (maybe not quite as severe), I noticed today that there's only one roller installed on a hinge (driver's side hinge) and it's horizontal torsion "wire" that runs across the back - is in place. But no roller or torsion wire installed for the passenger's side. The PS torsion wire is there, but not sitting under the roller obviously. Could this be causing the lift on the PS ?

Posted by: Front yard mechanic Dec 2 2019, 07:19 AM

Easy fix just put a 2x4 under the right side and push down

Posted by: dr914@autoatlanta.com Dec 2 2019, 10:59 AM

I would NEVER try to bend a trunk lid until you verify that it is indeed bent, and without a substitute to compare it to, would not even bend it then. Way too valuable and hard to come by rust free ones.

Posted by: Literati914 Dec 2 2019, 12:46 PM

ok well, I ordered a torsion roller for the passenger side.. will install that and the torsion rod and have a look where it sits then. My lid is not rust free, got some work to do there too, so.. I may resort to a 2x4 after all .