My donor car has signs of a similar tear forming.

Just weld it back up? Is there a fix?

Thanks!

Click to view attachment

Odd place to have a stress crack, but perhaps they were using it to brace putting in or taking out the Engine Lid torsion spring bars?

Probable okay to clean & weld up, but also check around that area for other damage.


Tom
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Happens a lot in that area since its getting pulled from the side and the metal only gets thinner as it corrodes. You can see how the metal is doubled up in front of the tear so all the flex goes to that spot. Cut to clean metal, weld in a patch and grind it smooth.

Simple enough - thank you gentlemen

I've been doing a lot of repair on my car in this area and have noticed a possible mode of failure related to the trunk hings that would be hard to detect. The middle layer of the sail panel is welded to the outside of the inner wheel well right behind where the trunk hing pivot attaches on the inside. This would provide a lot of strength and rigidity for the trunk pivot attachment and is also a common place to rust out undected because it is buried in a deep recess and covered with seam sealer. Once that fails, then you could expect more flexing of the inner wheel well wall behind the trunk pivot and those stresses could ripple out to other areas. So patch what you see there, but thoroughly poke around with a screw driver to make sure everything related to the hinge is solid and attached.

Here's a pic of my repair that is still in progress. If you look closely, you can see a couple welds on the sail panel flange that marke the ends of a section that was rotted away and replaced. Under that is a patch for the metal that sits behind where the trunk pivot needs to go.

Click to view attachment

I think that was caused by a failed hinge console.
Continued use of the lid caused the torsion loaded jagged remnants of the console to tear and bend and pivot on the damaged area.

I don't see how that area would get stressed any other way.

Thanks