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Mon Jul 08, 2013 5:38 pm

Hello everyone, I need a bit of help with the engine lid on my 63' rag.
This is my first resto and still have a lot to learn.
I have repaired the bottom and the inside panel, which can go back together now, but i am unsure what to do with the hinge panel?

engine lid

inner panel

I don't have any good pics of the damage, but it is where the hinge's attach to the strengthening panel, these should be nicely spot welded, mine have rusted, broken and have both been welded in the past and are now quite a mess.
I scored this panel with the idea of completely replacing the old one, but it is from a much later model engine lid and is a little bent as well.

detail of the ends of the hinge panel

so what would you do?

Tue Jul 30, 2013 3:59 pm

maybe some pictures of the damage would help, or am I the only person crazy enough to fix a lid as bad as this?!

I have separated the donor inner panel from the lid panel

as you can see these are in much better nick

so as far as I have figured my options are,
a; grind down the shitty old welds and hope there is enough metal to hold everything together.
b; cut just the hinge area and let it into my inner panel
c; or undo all the spot welds and replace the whole inner panel.
Some help please?
thank you.

Thu Aug 01, 2013 2:36 am

If the piece where the hinge is spot welded is similar to your lid I would drill off the hinge itself and then cut out that section from the donor panel.
Use that to repair your lid and once ground up re attach the hinge, probably best to do that on the car.
The other thing you can do is to make the repair piece from scratch and then use the donor hinge to finish it off.

Thu Aug 01, 2013 5:38 pm

Thanks for that mate, sounds like a plan.
I guess the trick will be keeping the lid in shape and the hinges in the correct place/angle, maybe some kind of jig is called for?

Thu Aug 01, 2013 8:16 pm

dont overthink it mate. Its only a 63 decklid.

Thu Aug 01, 2013 9:41 pm

no it's a 65 lid I think, should have the wide number plate light on it.
This my first resto, I've never done anything like this before so I'm just looking for a little advice before I stuff it up, trying to learn the right way to fix things, I'm not the slap some bog on mate, she'll be right kinda guy.
but yes maybe a jig is a bit overboard :lol:

Fri Aug 02, 2013 1:05 am

63Ragtop NZ wrote: Thanks for that mate, sounds like a plan.
I guess the trick will be keeping the lid in shape and the hinges in the correct place/angle, maybe some kind of jig is called for?

Just do the repairs and then put the lid on the car, even duct tape will hold it in place while you weld the hinges back on from inside the engine compartment.
Pretty easy really.

Mon Aug 19, 2013 8:16 pm

Mon Aug 19, 2013 8:17 pm

Well I took the easy way out and just ground down the old welds, which means I made some holes, made some very small patches and welded up a few other small holes, then smoothed it all out.

pretty happy with it, a bit of paint and it should look as good as new.

thanks for all the suggestions and help guys

Angus

Mon Aug 19, 2013 8:19 pm