Sitrep on the trunk: in the words of Jeremy Clarkson: "it's all broken." As posted in a previous blog (sometime in december 07), I removed the carpet and found the rear seam to be more or less non-existent. I once again grabbed the trusty angle grinder, and set about playing surgeon. I severed off what i could, which involved removing a rather hefty piece of metal that runs across the rear seam. It had fallen victim to the plauge of what i call "cauliflower rust;" where the rust seems to split the metal open, and continuously fan it out in a puckering flaky mess... which in some ways resembles cauliflower.
With a now 2 inch wide chasm between the rear panel and the trunk floor, I had a bit of a conundrum; how do i span the gap, which is corrugated on one side, and flat on the other? since the floor is typically made using high-pressure press dies at the factory, I really couldn't duplicate it to factory spec. i did however, have a garage vice and some hardwood floor blocks (maple, no less). I set about measuring and marking out the shape of the corrugation into the 2 blocks, making a male and female portion to be mounted in the vice. Since it was a lighter duty vice, and a rather awkward bend, I had to use a slightly thinner guage steel so it would form better. I stripped the siding off a free shelving unit (properly treated and stripped of it's paint of course), and cut out a piece big enough to span the gap. I then marked out where to put the depression in the metal, and set to work.
I had to press it in 3 sections, because doing an off center press on a piece that long would curve it wildly because of tension. I tacked everything in, then secured it with some light welding
I also took this opportunity to sand down the tailgate and window cover, and give them a coat of paint.
Lastly, to use up the can of paint, I gave my drivers floor a light coat of black to tone it down a bit.
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