Technical Chevy style line deck lid gap

Is it common for there to be a significant gap between the rear lower edge of the deck lid and the rest panel? I spent the majority of my afternoon trying to tweak and reduce the gap with some success but was not able to entirely eliminate it without some further surgery involved. I'm just wondering if I'm trying to fix something that is inherent to these cars or if my kid got really tweaked. Any pics would be appreciated. Thanks

 

I cannot speak to the full history of the cars that I have worked on, but on more than one occasion, I have had to weld on one, or even TWO rows of 1/8" TIG welding rods to build up the lip and narrow the gap.

Weld, grind, repeat.

 

That's a great idea. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll try to take some pics to illustrate what I'm talking about

 

Mine is a 54 bel air ,but I had to do what Gimpy said

 

This is my 52 with the stock gaps, pretty even all the way around.

 

Thanks guys. Cosmic, your gap is much tighter than mine. I will do my best to get some pics this evening. When you use welding rod, do you just tack it to the edge of the door/ trunk skin or do you completely weld it on? I think mine is a bit more significant of a gap. I'm also wondering if I could build up the inner lip,of the rear panel with lead?

 

Welding on rod to the edge is a common way to fix your problem. When I do it I tack it on at even intervals and then just continue to tack until all the gaps between the welds are filled. Then commence to grinding......Then cover up with a skim coat of lead or filler.
I use a mig and the heat from it also allows me to bend the rod around curves with no problems. I have also doubled up rods to make the thickness that I need. You can go to any Home Depot or Lowes and get lengths of steel rood in various thickness.
You can also build up the panel edge as you have talked about but it will be a more visible area and you also have to make sure that your weather stripping still sits where it needs to be.
The pics show the back hood edge of my custom truck. I used 3/16" plain steel rod for this.
Hope this helps.
Torchie

 

That's how I roll, too.

 

damn cosmic you got lucky, every 49-52 trunk I looked at seemed to fit like crap from the factory.

I had to do do a combo of hammering, prying, welding and grinding to get mine where I wanted it. Even had to cut a slit in the frame at one point so I could pull it into line.

 

Torchio, thanks for the pics. This is exactly the info I needed. I had to cut the frame also as the rear lip was "buck toothed" and protruded past the tail pan. After fixing that there's a 1/2"-3/4" gap that looks terrible. Glad I know how to go after it now. Thanks for the good advice!

 

Picture of said gap

 

Welding on rod will take care of your problem.
I use a flat hand file to get the gaps even. Slower than a grinder but easier to control.
Torchie