I was getting ready to replace the tail panel on my 54 Chev tonight, and decided it would be wise to adjust the gaps on the decklid first, since this is the reference for the tail panel. I messed with it for over an hour, trying to get the damn deck lid to fit properly, with no luck. The top edge sits too low, and the bottom edge sticks out too much, and hits the tail panel. Both bottom corners stick out about 1/4" away from the body. There are 4 bolts that hold it on. The holes in the hinges are slotted, and the bolts thread into some sort of a block that's sandwiched into the deck. The blocks move around a little bit. So, there is a lot of adjustment back and forth, and in and out. I tried adjusting the latch, in hopes that would help. Nope. I even tried putting washers between the hinge and the deck lid, to try and shim it up. But that didn't work. I'm a machinist by trade, and body work is something I'm learning as I go. I just thought I'd ask here, before I get out the hammers and dollies and start "adjusting" my deck lid. Can someone please give me some pointers.
Adjusting oftentimes includes bending or warping the lid a bit. Use your bodyweight and some wooden blocks. From your description, It sounds like your lid needs some tweaking as wll as some hinge adjustment.
If you remove the lid and free up that threaded block inside the lid you will see it has more adjustment left there... A tip: If the lid sits HIGH at the edge nearest rear window panel- you can open the trunk lid and gently force it UPWARDS a little till it "gives".... This will effectively suck that end DOWNWARDS. If after adjustin it forwards all you can get it to move and the rear edge is still; sticking out -you may have to force that rear edge forwards by placing a 2x4 across the rear and evenly pushing it with your shoulder- till it gives in a tad.....
Pictures would help. Bending should be saved for a last resort. One general rule when adjusting any opening panel, is to remove the latch. Then start at the back of the opening. Get the gap even at the cat walk (the panel between the deck and the back glass) And even side to side. If you need to move the deck to one side, loosen the top bolts on the hinge to deck, and leave the bottom snug, then push it to the side and re snug the bolts. Once you have a fit at the rear gap and the rear corners then you can work towords the rear of the car. This is the point where you may need to bend the deck lid some to get the bottom flush. This should get you started in the right direction.
you are assuming that it lined up and all gaps where right when it left the factory you have to make everything fit
Yep that is correct- I [and others here] have worked on hundreds of old cars and I can say that some of the factory fit of panels is pretty bad. Until the 60's they did not have very good fit and even then some were pretty shaky still. People bought transportation back then not precision built Volvo's-etc with that "roll a ball bearing around the door gaps" -fit we see on some high end cars nowadays....
The Jalopy Journal
