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70 Challenger Trunk Pan Help

WY-Challenger

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I'm already working on the floor pans. Talk about a learning experience! I inherited this car, er project, :p and the previous owner had already cut out a portion of the trunk pans. He was working along the back using an air chisel, etc. He also had pans that I was mocking up to fit and realized they don't cover the whole way back to the tail light panel. The tail panel is in pretty decent shape and I'll try to save and repair it. But it seems like there's piece between the pans and tail panel. It looks to be shaped like a 'Z' almost. I looked online and I found the lowest piece (green in my photo) as the "Body Rear Crossmember". My purple lines represent the tail panel of course. So what might the piece be in yellow? Or will that have to be fabricated? Hope this rambling made sense!

Trunk1b.jpg

Trunk3.jpg
 

ogre

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I am just about to start that, I have an AMD Trunk pan and an OEM tail panel, the tail panel welds to the trunk pan as far as I can see so the yellow is what is left of the trunk pan or your pans are short. I am no expert so just what I am seeing as I prepare to do mine, plus there is a filler panel that screwed to the bottom of the tail panel but my car was hit in the rear so its hard to tell.
 

73Machine

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340challconvert

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I was lucky enough to have a clean tail panel; pic of the original spot welds from the lip of the trunk floor overlap. I used a two piece panel so I did not have to remove the tail panel. 2nd pic; overlap with new two piece panels. A little extra work to seam the two piece panels in the trunk. I was able to save the trunk extension on one side and use it to help position the panels. Cleaned up the tail panel lip and positioned the panels. Toughest part was to position the floor panels by the wheel wells. There is a way to install a one piece trunk floor by removing the center part of the rear (left to right) frame member. I also saw a member install a one piece trunk floor by cutting the left top quarter of the panel; maneuver the panel into the trunk, then weld the quarter top piece back in. With the options available, I felt it was easier to install the two piece panel. Your piece indicated in yellow is what is left of the original trunk floor with the lip at the back. I have plenty of pics of my own install and pictures of a full trunk install if they could be helpful to you. Good luck with what you decide.
 

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WY-Challenger

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Thanks for the input! That makes total sense. I know the previous owner acquired these trunk pans ~20 years ago and it appears things have improved a bit since then. I'm thinking these two-piece pans are just short. Perhaps they figured that most people have that last few inches in-tact, or would fab up a custom new piece to extend if necessary. Either way, despite the fact that I'm not excited about buying a whole other pan, I think it appears to be the path of least resistance for sure.
 

340challconvert

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I used AMD (2 panel) They had the L lip that fit well against the bottom of the tail panel. I bent out the trunk floor lip slightly to facilitate placement, then used a body hammer to gently bend the lip back where needed.
Toughest part was manipulating the pans to fit against the wheel well housings and adjusting the center seam. Used a lot of sheet metal screws to hold the panels in place. Once I liked the placement, I marked the bottom of the panel against the frame rails, placed marks on the panel top showing the placement and removed the panel to drill the spot weld holes. Worked out great. Spread the welds out to minimize warping. I used air and wet rags to cool after each weld. The panels tend to expand and then shrink due to the heat.
Good luck with the job!
So something like this AMD pan *should* go full length, right up to the tail light panel?

AMD Trunkpan
 
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