Week #4

Weekend #4 found me removing the old trunk extensions. Man....what a pain in the a*s!
No matter how hard I tried to maintain the outer's "complete" integrity, I ended up bending something.

My plan was/is as follows: (anyone who has an opinion on this PLEASE chime in)

Although the outer quarter skins are to be replaced I thought it best to keep them in place to align/fit the trunk floor and extensions against to insure that the outer skins would have the best chance of being in the right place. However...since ALL of the new panels are repops, would it be best to work them all together for best fit?

Another thing...the new quarters I have are full. Now I don't need the whole quarter replaced. I could get by with the area immediately around the wheel-well and the lower rears just up to the first crease. Should I go the full skin or "patch" in the areas I need. I'm leaning toward patches. I'm worried the more of the full panel I use the more off it is due to being a reproduction.

Anyhoo, removing the old extensions had it's good moment. You see, I'm like most of the backyard Mopar guys...I've goofed around with different cars over the years, a 340, a killer street 383, the 440 in the RR, you know, cars that aren't too tough to come by or play with. This HEMI body as been sittin' in the garage for several years and I guess I have lost track of just what I had. While separating the extension from the outer skin, all kinds of crap starts falling out on my lap...old bolts, a fishing sinker, a skeleton key and....a HEMI exhaust manifold gasket. Now when that gasket hit my lap I stopped, stared at it for a second and thought to myself.....this is real, you are really going to own a HEMI car when your done, something that I would never had believed 15 years ago. Well, maybe not a Kodak moment, but hit me kinda funny.....I guess you had to be there.

The balance of the time was spent removing what few interior pieces were sill in the car, mostly stuff related to the roof, and pulling out the old headliner. Anybody ever heard of finding a b-cast sheet in the headliner? I thought I had read that several years ago (my friends say I'm nuts...no way) so I had a glimmer of hope in finding one there. No....nothing but that rotted insulation crap.