Day 39 Inner wheelhouse 2 / Tail section 1

Today Travis got right to work on finishing the patching for the passenger side (see previous post). He did have cut a bit of the fender out of the way so he could access both sides of the wheelhouse.

I began work on the rear tail section. I removed the lower valance by using a spot weld drill bit. I pre drilled the holes with a 1/8” bit, while this proved to be much faster, the pilot hole was too big so the bit would move around while trying to drill. This left for somewhat of a messy removal. I would not suggest this tactic if you plan on keeping either panel. I, fortunately, am replacing both so it doesn’t really matter. After the panel was removed I found some pretty serious rust damage on the rear frame on either side. I will have to figure out what I am going to do about this before I can move forward.

Day 38 - Inner Wheelhouse 1

Today we removed the rear differential and leaf springs. Now we could take a look to see what needed to be done on the inner wheelhouse. The Chargers rear wheelhouse (or inner fender) is split right down the middle lengthwise creating and inner wheelhouse and an outer wheelhouse. Due to the water getting into the trunk, the rust climbed up the inner wheelhouse about 2 inches or so. I could get 2 new inner wheelhouses, but considering that 80% of the wheel house is still good, it makes sense to save the $250 and patch the hole with sheet metal. I am going to be replacing the outer wheelhouse on both sides as they are not only rusted through on the bottom but also along the outer edge that contours the Quarter Panel.

Travis was left to create 3 pieces to patch into the area between what was left of the inner wheelhouse and the new trunk pan. Travis first created a pattern out cardboard that would fit, and then transferred it to sheet metal. Once cut out of the sheet metal, he then cleaned up the edges on the grinding wheel, used the pneumatic hole puncher to create holes for plug welds and finally flanged the inner wheelhouse so the patch panel would fit flush against it. Travis will need to repeat this process 2 more times on this side to finish the patch work.