Shredded Rear Inner Wheel Well

[mgm1986]

Hoping some of you folks could point me in a good direction on how to fix a big tear in the rear inner wheel well and trunk floor on my '68 300 Convertible. Looks like a blowout maybe caused the damage. Pictures attached show the splits in the passenger side rear wheel well.

How would you go about repairing this?

 

[Big_John]

Hammer and dolly to push the metal down and together, then MIG weld.

 

[Hap]

Hoping some of you folks could point me in a good direction on how to fix a big tear in the rear inner wheel well and trunk floor on my '68 300 Convertible. Looks like a blowout maybe caused the damage. Pictures attached show the splits in the passenger side rear wheel well.

How would you go about repairing this?

View attachment 735404View attachment 735405

The tread peeled off the tire one night on the way home . A buddy met up with me at 11:30 at night with his car trailer . We got it back in place , but never got time to weld it up . I put new tires all the way around that weekend .
Hap .

 

[CBODY67]

For a good weld, might clean the area along the split really good so the weld bites well. Then reapply undercoat to the fixed areas in the wheel well and paint to the inside of the trunk.

Considering many Chrysler B-body convertibles were known to have splits at the coach joint where the Dutchman Panel and rear quarter panel interact, which is just above where that split is, one of my first thoughts was "body flex" harmonics. Then I read the thread.

CBODY67

 

[Samplingman]

That must have been some blowout! What does the underside look like? How long has it been like that? I'd be worried that body flex will make it worse. As said above, it is a fairly easy repair, hammer and dolly, then weld the seem shut, grind, paint undercoat.

 

[mgm1986]

@Hap - I still owe you a phone call to learn the history of this beautiful automobile!

@Samplingman - Hap commented above on what caused it, apparently happened when he was the owner of the car, but not sure when that was. If the tires I replaced are any indication, date coded over 20 years ago, that would suggest it's been like this for some time. The body flex is my concern as well cause I love the throttle!

I have a friend who has been welding for over 60 years, this will be a good opportunity for him to learn me up.

 

[Hap]

@Hap - I still owe you a phone call to learn the history of this beautiful automobile!

@Samplingman - Hap commented above on what caused it, apparently happened when he was the owner of the car, but not sure when that was. If the tires I replaced are any indication, date coded over 20 years ago, that would suggest it's been like this for some time. The body flex is my concern as well cause I love the throttle!

I have a friend who has been welding for over 60 years, this will be a good opportunity for him to learn me up.

I wanna say this happened in 99 or 2000 . I sold the car in 2017 . I always had intentions to weld it up , but I'm not that skilled at welding and I could never get it in to someone who was . I felt sick to my stomach when it happened . I was sure I took the quarter off . Pulled the car off the freeway and looked under it . The tread was wrapped around the rear axle and the wheel house was shoved into the still inflated tire.

 

[Gerald Morris]

The tread peeled off the tire one night on the way home . A buddy met up with me at 11:30 at night with his car trailer . We got it back in place , but never got time to weld it up . I put new tires all the way around that weekend .
Hap .

I had a VERY SIMILAR incident to yours, Election Night, 2016. Was driving a crew of 3 other men back from Maricopa County to Tucson, where we had all been knocking doors in a last minute GOTV drive, which we worked right up to the close of the polls. (we got doubletime for that) Heading SE on I-10 in our '66 Newport, which I'd bought for the family that March, I had to pass an 18 wheeler, so punched Mathilda up to 85 mph and started to pass... Suddenly, I felt/heard a LOT of vibration from the driver side rear wheel, which I knew good and well meant it chose that very time, just as I almost had passed that damned tractor-trailer, to disintegrate.

It did, as Tilly coasted down from 85 to about 70, as I sensibly kept my foot OFF either pedal, knowing how to drive when a car blows a tire as I do. The NOISE and VIBRATION caused the entire car, especially the rear end to shudder and fishtail a bit as the tire let go of its outer rubber, while I calmly coasted Mathilda, with the screaming 20-something boy in the back seat directly behind me, onto the shoulder of the road while hearing "THE TRANSMISSION EXPLODED!" repeatedly shrieked into my ear while this fool's colon did the same into his pants. We 3 Mature Men all just smiled, thanked the Almighty that He got us off the highway intact, with my shotgun complimenting me for a "Cool Job" of saving our lives. I just said, "let's see the damage and air out the car." I then told Boyo to take his shitty *** over into the field, clean himself as best he could, tossing him some rags from the trunk, and that he could work off his adrenaline by changing the tire under ADULT supervision.

Sure enough, that fragging tire busted the rear fender well open! I later beat the sheetmetal down, used some sheet aluminum to close up the gap left by irretrievably bent rusty steel, and used the aluminum, fiberglass cloth, roof repair resin, and aerosol caulking foam to close the fender. Our candidate didn't get into the Blight House that night either, but we got paid well, and I got some nice bonus $$ also.

Junior changed the tire well enough under my supervision, and we hit the road again about 25 minutes later, keeping the windows all the way down to Tucson.