DarkNight69

I just bought a 69' about two weeks ago and thought I had looked the car up and down, floorpans, inside of the quarterpanels etc but much to my dismay today found some small spots in the trunk that had rusted through. There is carpet laid in the back cut to match the trunk and I hadn't even thought to look under it. It has several small holes that go through and lots of surface rust around the trunk, what are you suggestions for tackeling this situation?

lunarweasel

Try crawling underneath the back of the car and studying everything. Make sure there is no rust in the frame etc. You basically need to grind any rust to bare metal and start over with primer / paint.

DarkNight69

So to fix the holes then I need to grind out all the rust then weld in a new trunk piece correct?

Carlos Pineiro

Be sure to remove the gas tank and protect the fuel line before grinding anything in the trunk. If the bolts to the tank are rusty (they probably are if there are other rust spots) soak them overnight in liquid wrench or any penetrating oil first. Avoid making sparks getting the tank out.

IF the tank is rusted on top, a new one is $100. I highly recommend getting a nice, clean new one rather than derusting the old one, unless the old one only has little to no surface rust.

There are 1969 trunk floor sections available from vendors (check the online catalogs like Mustangs Unlimited or California Mustang) if you need to replace them.

Most trunk rust is from the original natural rubber gasket in the deck lid drying up and letting water in. It may look like it works, but it might have shrunk. Replace this gasket.

Check trunks in this site's search engine. Some people here have built cool custom trunks.

I changed my tank about 12 years ago. It was worth it.

Good luck.

CP

DarkNight69

Thank you for the help I will definitely have to tackle this problem soon then. The tank looks like it may have been replace already a few years back because it is in decent shape just the trunk itself needs some help.

lunarweasel

How does your frame look?

4reboy

I had rust in the trunk that my body shop had to cut out and fab up some patch panels for, here's some pics

JMD

On the bright side, it is way better to have rust in your trunk than to have junk in your trunk....

DarkNight69

The frame is good not rusted just in the trunk area. My honest guess is maybe there was a leak in the hose when you pumping gas that the fuel goes into the tank and that it leaked gas into the trunk and it just ate away at it because there was carpet in the trunk and a piece cut to fit over the gas tank and the piece over the gas tank has a smell of gas to it.

sjdwales

ouch, looks like ur doing good work