Thunderbird Convertible Package Tray Repair
The photo's below show step by step how to save your steel package tray.
Unfortunately, you need a good flip lid to do this.
The good news is that flip lids
are a lot easier to find,
are usually rust free and undamaged
and are significantly less expensive to purchase.
The car this tray is being repaired for is a 1963 Sports Roadster
and well worth putting the cost of this repair into.
The average solid, rust free package you might find for sale will likely
be in the $1,300.00 to $2,000.00 range, making this
repair a bargain.
I neglected to take photo's as I was taking the package tray apart
but I'll try and explain the process in detail
Please feel free to email me if you have any questions.
Be sure to read the complete instructions below the photo's. Good Luck!
Donor Flip Lid
| 
Package Tray apart
| 
Donor close up
| 
Rusty tray edge
|
Solid bottom
| 
Donor bottom cut off
| 
Tray rust cut off
| 
Tacked together
|
Welding complete
| 
Tacked underside
| 
Underside welded
| 
Top view welded
|
Don't forget this
| 
Tack ends
| 
Flatten Edges
| 
Clamp & Weld
|
All Welded
| 
Metal 2 Metal filler
| 
End view
| 
Blair Cutter
|
Rust Proof Gun
| 
Gun inserted
| 
Rustproofed
| 
DONE!
|
- The first step is of course to determine that your tray is too far gone
to simply repair with some minor welding and body filler. Usually, if they've got rust holes in them, in my opinion, they should come apart
and be thoroughly cleaned of rust inside by sandblasting. TAKE MEASUREMENTS before you take anything apart! (See illustrations 3 and 4).
- Be sure to wear your safety glasses when you're cutting and grinding, and the proper safety equipment for sandblasting and welding.
The first step in dissassembling a package tray is to sandblast the edges that are folded over and spotwelded on the underside. It's a lot easier to find the spotwelds after the paint is sandblasted away.
They are all along the front edge (that which faces the front of the car when it is in place) of the tray on the underside, and are approximately 2" apart.
They are also spaced about the same all along the back edge down in the "trough". You'll find 2 welds on each side of the "top arm slots", and one on each of the ends.
- There are a couple of types of spotweld cutters available, I like the "Blair" type (see picture) the best. It's not as easy to drill through both layers of metal with them as it is with the drill bit type of spotweld cutter.
If you do drill right through and end up with a 3/8" hole, not to worry, with a wirefeed welder it's pretty easy to fill a hole.
Drill out each of the spotwelds as described in #2 above with a 3/8" Blair (or other type) cutter by placing the guide pin in the center of the weld
and putting pressure on the drill. You'll most likely see puffs of orange rusty dust come through the cut once you're through the top
layer of steel. Stop drilling when you see the rust.
- Now you have to CAREFULLY pry up the folded over metal. Around the "top arm slots" you'll have to get them pretty much straight up, but along the "front" edge just lift it about 1/4".
The higher you lift it, the more distortion you'll cause to the top of the tray which you'll have to straighten out later with filler.
If you didn't get the guide pin of the "Blair" cutter in the center of the weld, you may find areas that are still stuck. You can drill it again but move the cutter at least 1/8" in the direction of where the weld is still stuck.
- CAREFULLY slide the top and bottom sections off one another. You will probably have to do a little swearing here, but it'll come.
- Scrape off the old tarpaper sound deadener, you may as well replace that too as long as you've come this far. You'll read what to use down below.
- Sandblast or scrape/sand as much of the rust as you can off the inside of both pieces. Sandblasting works best because it gets
down inside the folded over steel real well whereas sanding/scraping don't work very well. DON'T sandblast the flat areas of metal as you will likely warp the metal and make for a more difficult
finishing job once you get it back together, It's safe to sandblast the "bent" areas of metal, and this is where the damaging rust is anyways
- If you look carefully at the top/back portion of the tray in the area of the trough, and compare it to the donor flip lid, you'll see that
they're exactly the same in the trough and about 1/2" onto the top except the two ends where they are the same about 3 1/4" back.
You want to cut the back edge off right where they "stop being the same". Get it? Look at the photos.
You can cut it apart with a plasma cutter (best), or a die grinder. Nibblers and various types of shears available don't work for s_it in my opinion.
This cut ON THE PACKAGE TRAY will be approximately the thickness of the steel ABOVE where the metal starts to "rise"
(see illustration 19 )
- The cut ON THE DONOR FLIP LID can be slightly longer that the flat area of the tray you cut off. This is so that the donor piece can go UNDERNEATH the
package tray. Take measurements of the "height" and if necessary, grind a little more off the rise of the tray so your finished height is the same as original. If you have a gap, don't worry, the welding and filler will take care of that later.
But first on the donor tray, you have to sandblast in the trough area, and underneath on the 3 1/4" fold back from the back edge to locate the
spotwelds, and drill them out as you did on the package tray. No need to drill out the welds along the front underside or arm slots. Then take your plasma cutter or die grinder
and cut as close to the back edge (from the under side) as you can (see photo) and remove this part.
Now mark the top side of the flip lid where you will make your cut. It should be about 5/8" (this allows for "underlapping")
along the back and tapering to 3 1/4" on each end (see photo), and cut it apart.
- Once you get the height measurements right (see photo), hold the repair piece in place and from the top, "tack weld" ONE end.
Make sure you're still in alignment, and tack weld about 1/4 of the way from your first weld.
Check again, if OK, tack again, and again. That should hold it fine.
- Flip the piece over, and now you can grind away most of the excess metal from the donor piece, and proceed to finish welding all along the seam.
I prefer to skip weld or tack weld about 1/2" apart as this prevents distortion from the steel getting too hot.
The reason you do most of the welding on the back side is that you don't have to grind all the excess weld off. Look at the 4 tack welds you did on the top side, you have to grind most of that away.
- Before you can slip the two sections back together, you must grind off the "buttons" that the blair cutter left when you cut apart the spot welds. These will be in the trough area of the bottom section and also under the front edge of the bottom section.
Once they are ground smooth you can slip the two sections (top and bottom) back together.
- Pick up a roll of
65# SMOOTH rolled roofing at your local Home Depot or Menards or whatever building center you have in your area. They may have to order it, but DON'T settle for 15# or 30# roofing felt!
The smooth rolled roofing doesn't have all the granuals of sand embedded in it like normal roofing shingles etc, but it does have fine silica sand rolled up in it to keep the stuff from sticking to itself. You'd never be able to unroll it if it didn't.
By the way, it's WAY cheaper to buy a roll of this stuff than to buy the pre cut stuff from the vendors. Cut the piece you need off the roll
and take a wire brush and "brush" off all the silica sand, It's kinduv a PITA but it works. Don't forget to slip this back in before you weld everything back together.
- You'll be able to align the pieces using the holes from the spotweld cutter. When you get one of the front corners aligned, tap the raised edge down and clamp it firmly with a vise grip, and tack weld through the hole (see photo).
Go to the opposite end and do the same. Then you can tap down the entire length and clamp/weld all holes.
- Next you'll want to weld it back together in the trough area. I used some 3/8" nuts as "extensions" with the vice grips because of the depth of the trough (see photo).
- Fold over the ends of the repair piece and clamp/weld them.
- Make sure you "fill" all the holes with weld (see photo)., and then grind all the welds smooth. When all is said and done, it will look as if it was never touched.
- Now you're ready for filler work. I like to use "metal 2 metal" to fill the seams with first as it is waterproof. It's not so important on a part like this, but it makes sense to start a good habit and stick with it.
I'll leave the rest of the finishing up to you.
- After you get it painted and it's thoroughly dry, it's a good idea to squirt a bunch of rust proofing material inside and let it soak down into the seams you just put back together.
When the rust proofing material dries, wipe off the excess that oozes through with mineral spirits.
- Now it's as good as new, and will give you many years of service. It beats the heck out of putting on a fiberglass package tray!
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Thomas G. Maruska
Duluth, Minnesota
Legal Mumbo Jumbo: The photos and text herein are my own, are hereby copyrighted even though they may not all be labeled as such, are based on my own experience with restoration of various components of 1955-1966 Ford Thunderbirds
and the opinions and recommendations expressed are also my own and you need not agree with them)
Copyright © 2002 by Thomas Maruska
