update on Rich's build

[RICH MUISE]

Thanks guys!
Redshoes, yes I made it, but no extras. LOL..it took me a month of spare time to make this one. I kept the wooden buck I made to do it for a few years, but it eventually bowed and twisted so it got tossed. I think your the first one that's ever commented on it that I can remember, so thanks for that.... it was alot of work..mostly because it was my first ever ouside custom panel. I had made the inner wheelwell flanges/doglegs on both sides, but they didn't have to look as good as an outside panel.
One suggestion if you are going to do it, (and I know I'm biased,but...) most of the ones I've looked at just didn't look right because they started at the seam line under the tailights and went almost straight across. My panel actually is about 1/2" away from the rear fender at that seam line and wraps around blending in a few more inches later. The big diference is the bow in that back rollpan. Put a straight edge on your trunklid on the verticle and you'll see it's got alot more curvature than you would think. My rollpan comes pretty close to duplicating the trunk curvature. Some better pics than my avatar...first one is just after I sprayed the basecoat, and the second one shows the curvatues a little better.

[RICH MUISE]

I've been working on the electric trunk release. I was hoping to get everything to fit inside the trunk lid itself, but there is just not enough space in that area around/above the trunk latch. I ended up mounting the solenoid on the center trunk lid brace. I've got it hooked up mechanically, and put a temp. 12v power source on it to check out the action, and it works great. I'm in process of running the wiring up next to the rear seat. I think I'm going to also run a pull cable to a relatively accesible area in case the solenoid quits. I'm getting to old to crawl in the trunk thru the back seat to manually pull the latch, and besides, as hefty as the solenoid seems to be made, it is made in Taiwan (remember the other China?)
Where I'm mounting the switch is a pretty thick panel, so I went looking for a different momentary switch that would install there. Most switches, of course, are made to mount on a thin walled panel. I had pretty much given up on finding something when I spied an ignition starter push button switch. Has over an inch of threaded post, so perfect. A little overkill, for sure, but it's a momentary switch that can be mounted on a thick panel. Hopefully problem solved. I'll let you know how that works out.

[RICH MUISE]

The trunk release keeps blowing fuses. I narrowed the problem down to the mentioned switch I'm trying to use. Even with the solenoid disconnected, and just a test light plugged in, it blew the fuse on the first or second try. I'm sure there are no shorts anywhere, so finally I tried the switch that came with the kit and it worked no problem for a dozen or so tries. I can't use that switch because it won't mount on a thick panel, so I just picked up another one (same as first) to give it another shot. Man I hate dealing with made in China crap.

[RICH MUISE]

It was the switch. Replaced it for another of the same and everything works great. Spent an hour or so adjusting the trunk lid and latch...got it much closer, but still a ways to go. I don't have the seal on it yet. I'm guessing after the seal is installed, it will help with poping the trunk lid open enough to clear the latch after it's popped. If not I may have to install some type of a spring afair. I do have to reroute the electric wiring going to the right side tailight, as where I have it now was interfering with being able to position the catch for the latch. After the issue with the switch, it reinforced my idea of having a back up cable release that I can reach from the back seat without having to crawl into the trunk.

[RICH MUISE]

Some more time spent on trying to alighn the trunk lid. I'm running into problems similar to what Bob and a few others have talked about recently with the trunk lid...it's by no means going to be a perfect alignment. My biggest problem at this point is trying to get the front corners(near window) low enough. I think their at their lowest point right now, but still need to go down further...as I'm sitting here and resting/typing, I'm thinking I need to raise the rear corner (tailight area). I've already figured out it's in the triangulated bolt pattern on the hinge mount...not only an up and down adjustment, but it can be rotated as well...and of course everytime you adjust one area it goes out somewhere else. I've got to solicite an extra pair of hands before I can get it much better though.

[John Palmer]

Rich, It's not going to help you aligning your "already painted" deck lid, but at the Ford dealership I worked at every body man, had a selection of 2 by 4's and 4 by 4's.  By bending, tweeking, and using a very heavy hammer and block of wood they would just massage the alignment fit on door's, hoods, and trunk lids into submission.  It's sounds crude, and it really is, but a good body man can work wonders, and with a very few tools.

[RICH MUISE]

I did my doors a little with that method, even after paint, just have to be careful. Had I to do over again, I would have paid more attention to alignment before I took the car apart. I'm still trying to get the front corners of the trunk down flush with the surface of the back fender. That's the biggest problem. I may have to remove the trunk lid/hinges so I can elongate the slots in the mounting bracket. I can hardly wait til I start the front end, lol  NOT!

[John Palmer]

I did my doors a little with that method, even after paint, just have to be careful. Had I to do over again, I would have paid more attention to alignment before I took the car apart. I'm still trying to get the front corners of the trunk down flush with the surface of the back fender. That's the biggest problem. I may have to remove the trunk lid/hinges so I can elongate the slots in the mounting bracket. I can hardly wait til I start the front end, lol  NOT!

Just a thought?  Maybe you could accomplish the same result by "bowing up" the center of the trunk lid between the hinges, which would lower the corners?  I had the same problem fitting the trunk lid on my '32 Roadster, before paint.  Hard to explain, and harder to give good advice without seeing it in person.

Good luck, very nice car.

[RICH MUISE]

It's equally above all the way across..not much, maybe 1/8"-3/16, it's just frustrating because it looks so simple to adjust. I'm playing appliance repair man this morning...after 4 hours of working on our fairly new washing machine, I'm back to square one on that also. (won't drain). Oh well, at least the mailman just delivered my ebay bought set of used Ford motorcraft coils....they look almost new.

[canadian_ranchero]

get a ohm meter and check the coils,make sure they are good.i checked 20 coils to get 10 good ones

[RICH MUISE]

Care to lead me thru that on how to do it...remember your talking to a novice electrical guy. I've got a multi meter..just haven't used it.

[canadian_ranchero]

tomorrow after work i will try to take some pictures on how to do it

[RICH MUISE]

That would be awesome. I may go out of town for a day or two...trying to find a roadtrip location where it ain't raining!

[RICH MUISE]

Finally got my trunk adjusted. I decided just to get a little more agressive with it...you know, the Tool Time gorilla grunt thing....Anyway I'm happy where it's positioned now, I did get it down flush and centered..even played with a towel covered 2 x 4 to tweek it a bit. The gaps are centered, but not necessarily even due to differences in trunk opening compared to trunk lid. Nothing can be done about that short of reshapping the trunk periphery way back when I was doing body work...and that wasn't going to happen on this build.
Now I can finalize the trunk latch/release install, and move on to other stuff up front.

[RICH MUISE]

Got the trunk release solenoid finished up. I also added a manual cable I can reach from the back seat in case of dead battery, etc. Button is on the side panel behind driver's door. I am planning on upholstering the trunk if I live that long, so the solenoid wiring will be hid eventually. I got the coil covers polished up, and just started pulling the coil packs, etc. Hopefully will know in a short time if there is any issues there.