1964 Chevy Malibu SS - Rust- B-Gone

Inside the trunk, we mapped out the area to be replaced with a felt pen. With a rotary cutting wheel, the area was carefully cut. The entire area of this trunk did not need to be replaced, so the area that was being removed was somewhat smaller than the new panels, which were trimmed to fit. Don't be tempted to use an air chisel to trim the floor-the cut edge will be far less accurate. Air chisels (if used properly) will work well in some applications, such as separating parts of the trunk floor from frame sections on unibody Camaros and Novas.

This rusted old floor has been completely removed. On Chevelles or Impalas, be careful not to cut into the rear framerails when removing the trunk floor, and on Camaros or Novas, watch out for the rear longitudinals (unibody frame areas). With the rusted panels removed, we cleaned off the edges from the existing floor with a grinding disc so that we could get a good weld between it and the new panels.

The Goodmark kit includes the floor, body-mount braces, and gas-tank braces, which are all Electro Deposit Primer (EDP) coated for long life. The EDP process works on the principle that materials with opposite electrical charges attract each other. During the application process, the airborne paint particles are drawn with electric current to the metal and the paint is charged to the part, forming an even film over every surface. The EDP coating has been tested for 500 hours under a salt-spray solution to check for corrosion. This is far superior to spray-on primers.

We carefully positioned the old panel over the new one prior to installation and outlined the edges. Next, metal shears were used to cut the new panels to match the section removed from the Chevelle's trunk floor.

The old, rusted braces were removed and new ones positioned and welded in place. We used big Vise-Grips to hold the braces securely during welding.

We used a wire-feed MIG-welder to weld the lower braces into the original positions.