Could I get some close up pics of the transition from trunk opening to Vega plug

[Charger-Bodie]

Looking for some pics of the corners of the 71-74 b body dutchman pane grafted to the vega sheetmatal. I have looked in a search and the pics are pretty vauge in that area.

Thanks Brian

[nascarxx29]

I  didnt see anythying in search .But a vega post

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,58876.40.html

[hotrod98]

This is how it looked once I had the deck lid altered, the plug sitting in place and the 3rd gen dutchman cut and bonded to the plug. I left the dutchman long so  that I could bond the two together using bonding adhesive. I made a jig that was the same radius as the front of the deck lid and clamped it to the vega plug and bent a tab over to drop down into the first step of the dutchman. I had to remember to take into account the gap needed between the deck lid and the plug. You could also just cut the plug off even with the edge of the dutchman and weld it up. The way that I did it meant not having to do a lot of welding and finishing along that edge. That save several hours of work in my opinion.
The relief cuts are there to get the buckle out of the corner of the vega plug from having to pull the flap down. I also used my english wheel and reshaped the flap to get the contour looking better. I'm not very good at sheet metal work and most people could probably do a better job.  Like I keep saying, just screw or tack all of the parts into place and when everything looks good, start welding it up.

The second pic shows how I made the flap that wrapped down into the first step of the dutchman.

[hotrod98]

Here's where many guys freak out. They fully expect the plug to just lay right into place. It doesn't. This is why I had to use the english wheel to relieve the entire flap to make it lay down. I had the plug on and off many times before it look correct.

[Charger-Bodie]

This is how it looked once I had the deck lid altered, the plug sitting in place and the 3rd gen dutchman cut and bonded to the plug. I left the dutchman long so  that I could bond the two together using bonding adhesive. I made a jig that was the same radius as the front of the deck lid and clamped it to the vega plug and bent a tab over to drop down into the first step of the dutchman. I had to remember to take into account the gap needed between the deck lid and the plug. You could also just cut the plug off even with the edge of the dutchman and weld it up. The way that I did it meant not having to do a lot of welding and finishing along that edge. That save several hours of work in my opinion.
The relief cuts are there to get the buckle out of the corner of the vega plug from having to pull the flap down. I also used my english wheel and reshaped the flap to get the contour looking better. I'm not very good at sheet metal work and most people could probably do a better job.  Like I keep saying, just screw or tack all of the parts into place and when everything looks good, start welding it up.

The second pic shows how I made the flap that wrapped down into the first step of the dutchman.

I understand that. Im just wanting some pics as a referance for the placement of the 3rd gen panel.....Do I use all of the jamb bends and part of the top surface or do I loose the top part and graft the Vega sheetmetal to the next bend in on the dutchman?

Im just trying to be as ready as I can be , cause when I have the parts finally here to get working on the plug portion I will be thrashing. I just want to be prepared.

[Charger-Bodie]

Here's where many guys freak out. They fully expect the plug to just lay right into place. It doesn't. This is why I had to use the english wheel to relieve the entire flap to make it lay down. I had the plug on and off many times before it look correct.

This part is where Im blessed.......My Dad , who is key to the knoledge I do have,Is an AWESOME metal man. He learned way back in the day when you had to work metal to be a real body man.

[hotrod98]

Alter the deck lid to match the contour of the dutchman panel first. Remember to leave extra sheet metal at the front of the deck lid. In other words, don't make your bend too close to the closeout panel or your deck lid will never seal. Just turn the deck lid over with the closeout panel in place and lay the dutchman upside down on the closeout and you'll see that the "bumps" on the deck lid will interfere with the steps on the dutchman. That's the only downside of using the third gen panel. You have to have that extra length at the front of the deck lid so that the deck lid will have a surface to sit against the gasket when the trunk is closed.

Use all of the steps on the dutchman and leave the flap to bond to the underside of the vega plug. You will have to bow the dutchman panel up to sit level with the deck lid. I did this by setting the dutchman on my work bench and placing something in the middle and bowing both ends down slightly. I then use a torch to heat up the dutchman to get the shape correct.
You cut the corners of the dutchman at a 45 degree angle to the original trunk steps and just cut a small piece out of the car. It just takes time and patience to figure it all out.

Here's a pic of Howie's car. We didn't have much to work with on the dutchman. Someone cut it too close to the trunk opening.  That made it a lot harder to work with. The steps don't align up perfectly, but you can cut small notches and bend them to where they align up close enough.

[Charger-Bodie]

That picture will help tremendously! Thanks.

[Daytona R/T SE]

Hey, Brian...

I didn't use a Vega hatch, but maybe something in one of my threads might be of some help? 

There's tons of pictures 



http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,10669.0.html


http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,21596.0.html


http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,29685.msg324490.html#msg324490

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,32287.msg353161.html#msg353161



http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,56803.0.html


Chris...

[hotrod98]

Here's a pic showing how much material is left on the deck lid so that the closeout will clear the steps where the trunk seal sits. Of course with the deck lid being black it was hard to get a good clear pic.

The second pic shows the three sets of templates that I use. The first set is used to make the lip on the front edge of the deck lid, the second set is used to make the radius on the bottom edge of the vega plug to lap over into the drip channel and the short set is for bending the flap at the bottom of the fenders to match the contour of the valance.