[BloodRedStang]

The previous owner backed up into his dads jeep and caved in the rear bumper and looks like he jarred the trunk lid, there's no visible hard damage, looks like I should be able to just replace the trunk lid and bumper and call it a day. But I can't get the trunk to open. I can hear the mechanism pop when I push the button in the glovebox and on my key fob but it will not give.. any ideas? I've thought about trying to undo the hinges from inside the trunk and muscle it out but I don't want to risk doing any more damage.. I need my trunk haha

 

[Mustangman92]

Lower the rear seats and crawl through and see if something is jamming the mechanism

 

[BloodRedStang]

Ill crawl in and check it out once here in a few, its going to be interesting, I'm a pretty large dude lol

 

[Mustangman92]

Lol ya crawl with caution

 

[joey18]

Mine old one wouldnt open because i closed it over a shirt once and it got jammed... i lowerd the seats crawled in with a flashlight and took it apart till it poped open... go inside and see if there is anything jammed

 

[BloodRedStang]

Yea, I'm gonna get in there and check her out, see if there's anything that can be done to straighten out the couple dents on the trunk lid instead of buying a new one. Might have my lady friend help me out, she's pretty good with cars too and a hell of a lot smaller than me haha

---------- Post added at 05:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:30 PM ----------

Gonna have to wait til the morning though, its already dark here in Ohio.. ill post what I find once I get in there and check it out.

 

[joey18]

Haha nice! I wish my girlfriend knew about cars

 

[BloodRedStang]

it definately helps sometimes lol

 

[SCCofSV]

Lower the rear seats and crawl through and see if something is jamming the mechanism

LoL!! You took the words right out of my mouth! I decided not to open my mouth because I know very little about pre 05's.

Joey18

I know what you mean! My husband knows how to drive a car, nothing else!! He hates even talking about cars.

 

[BloodRedStang]

SCCofSV

sounds like my mom and dad, my mom built old school v8s and did 1/4 mile drag and my dad could barely do spark plugs lol

 

[joey18]

SCCofSV

sounds like my mom and dad, my mom built old school v8s and did 1/4 mile drag and my dad could barely do spark plugs lol

Dang! Talk about killing stereotypes!

 

[BloodRedStang]

No kidding lol

 

[BloodRedStang]

*UPDATE*
Got the trunk open yesterday and was saddened deeply at what I saw..
The entire rear trunk pan geometry was f*%$ed all up and pushed in a couple of inches..

Ended up taking the entire rear end of the car apart and started straightening everything out. Got it pulled back into alignment enough to make the trunk functional, going to be heating the bumper up and reforming it today, I'm going to wait until I buy a new trunk lid to finish massaging the trunk pan out because the trunk lids been bent and formed so ill form the trunk pan around a lid I know is straight and in good shape.

Ill post some pics in progress once I get them on my comp.

(Used my jeep with a locked up diff, wrapped rope thru the hitch and thru the bolt holes in the back end of the stang on bars and boards inside the trunk and drove the stang forward as some sort of ******* frame puller lol)

 

[BloodRedStang]

here's the pics, the ones without rope are what I saw after getting trunk open and bumper off

 

[DaBluedude]

This... Sounds like pretty serious damage. You may want to consult a professional body shop.

 

[BloodRedStang]

Me and several of my friends did collision repair at a vocational school in highschool. It actually looks worse than it was, its nearly straightened out. Bout 3/4 inch more massaging and it'll be good, I did some more work after the last couple pics.

I talked to a local body guy I worked with when I was in school and his advice was, if you can do it, why pay someone 1200 bucks to do it for you? Lol

Ill keep posting pics and updates as I get more work done, I've been pretty busy this last week or so..

 

[BloodRedStang]

UPDATE

With weather and work schedule being the way its been, I haven't had a chance to do much more with the rear end.. had it looked at by a very well respected local body man and he doesn't think its nessicary to take the car to a shop to have anything done. We'll be finishing straightening out the rear panel where the bumper and trunk latch bolt in the next couple days weather permitting.
Still trying to find a good trunk lid and rear bumper, the junkyards around want upwards of 125 bucks each piece so I'm watching craigslist for a part out to jump on...I think 125 bucks for used pieces like that's a little rediculous..
Any input or tips/tricks are greatly appreciated, ill definately post up progress and before/after pics. Hopefully this might help some that are mechanically inclined to fix their baby without getting reamed at the body shop.. (sorry for the book, haven't been on the forums in a while lol)

 

[joey18]

UPDATE

With weather and work schedule being the way its been, I haven't had a chance to do much more with the rear end.. had it looked at by a very well respected local body man and he doesn't think its nessicary to take the car to a shop to have anything done. We'll be finishing straightening out the rear panel where the bumper and trunk latch bolt in the next couple days weather permitting.
Still trying to find a good trunk lid and rear bumper, the junkyards around want upwards of 125 bucks each piece so I'm watching craigslist for a part out to jump on...I think 125 bucks for used pieces like that's a little rediculous..
Any input or tips/tricks are greatly appreciated, ill definately post up progress and before/after pics. Hopefully this might help some that are mechanically inclined to fix their baby without getting reamed at the body shop.. (sorry for the book, haven't been on the forums in a while lol)

Nice! Hope all goes well

 

[BloodRedStang]

Thanks man, I do too! Lol working with a ghettofied frame puller (broke down jeep with a hitch) haha

 

[BloodRedStang]

Long time since an update... been real busy past few weeks.
Well, I went and got my bumper and new trunk lid, scored a great deal on the pair and they're the same color as my car faded...but same color lol

Later this week I'm going to finish the metal work and get everything flushed up.