Rumble seat lid adjustments??

[mcgarrett]

My rumble seat lid doesn't fit as nicely as I would like - too much gap across the bottom (needs to be closer to the body) and slightly cocked on one side at the top. It opens and closes fine, just looks sloppy. Do the hinges allow for adjustment making it possible to make corrections for a good fit?
Thanks in advance for comments and advice.

[jb-ob]

How much pain are you willing to endure ?? No amount of blankets & padding make lying in the rumble compartment comfortable.

If you can crawl thru the front seat, better because the best method is to just crack the hinge bolts loose and from the outside shim the lid where you want it. Crawl back in & re-tighten. Other wise it is a two man job, you tucked inside with the lid closed while your helper moves the lid into an acceptable position.

You want someone who won't leave you tucked inside !

[ursus]

Heed the advice of jb-ob! I removed the seats from my coupe and placed padding on the floor for the sake of comfort. Play with various settings to see if you can shim it into position without having to remove the lid. The hinge pins bear the bulk of the wear so it would also be good to replace them if you can accomplish this without removing the lid. Part of the fit involves the rubber bumper pads so see what can be adjusted by trimming them down if newly placed or by shimming them up to level things off.

[mcgarrett]

Thanks for the info guys. I don't know if it's a blessing or a curse, but my car is a roadster. Fortunately, I have a buddy that is small of stature that I can recruit to be the inside man! Based on your how-to explanation, we'll give it a shot and see what happens.
Blessings!

[katy]

Use a lead pencil to put witness marks on and around the hinges before you loosen the bolts. That way you have a reference for adjusting.

[desotoguy]

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On my 31 Coupe the fit or gap between the lid and the aftermarket lower panel is not even side to side, after much frustration as to why, decided to measure the panel, is about 1/16" shorter, bottom to top on one side. Just have to live with it now that its painted.

[mcgarrett]

Hope to work on getting it adjusted later this week. Thanks for all the feedback.

[Kevin in NJ]

FWIW, If you have reproduction hinges they are smaller in every dimension. You may not be able to get it adjusted properly without making the holes larger on the side brackets you bolt to the supports.

If you have an original rumble lid I would advise you get original hinges and hardware. Then it should just work.

I spent hours trying to fit a repro lid with repro hinges. Even then it was a compromise.

Oh I should mention if you have repro lower panel you want to keep the gap between the lower panel and the lid a bit wider. If you have a repro lid then the gap should be even wider. This is because the top edge of the lower panel and the bottom edge of the repro lid are flatter then factory. They tend to hit in the corners.

Next time you are at a show look there at cars with the repro parts. You will notice a lot of paint chips on the corners.

I will also add if the lid had body work done to it then you might need to break the 4 welds that holds its shape. Reshape it and while in the car and someone holding the shape re-tack weld the 4 spots. If you have a repro lid and have not tacked the 4 spots, well you will need to do something.

[rogerkb1936]

i did mine from the outside by trial and error. it was a bitch but i finally got it