Installing new tail panel on 79

[Ryoko]

I got my parts for doing the rust repair on my 79. I have a new trunk pan, tail panel, and cross brace. The trunk pan looks like it's going to drop in without a lot of issues. However, the tail panel is shaping up to be a fight. I've run into a couple of issues and would like some advice.

The first issue I ran into was the curved area where the tank filler neck passes thru did not match the shape of the curve on the trunk pan. I also had to drill out of the spot welds and remove the trunk latch bracket because it was in the way. I ended up removing much of the curved portion from the tail panel which helped somewhat. (Much of the metal is redundant anyway.) I expect I'll need to cut a little more and do some dolly work to get a decent fit there.

The second issue is more severe. If I position the tail panel so that it lines up with the trunk lid flange and the quarter panels, you see that the holes for the bumper mount are way off -- like a full inch or more. This has me confused. To make things more complicated, the cross brace holes match the tail panel, but don't match the mounting holes of the frame rails. Something ain't right here.

I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has dealt with a tail panel replacement and if they also had these issues and how they were corrected.

FYI: parts are Goodmark brand.

[Ryoko]

After some thought and measurements, I found that the error is with the frame rails themselves. The issue is that the weight of the car was deflecting the rails. I repositioned the jack stands to take the weight of rails and they mostly moved back into position. So the lesson learned is don't use the frame rails for support if the tail panel is missing. The tail panel is load bearing. I'll do a little tweeting on the rails to get the rails to line up with the tail panel. Still not sure why the tunnel for the tank filler neck is so horribly off between the trunk pan and tail panel.

[Ryoko]

Could someone give me the center-to-center distance between these two holes on the 79 tail panel (shown on left)? The top hole is the one of the tail light mounts and the lower hole is the upper bumper mount. I'm still having trouble getting everything to line up. Something is off. But I haven't been able to identify which piece is wrong.

[Ford5of5]

Are you still looking for that measurement? I can get it to you in a day or two. My car is packed away in a tent garage because I put a 2nd floor on my garage.

I've been going threw my resto pics. I used AMD panels and they were pretty much dead on. I had to take a die grinder to some of the bumper bolt holes but not by much. I supported my car with a saw horse sitting on the highest point of the rails in the wheel well/transverse muffler area and the front was held up by a rotisserie end.

If you need pics of this repair check my sig below and search TAC for Formula JG. He made the same repair but not sure if it still exists.