Poor previous repairs....

The Cougar has been in a major rear-ender at some point in it life, where the end panel was replaces and the quarters where buckled. From the outside, the repairs were well-hidden and it looked OK with all the parts on. Once it was taken apart for restoration however, there are a lot of signs of a poor initial repair - or shaky foundations if you will. This leads to rust issues (slide hammer holes, welds holes left open), fitment issues (panel overlap, changing gaps, thick filler) and more.


Below, you can see how the end panel had been replaced and didn't quite line up. As well, the welds had been drilled or broken loose and then not refilled. The entire panel was tacked on with fewer than 6 welds.

Here are some of the many slide-hammer holes that were filled over with filler. This allows moisture to enter from the backside and allows rust to start behind the filler.

The trunk floor was still pushed up against the wheel well, which would mean that somewhere between here and the end panel was shorter than it should be.....somewhere.

The filler was thick enough in places I could use the air chisel to remove it. Like doing sculpture work. Behind this chunk were 5 or 6 slide hammer holes, again only filled by filler.....

Don't forget to check out the website at www.E-tekRestorations.com!