Vitaminmopar

Back to the forum for more help. I am replacing the luggage stop with a new panel obtained from Corvette Central. I have searched the FAQ section and threads but discovered nothing pertaining to my inquiry. Is there a technique for installing the luggage stop panel on a 64 coupe? Body is off the frame.

The holes in the replacement panel will not line up no matter how I try. I have the old panel and the holes seem to line up with the new.

I have widened the center of the new panel a bit, marginal results.

I have raised the center floor section from below with the panel screwed in place on the top end or with the bottom end holes. Both ways only result in raising the body off the stands.

I have also raised the floor without the panel in place placing a two foot level across the back of the ridge at front of the the storage area. I jacked from below until the center was level and also until the center was higher than the outer edge.

I am jacking from below at the center of the transmission tunnel where the luggage stop crosses. What I have not tried is jacking from one side until I can get some of the holes to align. This seems counter intuitive but will try that next.

Scratching my head has not helped so turning to the forum, help please.

NightshiftHD

If your body is still off the frame, I think I would hold off riveting your new panel back in place until the body is back on the chassis. The primary purpose of the luggage stop panel in a coupe since you have a wrap-around birdcage is to keep the floors from sagging from people in the seats. With the body off the chassis, its gonna be hard to raise the floor to a level position without having 4 burly guys sitting on each fender corner to hold it down (as you found out). However once you have it back on its body mounts, you will find its very easy to slightly raise the rear floor area under the seats to get your rivet holes to align. Make sure you use soft rivets to set them in place as they expand in diameter to completely fill the hole in the fiberglass you're sticking them thru. Its a 2-person job ... 1 to run the air hammer and a 2nd underneath to buck the ends. Bill

NightshiftHD

I don't know what you mean here. Bill

buns

This thread may, or may not, be of some assistance.


https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...t-hitting.html

DansYellow66

The rivet holes in the fiberglass were worn a bit oversized on mine so I glassed them in and re-drilled new rivet holes. If you don't want to glass them in and re-drill, then when/if you finally get them lined up you might put a dab of JB Weld in the holes around the rivets or use some structural adhesive to make sure everything stays tight.

Strange the new panel holes line up with the old panel but not with the holes on the body. You should be able to lay the old panel over the new one and figure out the difference.

Nowhere Man

I put one in a 67 coupe the other year and the holes lined up perfect. If you want to rivet it in like factory you have to leave it off the frame. Sounds like your body has a sag in it

Desert Nomad

I recently repaired/strengthened the luggage rack in my '67' Vert. After removing the luggage stop, I glassed over the old holes. Then I had the old luggage stop holes welded up and also welded a 1/2" wide strip of steel under the top lip of the luggage stop length wise. This was to minimize any further sag when installed. Then using a jack and piece of wood and level, I raised that section of floor until level. Then I drilled new 1/4" holes thru the stop and flooring. I used those "1/4" projected welded studs" to secure the stop to the floor. They were recommended by John Z and others here on the forum and work well. Being a convertible, I then popped riveted the ends of the luggage stop where they were normally welded as I don't have any personal welding equipment here at home. This really made a difference and you could feel it in the floor while riding, much more rigid. This also minimizes the chance of the drive shaft u-joint at the diff from chaffing the bottom of the floor in that area which seems to be a problem on some C2's.

Vitaminmopar

I took two 12 inch adjustable wenches to the luggage stop flange and torqued the opening a little wider on each side for additional tunnel clearance.

Vitaminmopar

Wow! A lot of looks at my problem with the luggage stop. Thanks to all who offered input and as a result I have a solution. My problem was inadequate support for the rear of the body. I had seen a photo where the factory lifted the body near the 1 and 3 mounts to position over the chassis and assumed that it was good enough to support the body at these locations plus support the body rear mount at the resting height.

After investigating I found it is not enough to have the bulkhead level, it must also be vertically flush. For those of you who maybe doing this in the future level the floor and then check that the stop is flush with the bulkhead. When I separated the body from the chassis I supported it at the 1, 3 and 5 mounts at the heights it settled at. I have a 64 coupe built when the inner frame mounts were still being installed so I am counting the inner body mount at the tunnel as 4, this being a coupe there is no 2 mount per se and the nose support is zero. What I found after jacking the floor to level was the fiberglass bulkhead where the luggage stop rivets was 1/4 inch further forward at the center than the outer ends. To correct this, I jacked the rear of the body up 3/4 inch to return the bulkhead to vertical flush and was able to temporally install the new luggage stop with 5mm x 16mm screws. I used metric as they are a little larger than 10-24 screws and still fit the holes in the panel and body plus they came with a hex head. I will hold off permanent installation as I am waiting for 1/4-20 x 3/4 weld studs and I want to reinforce the top with a steel rib and add another six fasteners to the bottom.

I still have one concern. The two factory luggage stop rivets at the center tunnel were broken long before I lifted the body while the upper outer ends were missing, the rest of the rivets were intact. My worry is when I lift the body will the unsupported rear weight cause the reinforced luggage stop to bend or buckle in the middle?

My current support of the body is in the photo attached. It may not be the best but seems to be working for my situation.

DansYellow66

I don't remember having that much problem with flex in the rear of my coupe's body when I had it on a dolly - unsupported. Support for the front - definitely yes. I think if you have everything securely fastened back together, you should not have any problems with lifting the body again.

Pilot Dan

One additional thing you might want to consider is to weld a 1/8 inch piece of steel along the backside under the lip of the luggage stop. I did that on my coupe and it really gives the part a lot more strength and support. It is also an invisible upgrage after the carpet is installed

NightshiftHD

I seriously doubt 1/8" steel will do much of anything. The fold-over is 3/8" on the inside ... I inserted a bar of 3/8" x 3/4" steel and it makes the top edge of the luggage stop panel VERY stiff. Bill

Pilot Dan

Inserting metal without welding it will do little or nothing to add strength to the assembly if that is what you did .

My point was stiff is better since you can bend the original thin metal quite easily and it offers some ridigity between the wheel well sides, also a good thing IMO. Actually, I think that piece might have been a little thicker since IIRCC it met the fold over flush width thickness pretty closely and went 3/4 down the back I believe. Was a while back, I should have taken some photos. Made a big differemce though, you can bend the original stop quite easily just leaning on it. I remember straightening mine which gave me the idea to make it stronger.

NightshiftHD

While I do agree with your comment Dan that inserting just any metal ... like a 1/8" piece you refered to will do little or nothing, inserting a piece of steel bar 3/8" is a "press fit" and requires no welding to hold it in place. It completely fills the fold-over cavity ... that's why I used 3/8" instead of 1/4" for example. You have to cut the ends of the bar on a sharp angle to get it to slip in, but when it's in, it is VERY hard to bend the top of that panel now while reaching back for something. The whole panel gets covered with carpet anyway so you don't see anything.

Pilot Dan

Mine looked very similar to that and yes the carpet does cover it so you can't see it. I just preferred to weld it so there is no movement possible as the body flexes to some degree in turns ect... either way it's better than it was before

Mike Geary

When I replaced mine, I was pleased to find that the LICS-sourced piece is much sturdier than the original. Eliminated the decision on reinforcing the top lip.




Since I had some left over structural epoxy, I bonded the stop to the fiberglass panel. That puppy is STIFF. No more creaks/groans when I get in...