Quote:
Originally Posted by grahamwatson
Where exactly is this panel located?
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Hi,
It is located on the inside lower edge of the glass hatch opening and carries the lock anchorage fitting and the leather cargo strap mountings. It's spot welded to the outer rear panel and the inner quarter panels and the welded joint flange is where the rubber weatherseal is fitted around the tailgate aperture.
Brookhouse Volvo's website shows a couple of pictures of the two repair panels:
https://www.classicvolvoparts.co.uk/...=A_Body_Panels
Drain holes must be incorporated at either side of the two-panel sandwich exactly as the factory built bodies were constructed, these in turn have a small metal tube welded under the panel and a flexible plastic or rubber pipe is pushed onto these tubes, exiting the body inside the rear valence. Water that collects in the aperture then drains away under the car.
Sadly, if allowed to become blocked by dirt, leaves, debris or inadvertently plugged by body filler or caulking during a bodge-restoration, the entire rear of the car along the lower hatch sill will just rot away.
As posted earlier, my ES's drain holes are clear, an annual poke through with some stiff electrical cable and a gentle watering from a garden hose is well worth the effort especially as the combined repair panels cost £1700 and welding them in is a pig of a job!