Anyone ever weld in the rear valance?

[Killer_Mopar]

Has anyone ever welded their rear valance in for a smoother appearance? Reason I am asking is because the valance panels rarely have a nice fit and welding them in would make it look a lot cleaner. I figured that the factory didnt weld them in for ease of replacement and because there were two seperate valances. I dont care about the ease of replacement because if I get rear ended I'll let the other guys insurance worry about replacing it, so Im wondering if there is any other reason not to weld the valance in (stress maybe?). I was also wondering if anyone has welded in the seam between the ends of the trunk filler panel and the quarters? Any advice is appreciated

[Cranker]

In a hot rod magazine it shows a cuda with the rear valance welded in. I think it looks pretty nice. i cant remember the issue i will look when i get home. i am also thinking about doing that to mine.

[Killer_Mopar]

I know that 71 Cuda had a welded in valance, but that was because it was custom. Does anyone know of someone that has welded the valance or filler panel in on any e-body? I guess my car could be the guinnea pig.....

[rusty dodge]

Thats how I did mine, I like the way it looks alot. Its a 74 with 70 rear bumper brackets. Makes for putting on the bumper kind of difficult. Need to put the bumper onto the brackets, then bolt on the bumper with the brackets attached.

The gas tank when in after the bumper. Not to bad to get in. Kind of tight to get at the nuts to hold the straps.

[rusty dodge]

There is a black reflection line in that 1 pic that looks kind of like a seam, but that isnt actually there. As you can see we also deleted the bumper guard slots.

[Killer_Mopar]

Thankyou for the photos, I feel that it looks a lot cleaner. I will have to put more thought into, but that shouldn't be a problem because I decided to buy the rear valance at the end of the summer. In the mean time, I will just bolt in my dad's regular valance that was on his car (it was replaced by MY r/t valance). I'll probably weld in the trunk filler panel this week, so hopefully it comes out decent.

[Oldschool]

Good luck Killer.       Hope it turns out great.       Keep us posted.........

[MWILSON904]

The rear upper and lower valance seams are filled on my barracuda.  This was done before I bought it due to "fixing" the rear quarter rust.  The lack of a seam looks great, unfortunately the window trim doesn't fit very well. I'll be getting new full quarters and valance soon to fix the patch job.

[dandsgcuda]

my cuda was that way and when I tried to change the leaf springs it was a real major pain in you know what trying to reach the rear shackles on the leak springs.

[tactransman]

my cuda was that way and when I tried to change the leaf springs it was a real major pain in you know what trying to reach the rear shackles on the leak springs.

   My '73 Challenger has the valance welding in due to poor fit and when I did it I was hoping I would never have to mess with the leaf springs