Frenched in license plate

I had decided to use the 05 trunk latch assembly as it has an electric & manual opener and the 05 wiring harness is set up for it. The bottom latch looked as though it would fit in the pocket where the 41 was and the upper part of the latch had to mounted to the trunk lid where the existing trunk handle/latch and license plate were mounted. Rather than build a plate assembly for it I thought a frenched in license plate box would give me a smooth mounting surface on the back of it and clean up all the holes in the trunk lid.  This idea came from "Full Custom Garage" Ian Roussel work on one of his custom builds.

 These two pictures show the 05 latch with the manual pull cable attached to the lower latch and the pocket where the 41 latch catch was mounted.

 A hole was cut in the bottom of the pocket to fit the lower latch and to see where the upper latch had to be mounted.

 I found a frenched in license plate box on Amazon that was the least expensive and come with a light & mounting holes.

 The trunk was laid out with a cardboard templet so it was symmetrical with the tail lights and low as possible for the upper latch to be mounted.

 Above and below show the hole in the trunk lid that was cut with a 4" cutting wheel on a angle grinder then the edges were cleaned up with 40 grit flapper disc.

 The box was held in place with a clamp and some gray tape. Each end stuck out past the surface to allow for the curve of the deck lid.

 The outside and inside were welded using the stitch weld method to prevent warping then the welds and protruding ends were ground smooth with a 60 grit flapper disc.

 3M bondo was applied to all edges and to the trunk emblem & keyholes that had been welded closed.

 All the filed areas were block sanded smooth and the frenched in license plate is ready for primer.

 It took two tie's to get the upper and lower latches to close together as the angle of the 05 trunk closed pretty much straight up & down while the 41 swings down.

The upper latch had to spaced out 4" from the back of the license plate box that required me to crawl in the trunk with the lid closed to get it aligned and tack welded in place. The upper latch has the electric opener in it.

This is looking at the bottom of the trunk area with the lower latch hanging down further than I wanted it to but you can see the brackets that were fabricated to support the latch. The manual pull cable is on the far side.

A plate was made to cover the lower latch and pocket with an opening just big enough for the upper catch to fit in. The 05 wiring harness will be extended to the latch and license plate light.