Thanks Eric, Hutch, Scott and everyone for all your kind words and comments. It truly means a lot and I really do appreciate it.
Despite having your guys’ encouragement, I’ve really been struggling with anything car related lately. I’ve been in a bit of a slump and feeling more than a bit overwhelmed and discouraged with this thing. It feels like I just keep sinking time, money and effort into this, with no real sign of progress or accomplishment. As a result, some depression kinda took hold and I’ve done virtually nothing on it in the last few weeks.
The last few days tho I’ve been feeling a bit better and more like my old self again, so today I thought I’d try venturing out into the garage to see if I could get back on the proverbial horse.
The rust patch panel I had been working on when the feeling of futility hit was still waiting for me to finish it off. When I last updated the thread, I had made the replacement part, and was getting ready to weld it in place.
I punched plug weld holes in the lower flange and underside where it contacted the inner structure, and after positioning and clamping it in place, welded them up:
From there, I used my sheetmetal clamps to hold the top portion in alignment. It was fortunate that the hole was where it was, as I was able to unbolt and remove the seatbelt box to get access to the backside.
After placing tacks in between the clamps, I removed them and spaced more tack welds evenly across the top:
Working from the center out, I began closing up the gaps:
And here we go. The patch is now fully welded, ground down and complete.
From this...
To this:
What rust hole???
😀
Now that it would appear that I’m back on track again finally, it’s onto the next. I think I’m going to tackle the flush mount marker light on the passenger’s side quarter panel next. (No, I still haven’t done that!)
I’m waiting on a piece I need to properly repair some previously existing damage behind the driver’s side rear wheel before I can complete the metal work on that side, so that seems like a natural fit before I resume with the filler work.
Stay tuned...!!!
Thanks everyone,
D.