[MDPotter]

I know the struggle - we tried to do that lower patch on my dad's 64 and the whole area just caved in and ruined the outer skin. We ended up buying a new skin that ran up just below the bottom of the window. One of us made the cut with a cutoff wheel while the other kept air blowing on it and then we would tack, cool, tack, cool, tack, cool, dozens of times and then had to grind, cool, grind, cool, grind, cool, dozens of times. It was a huge time consumer. What was helpful was using the butt weld clamps - they hold the two pieces flat with eachother and perfect gap for welding so you don't have a big weld to grind down.

That's why I bought the full outer skin for my 68 - it is held on by a few spot welds around the edges and one at the bottom of the window opening. No 3 foot welding or cutting required. Wish that type of skin was available for 60-66 trucks as it would have saved us a ton of time and struggle.