now this is where things go really snakey! and boy am I pissed off! I got a guy to help me out with the truck, said he was a real veteran autobody guy, so I paid him $60/hr to help me out on this... well this is one way he helps me out! I could not believe it!? how do you destroy such an easy fill job?? I even bought the little filler plate for the nozzle hole, so it would be a sinch to fit and weld in and smooth out.
needless to say I stopped him on the project just after a few hours of helping, heck I've never done bodywork before and even I can do better then that!!
this guy just created a big job for me! not happy!
so I tried to cut a patch panel from an old door skin, since it has the same curve as this spot, in this photo I fit it just perfect... but to no avail, he used a file on the whole area so the metal is paper thin, there is nothing to weld to, I'm sure a paint sprayer would even blow holes through it! so after trying to weld in the patch panel and still blowing holes I decided to give up, and am going to have to find a donor cab and cut off the whole filler area from the door to the back of the cab.. this is gonna suck, because I am a novice and this is a big detailed job, where everyone is going to be looking - this I did not need!!
here is my welded in floor and rocker panel, the floor was my very first attempt at welding sheet metal in my life... i noticed the heat was too low so I didn't get very good penetration and had to do lots of touch-ups.
I did a lot better on the front cab mount, well, at least I think I did pretty good.
