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Test-fit of the front bed panel. It doesn't seat. It looks like
I'll need to round the back corners. |
Made a pattern for the pass side panel shelf | |
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Flap disk to clean up the welds on the strip. |
Finished cutting the front-of-bed damage away. | |
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Cut out the pass side panel. Once again, more rust than expected: |
Namely, this at the front of the wheelhouse. | |
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I used the plasma to remove the side panel. It looks like I sliced
through to the cab, too. |
Yep. I'll have to weld that back up. | |
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View from the wheelwell |
Without flash, to make the holes more obvious. | |
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Made a pattern for the pass side closeout, too.
I've found that the
aluminum tape you'd use for ductwork is really really good for patterns -
it's stiff enough to hold a shape, soft enough to cut with a knife. |
Completed pattern. I'll cut a square out of the middle of the real
metal. I'll need it to paint/seal the backside. | |
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Of course, can't close that up until the wheelwell is fixed. Took the
wheel off for access. |
Cut me a nice square. Partway through this process, my die grinder
failed (didn't know that was a thing) - started getting a serious wobble,
which made the cuts not really work so well. | |
So following the bad cuts here, I broke out the angle grinder with a wire wheel on it. It failed too - switch got stuck in the "on" position.
Off to harbor freight. Tools replaced.