Saturday, May 17, 2008

Upper Fender Apron Repair 3

With the passenger side damage repaired, it was time to move on to the driver side rust where the upper rear fender apron and shock tower tops meet. The process was exactly like the passenger side. Fortunately, only the rear overlap was rusted out on this side.

What we started with

I drilled the spot welds and knocked off the rust nugget

And then cut off the top layer of metal from the top of the rear fender apron

Followed by the removal of the bottom layer of metal from the upper shock tower.

I made a patch out of 14 gauge sheet metal scrap for the bottom area.

... and welded it in... badly.

After grinding the welds off, you'd have no idea that I can't weld a straight bead. I followed up the grinding with a coat of weld-through primer.

Made a patch for the upper section and drilled spot weld holes in the same location as the original and then welded it in after hitting it with a coat of weld-through primer.

Grinding welds helps me work out my frustrations anyway.

Finally, I filled the spot weld holes and ground it all down flush.

The upper fender apron patches are done! Now on to the outer front frame rail patch.

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