I started on the metal work today. I have been putting it off for too long – time to get started!
There was a small spot of perforation in the toolbox near the side of the body. I figured I would cut that out and replace it while I had the metal cut out of the side of the Jeep.
I cut out a piece that was 6″ x 1.5″. Then I cut a patch panel in 18ga (from the piece that I cut out of the side). While I was squaring up the cuts, I saw there was more perforation farther down the side. So I cut 2″ farther. I cut ANOTHER patch panel and welded it in place.
While I had the welder out, I had a bunch (29) of screw holes (that a previous owner had drilled for soft top snaps) to weld up. That was a fairly quick job – took about 10 minutes including blending.
There was a small hole left in the floor patch I did before. It was a place I missed when spot welding it in. I went back and welded that up.
It was still fairly early, so I tackled the toolbox seal area that had a few places that were rusted through. Two of them were in the front corners, which required forming the patch in 3d – something I had never done before. Needless to say, the first one took a while! The other front corner took about half the time. Then I moved to the rear where the vertical part of the lip was rusted away. It was just a 3/8″ tall by 2″ wide, flat section of metal – simple, right? This piece took the longest of them all! I fixed a couple of other small places around the front edge too. I still have one more vertical piece in the first corner that needs replacing, but I ran out of time.
That’s about it for today. Now I just need to find some metal to close up the side.
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