I started by removing the remaining outer rocker panel. This means that from a structural standpoint the passenger side of the car is back in order for the first time since we’ve owned the car. Today I hit another major milestone which was getting the passenger side outer rocker panel fitted and welded in. If the weather holds up I’d love to get this done on Saturday. I only have a little more work to do on the wheelhouse lip and then I will be ready to weld in the outer dogleg. I then checked the fit by dry fitting the dogleg panel against the repaired area. I used a Vicegrips to move the metal until I was happy with how it fit. The bottom portion of this repair near the outer rocker panel needed to have a slight bend outward to fit the outer dogleg. Another view at a slightly different angle. I will use a tiny bit of spot putty and this repair should be unrecognizable. Normally I like to leave a little of the bead so the weld is stronger but since this area is highly visible I ground the areas smooth. With everything welded up I used the grinder to clean up the welds. Once I was happy with the fit I then played “connect the dots” and welded the places in-between. I then proceeded to weld in the patch area by first tack welding it in place to replicate the appropriate curve. I used the die grinder and a 40 grit disc for some final fitting between the remaining door jamb and the patch panel. With that in mind I moved forward with the cutoff wheel and cut the rest of the area out. I was a little nervous because I am working in “no patch reproduced” range but the only way to grow is to do uncomfortable things. The next step was to jump in 100% and cut out the rest of the door jamb back to the 90 degree bend. I made some rough cuts first to make room for the cut I made earlier on the inner wheelhouse. I made the patch last week but hadn’t gotten to the point where I was ready to weld it in until tonight. With the panel appearing like it will fit well in place I could move on to prepping the door jamb for welding it in. Overall I am very pleased with the quality of the sheetmetal from CASCO and would highly recommend it to those looking to replace sheetmetal on their early ‘Bird. You’ll notice the fit is nearly perfect! Not only does the line down the door fit well but the gap is even around the corner of the door. Here is the same aspect shot from earlier in the week but with the outer dogleg just set in place. Also, before welding up the gap I made sure the cut would be enough that would allow the dogleg to fit well to the door. Before making the cut I made marks with a Sharpie to identify how long the cut needed to be. I used a cutoff wheel which provided the appropriate width for the correct amount of material to be removed. I started with making the necessary cuts to the inner wheelhouse because it stuck out too far and didn’t allow the dogleg patch to fit appropriately. Tonight I made some good progress on some “behind the scenes” work that is needed before welding in the new outer dogleg. So I posted earlier this week on the jamb repairs needed due to some poor previous rust repair work on the car.
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