A quick update since its been a while.... I'm back in the garage after one planned and one unplanned medical interruption. It's life, that's the way it goes. Currently working on the initial fitting of the inner cowl panel to the replacement floor pan / toe board. Once again, not having any experience with these trucks puts me at a disadvantage. When I went to fit the inner cowl, I became confused. The floor pan had an angle built into it that reduced the width of the part. The angle started just after the inner cowl connection point by the hinge pillar. The new inner cowl piece did not have a corresponding angle. I tried flexing the part to make it fit, but that wasn't going to work. After much thought, I cut the inner cowl piece along the flange that mates up to the floor pan and bent it to match the angle. Then I cut a small piece of new metal and attempted to weld it to the new part. Keeping it honest, I managed to weld the two parts together, but it wasn't pretty. There was a bunch of back and forth trying to get it to fit correctly and I think I'm mostly there. I know, I should have asked. Someone can tell me if I messed up and if I need to buy a new inner cowl. Assuming that I don't need a new one (it does fit nicely against the floor pan and toe board...) it will be time to cut out the remaining rot on the original inner cowl panel. Once that is done and I'm happy with the fit of the replacement inner cowl, I'm going to finally address the hinge reinforcement pieces. My new strategy there will be to rehabilitate the original pieces and not replace them. I think that will work.
Different subject: how to permanently attach the new floor pan to the existing original floor pan remnants. I know everyone is assuming that I'm going to weld it in place. Initially, that's what I was planning to do. Now I'm wondering if it makes more sense to overlap the new floor pan over the remnants of the old one and epoxy them together. In essence, making a laminate. If I do that, I'm also thinking that I will weld the two pieces in strategic places. Now, without being too critical (please), am I nuts? I keep thinking that there are lots of laminates in use in the world and in very demanding instances. Why wouldn't this work for my instance? If I am nuts, then I can just weld them together. Pros and cons appreciated.
I'm attaching two pics. The first is my first attempt at fitting the new inner cowl. The second is where I started.
I look forward to everyone's comments, just keep 'em clean!
