The lower driver and passenger doors were very rusted. So luckily aftermarket patch panels were available so I bought replacement panels and cut the lower portion off and welded in these in place. It was fairly straight forward with the tricky part figuring out where to cut and splice. It was helpful to have my stock '48 truck from which to take measurements and to make templates.
I also took a little time to treat some interior rust with the Eastwood rust converter. I didn't really worry about the panel gaps at this point because I expect things to shift a bit when I cut the roof off and when put the body back on the frame. Plus the top of the door will need some attention (rust and fitment).
(P.S. - Thanks for all the comments, suggestions and encouragement. As of right now the metal work is about 85-90% complete so these posts and pics are from the last few years. I have been going back thru my photos and writing up what I have done and appending proper pics (if available). I'm trying to show them in order of what I worked on but some of this was simultaneous work (waiting on back-order parts, etc), so it may not be 100% accurate. I'm trying to be relatively brief (especially at these early stages) to keep from being a bore but if there is something that you want know to see a little more about let me know and I'll see what I can do. Thanks again).
1949 Chevy Panel Truck A Project Journal I'm old but I make up for it by being immature.
