The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop First time at bodywork and welding᠁

First time at body work and welding…Tips and criticism welcome.

I am doing the S10 conversion and taking the opportunity to fix rusted out cowls and cab corners. My goal is to keep the paint and patina, I am not restoring it. It will be my daily driver and do not want a professional finish look. I am going for the “ 1950s farmer repair” look. I will prime and paint all repaired sheet metal flat black, then clear coat.

On the passenger’s side, I replaced some floor/toe board areas with 18 gage that I fabricated. Using aftermarket panels, I replaced inner cowl up to bottom of vent cut-out, full filler panel, and about 4” of the lower outer cowl. Everything looks good.

On the driver’s side, I replaced a toe board area with a 18 gage fabricated piece. Aftermarket panels were used to replace inner cowl (up to hood line), full filler panel, and the lower 8” of outer cowl. The lower cowl is welded only at my cut line. No other welding was done, because I think I screwed up on the outer cowl.

The top of my cut matches great (obviously, that’s where I started) and the end (bottom) as well. The lower fender hole matches too. But about 3/4” below my cut at the door jam, the patch starts to deviate (towards the door opening) from the factory door edge area above my cut (where the inside corners are)….about 1/8” (see photo 2). The rear most edge (or the far right side of the panel (facing the door, from welding position ) of the patch begins to extend beyond the factory bottom pillar panel, 1/4” (see photo 3).

Questions:

What did I do wrong?

If I trim the excess shown in photo 3, will the 1/4” (photo 2) conflict with the door? How much “forgiveness” should I expect with the door gaps?

If a conflict happens, how do I correct it?

A neighbor told me “back in the day” he would shave a little bit off the door edge…sounds like it could work.

My plan is to stop working on the problem and shift gears to the rear cab corners (any tips are appreciated). I’ll mount the cab, remove my door supports, and try to put the doors on.

BTW, if I can figure out how to get my project journal off my ipad, I will create a project journal post.