Hello!
I just finished welding in the inner cab corner on the pass side of my '59 Apache. Next is the outer corner, but here's the issue.
When I bought the truck, I didn't realize that it had been hit pretty hard in that cab corner. Someone fixed it by banging it out, re-welding everything, and coating it with about 1/8" of bondo on the door jamb (behind the door, about 1/2 way down). Now that have the old outer corner off, the bondo is coming off in pieces, so the contours of the sheet metal that I'd be welding the new corner to don't match the new corner very well. The sheet metal has been pushed in a bit, between 1/8 and 1/4", and the previous owner's straightening efforts have pretty much made the panel impossible to straighten any more.
I was going to butt-weld the new panel in using clamps, but now it seems as if it might make sense to use flange pliers to make a 1/2" flange on the body, then fasten the new cab corner to the flange on the body using sheet metal screws. Doing so seems like it will pull the body panel the small distance it needs to move to get everthing to line up. Of course, once everything is where it should be, I'd weld the new corner in place, remove the screws, and weld up the holes.
My understanding is that a butt weld is the best type of joint for a body panel, but it seems as if a lap joint might make sense in this case.
Thoughts?
Thanks...
Chris
