I would not worry about the gap. A lot of people don't even replace the inner when they do the outer. My last truck I cut the inner 1/2 way up from the bottom and replaced the outer, then welded a plate over the top inside to keep road noise down. Worked out fine and like you said, no one will see it anyway.


1957 Chevrolet 1/2-ton Stepside LB in the Gallery
My Photobucket shots

The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." - John Stuart Mill (1806 - 1873)