Pressing on forward here -
But there is a noteworthy development near the end of the post tonight. Kind of a Milestone, a Turning Point - "Forum-wise," not "Project-wise."
So still on that same day of postings -
April 10, 2020:
"... Earlier today, I finished cutting away all the rest of the bad metal that will get replaced on the underside... That one remaining horizontal piece that kind of juts out there (below) - that's a good "reference point" to tie the rest in to - and leaving it there also leaves me needing to make less / smaller patches! haha It was still very solid there.
I ended up needing to take a small section on the front lower corner of the outer skin. I had hoped that wouldn't be necessary, but it was too soft and rotten when I started poking on it and studying it closely. That cut-out may grow bigger, when I start working it. (It scares me, when I need to cut on "visible when finished" sheetmetal! haha)
By the end of the day, I have the remaining lower patches all roughed out and bent into shape. They still need trimming, fitting, and "flushening" before starting the welding work. And I haven't made the little one on the outside skin yet, that'll be the last one. "
Then
@Stakebed asked me a question, which led to a pretty funny response in his follow-up comment. He first asked:
"Have you already de-rusted the inside of the door before sealing it up with new metal?"
I answered with the usual too-much-information -
".. Yep. Wire brush, then sand it with 80 grit - then scrub and acid etch with phosphoric. After that cures overnight, I scrub it again with lacquer thinner and hit it with self-etching primer. When that sets, I squirt a light coat of rubberized undercoating spray.
And I hit the back side of the patches with weld-through primer before they go on - and after welding then in place I hit them on the inside with the self-etching and the undercoat too, as above - as best as I can reach them down in there at that point, anyway. "
Which got me this response back -
"Outstanding Don! That'll do 'er for sure. You don't want your grandchildren to have to fix the doors again."
Hahaha - I was quiet for 2 days.... Then -
April 12, 2020:
"... A little Easter progress update. They made me quit early - but that's OK, the food was worth it!
I'll be brief (very unusual for me, I know). I finally got the patch pieces fitted up close enough for welding. (Which took me a long time...)
And I got my first round of welding done. More than just tacking it, but not a very complete effort yet, I was running out of time. So it's spotted in there finally, and a first quick, rough grinding done now.
Yesterday, I went ahead and patched the small area on the outside skin, too.
So, getting pretty close with this side, no "open holes" remaining at this point. (The other side is worse....)
I've figured out that it would probably be better / easier to just cut off that whole bottom and somehow get a single patch piece all in one shot. But don't know how I'd make that patch.
Happy Easter! "
Then there was a confusing post by someone, who told me I could buy
PRE-FABRICATED LOWER DOOR PATCH PANELS!!!!
I got very excited, because I had searched high and low for just that. But it turned out he was talking about outer door skins. Old news. Not what I was making here, obviously.
I answered, on April 13, 2020:
"... Darn... I was hoping you knew of a source for these that I had somehow missed when I was searching for them. I really tried to find them, I was a little surprised nobody makes them actually.
I was going to be first in line to get one!!! Because they are not easy to make with my Stone Age set-up... haha"
@JABJEEP came back -
".. Don, don't sell yourself short; you're at least Iron Age. With a little more work like you've been doing pretty soon you'll have your own category; Steel Age. " (that was also the day he started on his GPW body, he mentioned -
far worse that old Willa Dean here. Brave man!)
And
@Stakebed chimed in -
"Yeah, I think Don is ready for the Bronze Age."
Then it happened... I responded with -
"... That's great news, JABJeep! Atta Boy. Glad you're into the GPW. It may be necessary to re-adjust what you think "fun" is, but you get used to it.....
I gotta tell you guys, though - I'm happy with my Old Skool, Stone Age methods. It takes me a little while, but I get there. I'm not ready for any fancy, new-fangled Bronze Age stuff just yet. You gotta watch out with that high tech stuff - if you're not careful, it could lead you right into 12 Volts.... "
And so I became officially recognized as
A Caveman. And it was good......
.