First piece replaced, tacked and ground.
Center bits removed. You can see the integrity of the metal is still good.
The rest of the panels replaced. Note the quality of the welds have deteriorated. 105F and my muscles beginning to spasm from laying down, welding over my head, etc.
Ah well, it's the metal workers mantra, "What the welder giveth, the grinder taketh away". It's the 12 Commandment I believe. On a side note, it's amazing the sound a bit of weld spark makes when it lands inside your ear hole and sputters out due to the amount of sweat accumulated in there.
Just glad to be sweating in THIS incident!
First grind. Had to go back and spot up quite a bit after this one.
First sand. Not as good as I'd hoped but better than I expected.
That is the fender mounting access hole in the front part of the picture. It is covered by the trim.
Next step is to make up a jig to drill the trim holes. Guess I could just use silicone as an adhesive instead.
Gotta make up a gauge to get the original shape back using a bit of filler. That'll be for NEXT weekend though. I've had enough fun for this week and it'll probably be three days before I can lift my arms over my head again.