Ahhh, almost identical to mine. Thank you in advance for pointing me to your thread.

To be honest, my preference is to weld and do it "right". I don't have a MIG welder (only flux wire which is said to suck for automotive work) and technology has come a long way.

I can at least prepare all the metal and patch pieces and call in a mobile welder to do the tack welds. This is the option I am leaning towards now but have lots of work to do before I decide which direction to go.