cpttuna
Well-known member
you will probably not want to drive it and get it dirty once you finish it.
Rebuilding a rusty XJ
- Thread starter ed_
- Start date
Got all the filler sanded off the fender and I found two more dings and a high spot. I believe the high spot was why so much of the fender was skim coated.
Bottom corner of the fender was cut off since the backside was all rusty.
New patch panel made. This was pretty easy to bend up in my brake and then I hit the edges with my shrinker to give them a slight curve.
Test fitting with the header panel on to ensure it lines up.
Welded.
All done.
I tapped out the low spots because it was causing the corner to oil can a bit so all that's left on the fender now is to delete the antenna hole followed by some epoxy primer.
Bottom corner of the fender was cut off since the backside was all rusty.
New patch panel made. This was pretty easy to bend up in my brake and then I hit the edges with my shrinker to give them a slight curve.
Test fitting with the header panel on to ensure it lines up.
Welded.
All done.
I tapped out the low spots because it was causing the corner to oil can a bit so all that's left on the fender now is to delete the antenna hole followed by some epoxy primer.
Jacko264
Well-known member
Looking great keep up the great work
G
G
I hope not lol. I'll likely never drive it in the snow but it'll be my good weather daily at a min.
Passenger fender is all done and is pretty much at the point where it's ready for body filler. (That won't be for awhile)
Antenna hole was welded up.
Then the snapped stud on the front was removed and I made a new one.
Backside looks a little goofy but no one will ever see it.
Then the fender was prepped for primer.
And primed inside / out.
It's been a hot minute since I've sprayed anything so I was a little rusty but the finish doesn't really matter since the primer is just to protect the panel until I get to the bodywork phase and will be scuffed / resprayed anyways.
In terms of next steps I want to touch up a couple things on the pass side (2x6 rocker drain holes aren't big enough, some welds need more grinding, and maybe redo a patch on the quarter) before I go any further.
cpttuna
Well-known member
I have owned 9 cherokee XJ's, but now I am down to three. If you have trouble finding a certain part, let me know. I may have and extra somewhere in the garage
It's been hot and humid the past few days so not much progress has been made but I did get some small stuff done.
Freshly primed fender looks pretty good mounted up.
I'm thinking I should strip down both doors and prime them as well but first I want to build some kind of body panel rack that'll let me spray both sides at once easier. Ideally it'll have large wheels so I can roll it outside too.
I also touched up the passenger rocker by opening up the drain holes more. How they started:
How they ended up.
I wanted more of an oval look but the front one got opened up too much. Having them as ovals wasn't my initial plan but I wanted the holes to be as close to the edge as possible for better water drainage due to the slope of the rocker and the initial holes were already drilled too far inwards.
Opening them up while laying underneath it sucked so I put the holes in the driver rocker before it gets installed.
From there I started fixing up some spot welds that weren't fully ground down.
The spot welds sit higher than the original ones because I made the inner fender lip go up instead of down. My hopes is this will help prevent rust because I can seam seal the joint from the bottom.
Also, I lied when I said the doors were empty. The passenger rear one was still fully loaded so I finally emptied it out.
Then all four doors were cleaned up by removing any clips, stickers, or debris.
Fun fact about the doors. They came from 3 different Cherokees. The two fronts came from a Cherokee in New York, the silver driver rear door is from New Jersey, and the passenger rear door came from Arizona.
And lastly since I was tired of all the blasting media and dirt inside the interior I did my best to blast everything out with compressed air.
Freshly primed fender looks pretty good mounted up.
I'm thinking I should strip down both doors and prime them as well but first I want to build some kind of body panel rack that'll let me spray both sides at once easier. Ideally it'll have large wheels so I can roll it outside too.
I also touched up the passenger rocker by opening up the drain holes more. How they started:
How they ended up.
I wanted more of an oval look but the front one got opened up too much. Having them as ovals wasn't my initial plan but I wanted the holes to be as close to the edge as possible for better water drainage due to the slope of the rocker and the initial holes were already drilled too far inwards.
Opening them up while laying underneath it sucked so I put the holes in the driver rocker before it gets installed.
From there I started fixing up some spot welds that weren't fully ground down.
The spot welds sit higher than the original ones because I made the inner fender lip go up instead of down. My hopes is this will help prevent rust because I can seam seal the joint from the bottom.
Also, I lied when I said the doors were empty. The passenger rear one was still fully loaded so I finally emptied it out.
Then all four doors were cleaned up by removing any clips, stickers, or debris.
Fun fact about the doors. They came from 3 different Cherokees. The two fronts came from a Cherokee in New York, the silver driver rear door is from New Jersey, and the passenger rear door came from Arizona.
And lastly since I was tired of all the blasting media and dirt inside the interior I did my best to blast everything out with compressed air.
stinkity stoink
Well-known member
That door could be the last good thing to leave Jersey 
I wasn't planning on doing much tonight other than some some cleanup but while looking at the passenger rear door I didn't like how crooked it looked and decided to reposition it.
The top of the door is leaning too far towards the rear.
The bottom of the door looked decent enough so I figured I'd leave the bottom hinge as is and only redo the top one. This was kinda convenient since that top hinge was the last original rear hinge so I could atleast put a new hinge on at the same time.
The other 3 rear door hinges were too rusty to salvage. For example here's what the original driver rear lower hinge looked like before it was replaced.
Some careful cutting and grinding later the hinge was off.
From there I played the fun game of adjusting the door over and over under all of the gaps looked good. I ended up having to adjust the front door as well as it was sitting too close to the roof.
Once I felt it was good the hinge was tacked in and then I double checked the door still opened / shut nicely and all the gaps looked good. After then it was fully welded in.
(The new hinge is a factory NOS part. I was lucky enough to find a seller and bought 4 of them a few years back)
I like to add an extra weld on the inside rear. The hinges are known for cracking at the factory welds and while I don't have factory welds anymore I like how much the extra weld helps reduce the flex in the pillar.
All in all the door came out pretty good. It's interesting to see how much the hinge was moved. The white line to the left is where the old hinge ended.
The top of the door is leaning too far towards the rear.
The bottom of the door looked decent enough so I figured I'd leave the bottom hinge as is and only redo the top one. This was kinda convenient since that top hinge was the last original rear hinge so I could atleast put a new hinge on at the same time.
The other 3 rear door hinges were too rusty to salvage. For example here's what the original driver rear lower hinge looked like before it was replaced.
Some careful cutting and grinding later the hinge was off.
From there I played the fun game of adjusting the door over and over under all of the gaps looked good. I ended up having to adjust the front door as well as it was sitting too close to the roof.
Once I felt it was good the hinge was tacked in and then I double checked the door still opened / shut nicely and all the gaps looked good. After then it was fully welded in.
(The new hinge is a factory NOS part. I was lucky enough to find a seller and bought 4 of them a few years back)
I like to add an extra weld on the inside rear. The hinges are known for cracking at the factory welds and while I don't have factory welds anymore I like how much the extra weld helps reduce the flex in the pillar.
All in all the door came out pretty good. It's interesting to see how much the hinge was moved. The white line to the left is where the old hinge ended.
While the door was off the Jeep I noticed that it had some damage around the latch area. I suspect the Jeep that it came off was rear ended hard enough to push the quarter panel / latch into the door. The rest of the door including around the hinges looks perfectly fine.
So while it was off I pulled the dents out and did my best to clean it up.
So while it was off I pulled the dents out and did my best to clean it up.
mike93lx
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Impressive work. I lack both the patience and skill for this kind of stuff
Ohmthis
Well-known member
You might want to make your body rack where you can bolt parts to it. Doors and hoods can be heavy. A stand that can pivot from horizontal to vertical would be damn handy. I’m enjoying watching your progress.
Thanks, and do you have an example of what that'd look like? I was envisioning building a diy version of something like this with stronger tube but am open to options.
My main requirement is that the rack is big enough to fit up to a hood or even an axle housing but not so large it's a PITA to store.
Ohmthis
Well-known member
It's been a minute since I've given any updates but I paused on the Jeep (temporarily) due to having too many other projects.
To give a quick summary of what I've been up to, at the end of June I bought a mini split for the apartment above and in order to run power from the breaker box to the outdoor unit I had to pull down my massive shelf and get everything away from the wall.
Then while I was at it I figured I should add some 240v outlets so I could stop plugging my welder into the dryer outlet.
After that I finally finished building my mini bike and built a hitch receiver for my car to haul it
Then this RSX type-s with a blown trans followed me home so I rebuilt the trans and have been picking away at getting it road legal.
And lastly, I've been converting the old rear bumper from the torn down XJ to fit on my daily XJ since it's just been laying around.
In terms of next steps for the XJ I want to put the hood and hatch back on it so I can check the body lines but I don't know where the bolts or hinges are. This isn't the first time I've had trouble finding parts in the shop so I plan on sorting through all my bins before going any further.
(That's not all the parts)
I've also been tossing some things to free up space because I've come to realize a lot of the parts laying around aren't actually needed or are junk and need to be replaced anyways.
To give a quick summary of what I've been up to, at the end of June I bought a mini split for the apartment above and in order to run power from the breaker box to the outdoor unit I had to pull down my massive shelf and get everything away from the wall.
Then while I was at it I figured I should add some 240v outlets so I could stop plugging my welder into the dryer outlet.
After that I finally finished building my mini bike and built a hitch receiver for my car to haul it
Then this RSX type-s with a blown trans followed me home so I rebuilt the trans and have been picking away at getting it road legal.
And lastly, I've been converting the old rear bumper from the torn down XJ to fit on my daily XJ since it's just been laying around.
In terms of next steps for the XJ I want to put the hood and hatch back on it so I can check the body lines but I don't know where the bolts or hinges are. This isn't the first time I've had trouble finding parts in the shop so I plan on sorting through all my bins before going any further.
(That's not all the parts)
I've also been tossing some things to free up space because I've come to realize a lot of the parts laying around aren't actually needed or are junk and need to be replaced anyways.
Haha you got me. I bought it for the engine / trans but at the same time I've got a B20V waiting to be built (you can see the parts in top left of the last pic) that I'm prob gonna slap in the hatch first.
runit
Well-known member
You are doing the Lord's work saving XJs.
They are getting few and far between.
Which I hate!
They are getting few and far between.
Which I hate!
Dug through the bins tonight and got everything sorted out. I also made a pile of stuff to toss for things that were either too rough to salvage, or just wouldn't be needed.
I found some silly things like a bunch of window regulators. Most of them are pretty worn so I'm only keeping the 1 good one.
I also found some cool bits like a new OEM center console latch I forgot I bought as a spare.
Once I was happy with how everything was sorted I binned them all back up and got them back in storage.
(I couldn't find a bin to fit that wiring harness)
I also made a smaller bin with all the stuff I'll need short term while doing the metal work. Things like the hood hinges, door hinge bolts, and more.
I wasn't able to find the hatch hinges in any of the bins because it turns out they were still bolted on the Jeep. I had forgotten that I left them on it because one of the bolts snapped when I tried to remove them haha.
I found some silly things like a bunch of window regulators. Most of them are pretty worn so I'm only keeping the 1 good one.
I also found some cool bits like a new OEM center console latch I forgot I bought as a spare.
Once I was happy with how everything was sorted I binned them all back up and got them back in storage.
(I couldn't find a bin to fit that wiring harness)
I also made a smaller bin with all the stuff I'll need short term while doing the metal work. Things like the hood hinges, door hinge bolts, and more.
I wasn't able to find the hatch hinges in any of the bins because it turns out they were still bolted on the Jeep. I had forgotten that I left them on it because one of the bolts snapped when I tried to remove them haha.
This is really cool and impressive but I have to ask, and I mean this in the nicest way possible so don't kill me. Why not just get one in better shape to start with? That amount of rust is terrifying to me. I love those so it's really awesome you are saving it, but man, what an incredible amount of work.
Whaddya ya mean? The VIN tag is still intact! Easy-peasy!
RalphInCA
Well-known member
The explanation is, and I’m saying this in the nicest way possible so don’t kill me, if you have to ask, you won’t understand.
Translation: it's a bit of a masochist restoration thing. If it was easy and sensible, well, where's the fun in that?
I already did buy one in better shape lol. I fixed it over the winter last year and now it's my daily. I still want to fix this one though.
It's hard to explain but big projects like this are equally about the journey as the destination.
Pretty much lol.Translation: it's a bit of a masochist restoration thing. If it was easy and sensible, well, where's the fun in that?
Not much to update on since I'm still focused on wrapping up other projects but I did get the hood and "new" hatch mounted up so I could double check panel alignment.
Hood mounted up:
(It's sitting a little lower than the fender because it's missing the rubber spacer)
I stole the original hatch off this XJ for my other XJ and had to source another hatch for this XJ which is why it's green.
The new hatch is actually in better shape than the original with just a few small rust spots around the license plate bolt holes. Since it'll need some metal work and eventually paint I wanted to strip it down but I immediately ran into trouble trying to remove the bolts above the license plate due to how rusty they were.
I tried to drill them out but that wasn't getting anywhere so I opted to get a little destructive.
Then I went ahead and removed the rear window. Don't worry, I removed it in one piece.
No window makes it a lot easier to install the hatch on the XJ when your working solo.
Overall the alignment of the hatch to the quarter panels looks just about perfect. I need to tweak the hinges a bit to shrink the gap on the driver side but I was more focused on making sure the curves lined up first.
Driver side:
Passenger side:
That's it for now. Up here the weather's getting colder with winter closing in and the last auto cross event is this next weekend so I predict I'll have a lot more time for the XJ soon.
Hood mounted up:
(It's sitting a little lower than the fender because it's missing the rubber spacer)
I stole the original hatch off this XJ for my other XJ and had to source another hatch for this XJ which is why it's green.
The new hatch is actually in better shape than the original with just a few small rust spots around the license plate bolt holes. Since it'll need some metal work and eventually paint I wanted to strip it down but I immediately ran into trouble trying to remove the bolts above the license plate due to how rusty they were.
I tried to drill them out but that wasn't getting anywhere so I opted to get a little destructive.
Then I went ahead and removed the rear window. Don't worry, I removed it in one piece.
No window makes it a lot easier to install the hatch on the XJ when your working solo.
Overall the alignment of the hatch to the quarter panels looks just about perfect. I need to tweak the hinges a bit to shrink the gap on the driver side but I was more focused on making sure the curves lined up first.
Driver side:
Passenger side:
That's it for now. Up here the weather's getting colder with winter closing in and the last auto cross event is this next weekend so I predict I'll have a lot more time for the XJ soon.
cpttuna
Well-known member
It's been hot and humid the past few days so not much progress has been made but I did get some small stuff done.
Freshly primed fender looks pretty good mounted up.
I'm thinking I should strip down both doors and prime them as well but first I want to build some kind of body panel rack that'll let me spray both sides at once easier. Ideally it'll have large wheels so I can roll it outside too.
I also touched up the passenger rocker by opening up the drain holes more. How they started:
How they ended up.
I wanted more of an oval look but the front one got opened up too much. Having them as ovals wasn't my initial plan but I wanted the holes to be as close to the edge as possible for better water drainage due to the slope of the rocker and the initial holes were already drilled too far inwards.
Opening them up while laying underneath it sucked so I put the holes in the driver rocker before it gets installed.
From there I started fixing up some spot welds that weren't fully ground down.
The spot welds sit higher than the original ones because I made the inner fender lip go up instead of down. My hopes is this will help prevent rust because I can seam seal the joint from the bottom.
Also, I lied when I said the doors were empty. The passenger rear one was still fully loaded so I finally emptied it out.
Then all four doors were cleaned up by removing any clips, stickers, or debris.
Fun fact about the doors. They came from 3 different Cherokees. The two fronts came from a Cherokee in New York, the silver driver rear door is from New Jersey, and the passenger rear door came from Arizona.
And lastly since I was tired of all the blasting media and dirt inside the interior I did my best to blast everything out with compressed air.
cpttuna
Well-known member
when I redid the front end of my son's XJ, I had to buy one fender aftermarket and got the other side from the junkyard. the difference in getting them to fit was unreal.
Not fun. I've had to deal with some fitment issues on the aftermarket rear quarter panels I bought but those seem more forgiving than a fender.
I may have spoken a little too soon when I said I wasn't ready to get back into the XJ. I ended up spending the past two evenings fiddling on it and was able to get a few things done.
First up, I pulled the glass out of the spare hatch I have because it's an OEM privacy glass that I want to save for the XJ.
This hatch came off the XJ I bought in Colorado last year and drove back home (note the Colorado temp plate lol). It doesn't have any rust but as you can tell it used to be red and was painted over so I'm hesitant to use it because I'd have to strip a ton of paint off it.
Once the glass was out I set it aside in a new hiding spot behind my LS and spare 4.0 until I decide what to do with it.
Then I finished up a small touch on the driver side rocker by drilling some access holes into the top of it. I wanted these holes so I can re-apply fluid film as needed and also see how things are doing atop the 2x6 rocker when it's welded in. The holes will be hidden beneath the door sill plates so no one will ever know they're there.
After that I tackled one of the last big mistakes left on the XJ by repositioning the driver rear door. It had shifted towards the front of the Jeep back when I pushed the windshield forward and since the hinges are welded to the body this was more involved than just unbolting and repositioning it.
I had to chop off the top hinge.
Tack welded on so I could triple check fitment. I am NOT doing this again.
Once fitment was good I welded it on.
Overall the gaps are much better. The rear door sits about 1/16" closer to the rear quarter than I like but I think it's good enough.
I'm not sure what my next step is yet but I'd really like to start welding the new driver quarter panel on and making the inner rear wheel well. I may start on that or I may go back and redo a patch I made on the passenger quarter panel by the roof. I promise I'm not going in circles there's just a few things I rushed on in the past that I want to address before I hit the body work stage.
Side note: I figured out why I paused on the Jeep for so long. I only like doing metal work when it's cool in the shop because when it gets warm in the summer I get covered in sweat and itchy with all the metal dust. Now that it's gotten colder out again it's perfect temp in the shop.
First up, I pulled the glass out of the spare hatch I have because it's an OEM privacy glass that I want to save for the XJ.
This hatch came off the XJ I bought in Colorado last year and drove back home (note the Colorado temp plate lol). It doesn't have any rust but as you can tell it used to be red and was painted over so I'm hesitant to use it because I'd have to strip a ton of paint off it.
Once the glass was out I set it aside in a new hiding spot behind my LS and spare 4.0 until I decide what to do with it.
Then I finished up a small touch on the driver side rocker by drilling some access holes into the top of it. I wanted these holes so I can re-apply fluid film as needed and also see how things are doing atop the 2x6 rocker when it's welded in. The holes will be hidden beneath the door sill plates so no one will ever know they're there.
After that I tackled one of the last big mistakes left on the XJ by repositioning the driver rear door. It had shifted towards the front of the Jeep back when I pushed the windshield forward and since the hinges are welded to the body this was more involved than just unbolting and repositioning it.
I had to chop off the top hinge.
Tack welded on so I could triple check fitment. I am NOT doing this again.
Once fitment was good I welded it on.
Overall the gaps are much better. The rear door sits about 1/16" closer to the rear quarter than I like but I think it's good enough.
I'm not sure what my next step is yet but I'd really like to start welding the new driver quarter panel on and making the inner rear wheel well. I may start on that or I may go back and redo a patch I made on the passenger quarter panel by the roof. I promise I'm not going in circles there's just a few things I rushed on in the past that I want to address before I hit the body work stage.
Side note: I figured out why I paused on the Jeep for so long. I only like doing metal work when it's cool in the shop because when it gets warm in the summer I get covered in sweat and itchy with all the metal dust. Now that it's gotten colder out again it's perfect temp in the shop.
cpttuna
Well-known member
will this jeep have mods? I was thinking like extended idle, 4 hole injectors, aux fan switch, driving lights??????????
Yup some good mods. My end goal is a 5.3 paired to a 4L60E with a NP241C TC and LSD front / rear (prob 4.10 gearing?). It'll be lifted 3" or so with 31-32s, flat fender flares, and 2x6 rockers. Basically stockish looking with more power than it needs lol.
Some details may change because I'm still at the phase where I need to focus on the bigger things and haven't gotten to the fun finishing touches yet.
XJSuperman
Well-known member
Thats close to what I got. 4.10s are great with 31s-33s. Not entirely sure what an LS/4l60e will do though. I need to check the name of the company but someone still makes a "socket" kit that holds the 2x6 rockers better. Its a stronger nicer way of getting them welded in apparently. I've got a set sitting waiting for me to install.
4 hole injectors are a must, and the ext idle is nice for warming up and winching.
4 hole injectors are a must, and the ext idle is nice for warming up and winching.
rust in the eye
Well-known member
Good on you for saving this thing. Clearly a labor of love, that or you were dropped on your head while an infant.
I wish you smooth sailing for the rest of the project.
Kind of sorry to hear the old 4.0 grinder is going away.
.I wish you smooth sailing for the rest of the project.
Kind of sorry to hear the old 4.0 grinder is going away.
Hmm I should prob double check that plan. I forgot the 4l60e will have different gearing.
Those are pretty cool. If I had to do it again I'd prob consider using them instead of my DIY solution with angle just to save some time.
Strong agree on the 4 hole injectors I had a set in this XJ when it had the 4.0 and I stole them for my daily XJ. Good to know about the ext idle mod. I'm putting a winch on the daily and will look into that as well.
LolGood on you for saving this thing. Clearly a labor of love, that or you were dropped on your head while an infant
And I made a bit more progress on the XJ tonight. I made a new patch for the top right corner of the pass quarter panel. The first patch I made was a little hacky and would have made life hell trying to bodyfill.
Corner cut out.
Digging through my notes I found some scribbles on how I made the same patch on the driver side a couple years ago. I've got a folder of all the various patch templates I've made while fixing this thing. Sometimes it comes in handy.
This is what the driver side one looked like.
My bead roller is a budget friendly modded woodward fab unit with some extra bracing.
I forgot to take some progress pics and the new patch doesn't photograph well but it's all finished up.
It respects the body lines much better. I wish my phone could get a better shot though for some reason it doesn't like the bare grinded metal next to the black primer.
Ignore that hole in the roof for now.
Autocross season is over so not much else to do but work on the XJ. The old hatch hinges have been removed.
New hinges in.
And started welding the driver rear quarter skin in.
I double checked it against the passenger side to make sure all the measurements matched up.
Top seam will be fully welded tomorrow because I ran out of time tonight.
New hinges in.
And started welding the driver rear quarter skin in.
I double checked it against the passenger side to make sure all the measurements matched up.
Top seam will be fully welded tomorrow because I ran out of time tonight.
Zap zap zap. Top seam welded up.
Cleaned up. The panel has some very minor warping by the weld but it's inwards so it should be easy to skim coat with filler when the time comes.
Plug welds cleaned up.
Fitment looks good! I've been very paranoid about making a mistake since I've had to fix several of them recently and have been double checking everything.
Gas cap door was installed to ensure the quarter panel skin was where it should be. The hinge doesn't allow for moving in / out so I wanted to make sure the door lined up.
Next up is to fit up the fender flare and cut the wheel opening as needed. I'm itching to weld in the 2x6 rocker and finish up this side pretty bad as the parts have just been waiting to be installed forever.
Cleaned up. The panel has some very minor warping by the weld but it's inwards so it should be easy to skim coat with filler when the time comes.
Plug welds cleaned up.
Fitment looks good! I've been very paranoid about making a mistake since I've had to fix several of them recently and have been double checking everything.
Gas cap door was installed to ensure the quarter panel skin was where it should be. The hinge doesn't allow for moving in / out so I wanted to make sure the door lined up.
Next up is to fit up the fender flare and cut the wheel opening as needed. I'm itching to weld in the 2x6 rocker and finish up this side pretty bad as the parts have just been waiting to be installed forever.
stinkity stoink
Well-known member
Looking good !!
zmotorsports
ALLIANCE MEMBER
I can't believe I forgot all the important stuff. Maybe if I nix the LS I can afford some light bars. Lol.Yeah, yeah, yeah, those mods sound great, but it's a Jeep, are you going to put lightbars on it and have a place to line up all your ducks??????
Made a bit of progress tonight. Didn't really feel like doing much. I ended up digging out my old template for the inner quarter panel piece and made a driver side one.
Test fit went good. It needs to be painted before I can weld it in and I didn't want to paint tonight so I stopped.
My XJ used to be cut n folded which is why I'm missing the original lower structure.
Ended up getting more done tonight than expected. Looking at that patch panel I made the other night I noticed the template I based it on had a mistake. The top corner was notched when it shouldn't have been so there was a gap.
I settled on welding the corner back on lol
Then I hacked up my brand new quarter panel and trimmed the wheel well opening for the new fender flare (bushwacker flats)
Did a bunch of sanding inside / out to prep for primer.
Primed. The primer is still wet in the pic hence the shine. It'll dull out by tomorrow.
And of course the patch panel was primed too.
I settled on welding the corner back on lol
Then I hacked up my brand new quarter panel and trimmed the wheel well opening for the new fender flare (bushwacker flats)
Did a bunch of sanding inside / out to prep for primer.
Primed. The primer is still wet in the pic hence the shine. It'll dull out by tomorrow.
And of course the patch panel was primed too.
Got a good streak going this week. I'll have to pause next week for other stuff but let's see what we can get done until them.
Fender flare "installed" to ensure it matches the panel.
Inner patch test fitted one last time for measurements. I checked it against the passenger side one and the measurements mostly matched up.
Welded in and cleaned up.
Found a premade template so I made a copy of it and also found a ready to go inner bracing for behind the tail light that I made like a year ago.
Patch welded in.
All was good until I saw this massive gap. Oops.
For reference, this is what it should have looked like.
I decided to get a little creative and made an angle piece to cover the hole.
It's kinda goofy but I like it better than the welded corner on the passenger side. I'm not 100% sold on how all the metalwork down here looks but at the same time this things been sitting for 3 years 1 month. I want my garage space back.
Fender flare "installed" to ensure it matches the panel.
Inner patch test fitted one last time for measurements. I checked it against the passenger side one and the measurements mostly matched up.
Welded in and cleaned up.
Found a premade template so I made a copy of it and also found a ready to go inner bracing for behind the tail light that I made like a year ago.
Patch welded in.
All was good until I saw this massive gap. Oops.
For reference, this is what it should have looked like.
I decided to get a little creative and made an angle piece to cover the hole.
It's kinda goofy but I like it better than the welded corner on the passenger side. I'm not 100% sold on how all the metalwork down here looks but at the same time this things been sitting for 3 years 1 month. I want my garage space back.