Started on the pan repairs. Both side rails of the pan are going to have to be cut out all the way down and replaced. Also lots of fabrication work on the frame head. The area surrounding the rust is really solid and while it looks bad there are good lines of demarcation between the rust and the good metal. I did some test spots on the center of the pan with a 3m pad thing on the die grinder and it cleaned it up real nice so as a learning experience I’m going for repairing the pan rather than replacing it all together. It’s a good place to learn to weld since its not really visible after the body is back on.
Here is a shot of the side rail of the pan before cutting.
And a picture of it after cutting out the bad part with the plasma cutter.
I wish I had gotten straighter lines but I’m sure that will come with practice this was my first time using it. I have to say its an awesome tool. You can cut away without any prep work and it doesn’t beat the crap out of the surrounding work area like a body saw can and its much much faster than a cut off wheel.
I got the beam off as well and started surveying the rust damage on the frame head.
