Despite the arctic conditions this weekend, I decided to man up and get in the garage. Grr.
Can't believe I didn't do it earlier, but I finally realised there were discounts to be had with a TMF+ membership. Instantly got my money back in minispares discount on these two bad boys.
Genuine quarter panel and not-so-genuine door step. I added the door step to the shopping list after staring at the B post for a while trying to work out the best plan of attack. It finally dawned on me that I would need to sort the doorstep before even thinking about putting a new quarter panel on. Also, the doorsteps I had sourced previously weren't going to cut it because the rust extends into the curved bits. DOH.
Prior to surgery:
Since the inner sill is mostly rot, I welded in a quick brace to hold it straight while I removed the old door step. The brace will be removed when I replace the inner sill, but the door frame will be much more rigid by then. One hopes, anyway.
Old door step gets chop. Yuk.
Stripped the e-coat off the new door step and trimmed it to size. It took a lot of fettling to get the correct curvature in the corners. Looks messy at this stage, but everything is in the right place.
I did a quick test fit of the door to make sure everything was OK, and when I was happy, I seam welded the joints. The welds will be dressed back to a smooth finish.
Annoyingly, the curvature into the A post turned out to be a bit thin from rust on the inside. Ho hum. Better to find out now rather than later I guess. I started to cut out the affected area, but it was getting well cold by this point so I called it a day. Hate leaving bits like this unfinished, so hopefully I'll be able to get it sorted during the week.
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