It's Like Liposuction

April 10, 2008

I grabbed some time on one of those nice April days; the kind of days that still have a crispness from the previous winter, but the nasty spring-thaw has had some time to relinquish. Since the wagoneer was now bound to my property by a) not being road-legal for some time, and b) being too expensive to tow/float to the farm, it was high time to dive into some full on rust-curing. 

Armed with my trusty grinder and a pack of COW's, I began slicing out body steel that would need some serious attention (which is to say, would need to be replaced). I sliced off almost the entire length of rocker panel on both sides of the truck, because they were in atrocious condition. the nasty pathetic old patches you see here were also removed.

Prior to becoming a surgeon, I took measurements and made a template for the new rocker panels. A trip to a steel supply centre with a classmate provided me with $40 worth of steel stock that i had cut into specific sizes. I spent a great deal of time at Humber College's prototype shop getting everything marked out, bent, and assembled. the results were pretty decent I thought, for never having worked with steel to that extent before. the replacement rockers are sitting in the back of the Jeep (built in 3-foot sections, since our metal bender is not big enough for the whole piece).

Also cut out the rear seam in the trunk, as you can see in the above image. As a general idea of what kind of rust this thing had, just peruse the following pics.