Dave Rich update 3/6/19

Hi Ann,

Thank you again for the books!  They are great and have given me some added inspiration

Since your visit last week:

Dent removal on roof.  Sanded roof and drip rails to prep for primer.




Welded damage in firewall area back together and surface welded area for body working



This area will have a small amount of filler (millimeters really) and the welded area will be invisible when finished out













Cut open old repair on driver side rocker panel to assess extent of prior damage.  



There is internal rust that extends on the inside such it will necessitate replacing much of the metal in this area.  

I suspect the passenger side will look similar due to the rust damage on the inner rocker panel.  Unfortunately, the outer rocker is peculiar to the wagon and no one makes it..  We will have to hand form and weld from several pieces of steel.

Ordered the replacement inner rocker panels and floor supports that are bad. as well as the lower inner tailgate panel that is badly rusted.

Disassembled right front inner fender assembly and corrected previous crash damage.

As you can see, this area was deformed in 2 directions. One area was almost a puncture.

The repair of this area was done in 2 steps.  First, gross corrections were made to get close to the original shape.  




Then the creases and other imperfections were tapped out using sheet metal hammers and dollies

The panel as it sits now.

There are very small imperfections but I believe these will disappear with some high-build primer and some block sanding.  

The damaged area was on the lower left in the area of the 3 louvers.





Work has continued this week but we will save that for the next update!

Thank you!
Dave