Nose panel replacement

With the acquisition of the panel this week, and a day to actually work on the van, I went to town on the front end today.

As a reminder, this is what I have to work with:

Swiss cheese of a panel.  Both above and below the directional location is toast. 

So this is what I did to repair it.

I started by carving out the bad parts of the panel.

I ran a tape line to keep the cut straight.  Then I cut down alongside the seam leaving enough to be able to clean up the seam perfectly.  I used a drill to cut the spot welds and then sandblasted the surface so as to have a clean weld point.

This is what the panel removed looks like prior to sandblasting. 

I then put the cut out piece upon the donor panel and marked off my cut lines. I added approx 3/8 of an inch so I would have the material to flange the panel in order to have a place to weld and secure it to the body. 



With the flanges, I can weld in the panel and have a recessed portion for those welds.  This will keep it all secure and beneath any needed body filler, which will be minimal due to stitch welding and keeping panel as cool as possible.

Also did the panel behind the bumper.

First, started by sandblasting the mating surfaces again. 

The holes were punched by me.  The lower ones were allowed to be further apart as it is a known seal and will contain a better than factory type sealant.  The upper ones were done about an inch apart to keep it strong and eliminate any potential movement of the joint.

Still needing to finish the welds, and clean them up, but this picture shows the piece of the panel I also used to replace an iffy portion of the original.

All things considered, it was a successful afternoon.  Still need to finish up, and clean up the welds for bodywork, but warpage was minimal, the panels are strong and do not look like Swiss cheese.