To recap, I removed the lower door skin that was rusted through by cutting across the door, then grinding off the edges to expose the seams. Once exposed, the piece is split open and removed.
As always, Rust Bullet is applied to the inners to stop the surface rust that had formed
as well as to help preserve the metal for many years to come.
Now, a new piece is sourced and shaped to fit the door bottom.
The piece has to match the shape and contour of the original very closely, otherwise,
when welded, it will pull and warp the door out of shape.
Once cut to size, the contour has to be set:
The Shrinker -Stretcher is a tool that has made this process so easy it's silly.
I used to hand-form contoured parts - with heat, pie-cuts and lots of bending...
Now it's just a matter of a few stretches in the right place and the piece starts to curve..
A perfect contour:
Eastwood's Butt-clamps work well here:
Not to forget - the little inner-piece on the cab corner,
The new GM truck floor was brought in to begin the major process of making it fit the IH box...
