Body Work

The Explorer had developed a bad little section of rust that Travis wanted to get fixed before this winter's salt glut on the roads and it got any worse. Apparently the spot is notorious for developing rust on this body of Explorer.
He wanted to keep a good record of his progress on the project, so here are the pictures.

Unfortunately, he didn't get a shot beforehand of the rust, so the first one is of the cut out section to be replaced:
Sheet metal cut to fit:
Ready to weld!
After welding and grinding down the welds:
The pre-formed piece that Travis bought, cut to fit and has mostly welded in place:
Grind, grind, grind:
All the pieces welded in and ground down:
Bondo and lots of sanding:
Primer and more sanding:
Paint and clear coat:
He just needs to drill holes now to refit the running board:
And finally, done and all put back together! Now we just have to give the paint a month before we can take the filthy thing through the car wash...
Great job Travis, it looks flawless! Actually, flawless doesn't really match the rest of it... hehe. Could I be any luckier with such a handy guy around?