I spent the weekend finally getting some work done on my car.

Previously I had ordered a trunk kit to replace the rusty metal in the tire well and around the gas tank.  This weekend I got the well replaced.

The new well was long and designed to be fit to size.  I did some initial fitting and cut the lip off where it would be in the way.

Next up was cutting out the old well. Fun times in cramped working conditions.

Well is out and fitting the new well continues.  There was a radius on the old well where it blended with the trunk floor, I removed it with a hammer and dolly to make a better connection when the new well went in.

Everything is flat and a LIGHT coating of zinc primer has been sprayed on.  You can see holes in the trunk floor where I have been using cleco clips to hold the new well in for fitting.

fitted and clamped in place.  Ready to be welded.  This was as far as I got the first day.  Cutting and fitting took about 7 hours of work.

Next morning...  Zap zap zap zap all the way around.  I found a few placed where the zinc had gone on a little thick and was getting contaminated welds from it.  So I took it down a bit and my welds got good again.  Also welding up the holes from the cleco clips while I go.

Well is in and I had plenty of time left to fit the well floor.  it was close, but there were lots of gaps I'd need to close with hammer and dolly while welding it in.  No room for clecos here, so I just layed in a couple tacks and went for it.

Working around the well floor.The copper strip is used as a heat sink that weld won't stick to.  The RR Spike is and dolly are both used to move the metal to cloe the gaps.  You can see the gaps closing up where while I work around the well.  This was a good bit of work.

And its in, with literal minutes to spare before I had to stop work, clean up, and make the 3 hour drive back home.  I scrubbed it with some ospho to remove the surface rust that had formed, and then sprayed on some more ospho to keep new rust from forming until the next time I could get to it.

Next step will be the gas tank surround.  Once that's done I can put the gas tank back in, run fuel lines, and no longer have to push the car around to work on it!

Zach