I wanted smooth edges covering all the rough sheet metal cuts, so aluminum angle was fitted the length of the inner panel cut line and attached with button head Allen screws. They were deliberately fitted in two pieces and with a bend in the middle to avoid being driven through the firewall into the occupants in the event of a crash.
Rather than spending time finishing the repairs with body filler and labor, steel plates were fabricated to cover the repaired ledge portion between the hood springs and radiator support.
Once satisfied with the fit of all the plates and angles they were removed. The rusted areas over the reinforcement brackets were cut out, ground clean, acid washed, dams formed from steel brackets and duct tape, then filled with JB Weld. The gap in the angled portion was then filled with JB Kwik because it sets in 3 minutes (no picture).
At this point all the new aluminum and steel parts were sanded down and brush painted with epoxy primer. The aluminum angles were bolted on and the steel plates were epoxied to the inner fenders with large C clamps over a generous bed of JB Weld.
Before completing the engine compartment, two events occurred that convinced me to reinstall the Gaylord bed cover that had been leaning against the garage wall for the last two years. First, one of our dump loads managed to knock a dent in the back of the cab just above the front bed panel. Second, my brother in law sold us their old box trailer made out of the back half of an old Ford Courier, so I didn’t need to abuse the GMC any longer.
Because I had already installed the stainless bed rails, I first thought about buying a soft cover that fit between bed rails. But since I already had the hard cover, and considering how ridiculously expensive they’ve become it seemed more prudent to reinstall the one I already had. Problem being I didn’t want to give up the bed rails. So after careful study, and against the advice of Gaylord, I decided to mount them on the hard cover purely for cosmetics.
I couldn’t use screws from the top because they would collide with the top of the bed sides. So I trimmed the cover seal underneath to accommodate stainless screws and fender washers from underneath pointing up. These were topped with chrome plated acorn nuts. I actually think they make a nice feature and look better than the original screws:
These were the first pictures taken after the cover and rails were reinstalled:
