[Alan's Classic]

Originally Posted by shortbed70

Progress is progress man keep chippin away at it.

One step at a time.

Originally Posted by daverod

What no electron micro shots I'm very disappointed.

HAHA

I got bored at work and the only thing I had there to work on in my spare time was the 4Runner. I decided to do a step by step on how to make a patch panel with only a few hand tools and a welder. It might help someone out.

First step find what you want to cut out.



And mark what you want to cut out.





I used an old tailgate for some scrap metal and laid it out. I over sized the pattern for trimming.



First set of bends was made with a vise and body hammer as well as the rest of the bends.



I made some relief cuts to make the compound curve. The original piece is behind it. I clamped it in place a little at a time to form the curves. Don't distort the original panel. You will end up with a bad patch.



I tacked the cuts to hold it's shape then removed the rusty piece and finished welding.



Ground the welds down and here is the patch.



Trimmed to fit and tacked in place. I did clean up the inner structure on the truck prior to install





2 more pics coming..........