Hey Listers:
I am just finishing up welding repalcement and fabricated panels to complete
the interior of my Sprite--the rear bulkheads and the foot well areas. I will
wait to replace the floor until after I have sandblasted the entire
interior--I thought it would be much easier as everything is accessable and
the sand will just fall out instead of being trapped by the floor.
Now a couple of questions. Next welding I have to do is to replace the outer
Rocker panels and the door hinge posts. First, would it be best to do the
rocker panels BEFORE attempting the door hinge posts so I will have a
structure under the posts to weld them to--and greater structural integrity?
Also--while I have both full replacement rocker panels, the original panels
are rusted out only about a third or halfway from the front. Should I go
ahead and replace the whole rocker panel anyway, or cut the originals and the
replacements in two and replace only what needs replacing? Same with the door
hinge posts--only the lower hinges are rusted out but I have the entire
replacement post. Should I replace the whole thing or just the lower?
The advantage I can see in cutting them and replacing only what needs
replacing is that I would not be breaking welds and would preserve the
structure that is there.
Thanks for any replies on this. Any tips or ideas on doing this replacement
is welcome. I am just a bit intimidated about cutting out these structural
pieces. I can see the whole thing just folding up in the middle. But I'm a
gonna do it anyway. So any input will be read and integrated into my project.
Thanks!!!
---David
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