Patch Update

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Spoiler: They’re done.

The holes that correspond to vague circles on the templates were intended for plug welds, I used the one on the smaller patch but on the larger it was in a very thin spot so I ended up skipping it. Weight reduction!

In the past few days I’ve made the two smaller patches for the driver’s side (in hindsight I probably could have saved some effort on the passenger’s and done it this way too, but the weird bends from a long-ago fall-off-the-jack complicated things).

Not a fan of actually welding through this, but it’s good to put on the backs of stuff about to be sandwiched for all eternity. Yes, the top-most piece is meant to have that curve to the big part.

With some weld-through primer on the backs of all the pieces (better than nothing) and the area-to-be-mounted-to prepped, today after work in they went.

The lumpy painted-over undercoating on the frame makes it look awful. It’s actually in pretty good shape. Trust me. Oh, and pardon the awful lighting. It’s fun welding while also holding a drop light.

After that I looked at the clock and said “hey I have time to keep working” so I seam sealer’ed over the welds (and unused holes intended for plug welds, some of which I ended up skipping for various reasons) and hit it with primer to match the rest.

The fender mounts to a clip nut, which goes where that hole is (there’s one at the rear, too). The hole will be embiggened before then; now that the patch is solidly in place I can more accurately locate and size it.

Next up: I’ve got a broken bolt I’ve been meaning to remove (can be seen above, far left) but keep forgetting about, I left the welder in the way so I remember to get to it tomorrow. After that, the suspension/steering will come off so I can clean up the frame.

Other news: shoulder still hurts some but I think it’s getting better. I’ve been avoiding working in positions which hurt and overall taking it easy on that arm when possible.