a day with the hurtlocker truck

Here's a snippet from a day on the Hurtlocker Truck...
A good "how to save a door"

rust out

This is the last rust spot.
As far as we've come,
it is amazing to be able to type that.
Ken decided to buy a repop drivers door as it was way too hammered,
and he thought that he should have bought a passenger as well.
The cheap in me believed this was salvageable,
especially after all the fit work on the door gaps.

hammer time

Since we're at his place,
there is very little shop infrastructure,
but if there's a will there's a way.
Just give me my hammer.

patch panel

His kids basketball hoop base was the perfect form.
A bit later the patch panel was finished.

fitment

The old rust was cut out,
and after trying to fit the patch as one piece,
it was easier to cut it in half.




















The second piece was clamped up and tacked in.
Much faster to line up a straight door bottom.

suck in pull out

Tip - Here's a trick to pop out a sucked in part.
Weld a nut and pry out with a screwdriver.

welded

Another patch was cut out for that corner piece,
but by that time I was on a roll and the camera was not.

plastic fantastic

This was a down and dirty patch,
with very little access to the back side for hammering.
I did what I could to get it straight,
and smoothed it flat with some filler.

smooth

The door corners and edges had been regapped using TIG rod,
so they were welded and again more plastic.
It's gonna be smooth when painted up.
More to come!

TP