He finally has a face!

Things continue to move along with Mater. He finally got a face. This last 2 weeks I have spent most of my time re-attaching the front fenders, hood, grill, and headlights and front turn signals. He's actually starting to look like a truck. That is if you ignore the fact that there are no doors, bed, or tailgate. But those are merely minor problems soon to be tackled. The pictures below are some of the first major body work I have had to do. The PO (previous owner) tried to fill in the passenger lower door panel with bondo to cover some rust. The picture shows the huge chunk of the stuff that I cut out of the rotted section. I had to cut out the lower curved section and part of the flat side panel. I used some 18g steel after creating a cardboard template and made a two piece patch. The lower section created the curve then I welded in the flat face section and used the grinder to pretty things up. The welds along the lip of the door skin were tricky due to old, thin, rusting metal. If you weld too hot you just blow a hole through the metal and create a new place that needs patched. It's not a perfect job but it will probably outlast the rest of the truck. I hope to have the doors mounted in a few weeks. I need to check the window mechanisms and door latches then hang them back on.