reinstalled the door, aligned and gapped. It will come off again when the car comes apart for color

Moved to the pass side and tore into lower A-pillar. Found a little rot, much more solid than drivers side. CUT, BLAST,FAB,PREP,WELD,GRIND,SAND, DONE, NEXT....

Back to the pass side lower front quarter rocker area, I left primer off of the area knowing I would be cutting this out, The straight edge shows how much of a warp bulge they put into the panel. the red square shows how flat it became once the panel was cut and relieved.

Doner panel from a goodmark skin. Really helpful having a panel already close to shape. But the details are just CRAP. The rocker flange is inadequate, the drain is non existent, the folds at the door and at the fender were very soft (rounded over) so plenty of hammer dolly to tighten them up. Overall it saves plenty of time but these panels all need plenty of touch time.

Welded a bead across the gap left by the lead removal along the rocker, patch panel installed and straight. almost zero deflection at the weld seam, the wheel lip is wonky cause in its previous life someone cut and hammered the flange up.

Last few pics for a couple months. Merry Christmas everybody

Did a little over the Christmas break, I have a contract for a model yacht due in March so little to no update till then after today.

Stripped the gallons of filler off the door to find (not surprisingly) poor patches and hidden rot, the door is much better than so many original units that are available so I will be repairing this one unless a good one turns up.

The lower front inner corner looked like gobs of bubble gum when i stripped the paint off. The door skin has a bunch of high spots (dings) made from inside, and plenty of areas that will need attention.

Put the driver door, Passenger jamb and rocker repairs in Epoxy and High Build. The repair fab work is nearing its end and I will get into filler, blocking and prep for base coat very soon

Then I find the next surprise. not really too bad, I will cut out some of the inner structure to access the backside of these areas and repair accordingly. The structure will be welded back into position. I am getting excited to move into the body work phase to really get a good look at a fresh straight and proper base for painting.

I would expect that when the weight pf the glass, regulators, & etc are added to the doors that they'll hang lower at the rear.
You may have already checked and/or accounted for that, just thought I'd mention it.

Yep, But complete or empty the door has to be exactly where it is when finished. When the door has all the parts in it, it will need to be adjusted/ aligned again. When the car has its final prime, the engine compartment, trunk and glass channels will have color it will go to the owners shop for some sub assemblies to be installed. I expect it to come back as a roller with all the glass installed for final fitting of sheetmetal, blocking and paint.

Well I'm back on the Cuda next weekend this is what had me occupied the last couple months.

it is a Westport 135' raised pilothouse motoryacht about 42" long 1:40 scale

Man, that is incredible work.

Yessir, that's a beauty. I fool around with 1/25-scale model vehicles - 'bout half to work on my up-close depth perception since the detached retina repair, and half because a small fleet of cars is easier to handle than building 'em in 1/1 scale.
Not to mention cheaper - the $30,000 I used to spend a year on that would probably be twice that now !

Passenger door received the patches needed, the inside and outside of the lower front had rust issues, I cut out the poor prior patch and the rust on the back side, created new patches and stiched them into place as always i treat the insde and backside of patches with rust inhibitor and coppercoat weld thru primer.

repairs and more to follow

Man, that thing just keeps on "giving" !

Other patch pics. And from the previous damage the door had a mis-shaped edge so I had to hang the door to match the body profile to the door.

this was the previous patch of the door back edge. the small patch on the lower inside front