Today I’m taking it easy. It’s been a busy weekend and I’ve had lots of success so I’m not going to push my luck much further. My task for the day is straightening out the rear passenger-side panel. This panel wraps around the rear corner and connects the rear valence to the rear fender. I holds the tailgate hinges and tail light.
The problem with this section is it’s pretty beaten up. It most likely was dented as it was moved around after being taken off its previous frame, but I have no way to tell. All I know is that the hard top rail is banged up and out of shape and the right in the bend along the rear corner it’s dented in and needs to be straightened.
I took the trusty hammer and knocked out some of the larger dents, but the finessing wasn’t happening as well as I had hoped. I may need to get a torch and heat up the metal for a better finish, but I was able to mostly straighten the rail and got some of the dents out. I had to sit the tub on its side and use a crowbar to bend the bottom section back into alignment (and of the issues this one actually came out the best). I’ll be revisiting this again and most likely adding some body filler to clean it up a bit more, but for now again it works.
Not sure where I’ll go next, but there is plenty left to do. More to come later.