cutting rust out of long, will car fold? Options

[rjames]

I need to cut the metal out on the driver's side long (see photo below). The bottome of the long is ok, so I won't (shouldn't) have to cut that out. Do I need to secure the frame when doing this, or if the rest of the long is ok (and it is) will it hold it's dimensions? I've seen some other postings where they've made stabalizing connections that spanned from the seat belt bolt to where the door bolts on. Is this necessary for what I'm about to cut out?

As always, thanks for any and all responses!

[brant]

I would think that would be fine also..
I'd put the car up on jackstands under the donuts and not leave it on the suspension (so as to reduce the leverage and potential buckle)

also I'd be careful with not getting anything too hot or causing warp, when putting metal back...

maybe weld a little bit...
cool it...
wait...

then weld a little bit more...

I've seen warp cause an awful lot of door gap problems even if the car didn't buckle at all during the cutting phase.

brant