Not planning to put these in--but you have a good eye!

While the car is upright, I started welding in the rear cross member brace that goes on top of the trunk floor.

Lots of great work going on there Bob. Keep it rolling.

Great job!

Getting close now.

John

Thanks, guys. Starting to eye the firewall and hell hole.

Bottom of the floor is nearly done! I flipped the car upside down to weld on the seat reinforcing strips and finish the welding along the butt seam between the front and rear sections.

Also welded on the front jacking donuts. Feeling good about the reinforcements I put on the inside surface of the floor above these.

Once I weld the rear floor edge seam, I can attache the rear gussets and donuts and the floor will be done!

Got to the rear seam, at the base of the firewall in the engine compartment. Plug welded all the way across plus seam welding the edge of the center tunnel, just like original.

Last job on the floor: the rear corner gussets and jacking donuts. Here is on as it came from RD.

And after trimming to fit and punching holes.

Here's the right side welded in.

And the left side. The floor is done!

Here's a preview of what is next: firewall, inner fender wall, and top of sill.

OK, now for what everyone has been waiting for (at least me): the hell hole, or what George wants us to call the slightly rusty battery area.

Here is the first cut taking out the rusty section of the firewall, mostly above the seam with the engine shelf.

Some of the rust extended below the shelf/upper-lower panel seam, down to the top of the sill.

Next, cutting out the top of the sill, and trying to separate the inner and outer layers of sheet metal. For now I stopped cutting where the outer layer shows only moderate to light pitting.

The good news: inside the sill I found only very minor surface rust, even on the bottom.

Now for the big hole, after cutting the inner fender wall from just above the battery tray level down to the sill.

Another view.

And from inside the rear fender.

A look at the engine mount.

Investigating between the back side of the mount and the sill face, seems like something is missing.

After deliberation and input from others on 914World (thanks!) I decided to leave the engine mount in place, at least for now. I dosed the joint between the mount and the sill with Corroseal.

Now to start filling in the holes I cut. Here's the patch for the inner fender wall, cut from the larger reproduction panel I got from AA.

I think you made the right call on that engine mount. As usual. I'm in awe of the speed and quality of your work.

I have seen this project in person a few times. The quality and speed of work is there but more importantly to note is Bob is a one man show. Very inspiring!

Nice, neat welding job!

You are making record time.

John

Thanks, guys. I am lucky to have the time to play restoration almost every day.

Yeah...your'e a slacker big time. Haha

Betch you miss Alaska?

Sometimes, but not so much in the extra long dark winter. Colorado mountains are at least as good, and the driving around here is way better.

Before welding the inner patch in place, I wanted to take advantage of the hole to access the inside of the outer fender panel. This had a PO repair with LOTS of bondo.

The fill was at least 1/8 across the entire panel.

To minimize the mess I mounted the Fein dust shield on the angle grinder. Not 100% but much better than without it.

Got the panel cleaned up, and did some initial smoothing. More work to come.

I also started on the top of the sill. This normally has two layers of sheet metal, but I decided to add a third inner layer patch. This extends about 2 inches forward and rear of the hole.

Here it is welded in place. I will need to grind this down to fit the "middle" panel patch.

And at the same time I tack welded the inner fender wall patch, and got the edges aligned.

Did some grinding and then tried to finish the butt seam welding around the patch. Got it done, but very frustrating with lots of burn-throughs. The final result is ugly, with lots of thick spot welds and big boogers. That will lead to more quality time with my grinder.

After a couple of hours of quality time with my angle grinder and die grinder, things are looking better. A few spots and holes to re-weld.

Getting ready for the next patch, the outer layer on the top of the sill.

I feel like I am in a groundhog day loop with the inner fender wall patch. After grinding yesterday, I checked the weld with a light inside the fender. This revealed a Buch of pin holes and thin spots, and a few segments where the weld did not penetrate.

So weld (#2) all suspect areas.

And grind (#2).

Check with the light inside again, more holes!

Weld (#3).

Tomorrow, if I hear Sonny and Cher on the garage radio, I may go back to bed.

Boy do I know that pinhole routine. Thank goodness I never woke up to I've Got You Babe.

Well, I was hearing "I got you babe" again today for sure.

After grinding (3rd time) I had more holes and bad weld bits, especially in one spot.

So I finally did the right thing (I hope) and cut out the worst section. The size and shape shows where I was chasing a growing hole, especially into the original sheet metal.

I formed a new mini-patch and welded it in place--much better.

At the same time, I welded a few more holes around the original patch (4th time), and then ground them down (4th time). A quick look showed only a couple of pin hole around the new mini-patch. I might be able to beat the groundhog!

BTW, here in the back(!) side of the small area I cut out. Pretty nasty (and not the work quality I am aiming for).

I beat the groundhog!

I did hear a faint echo of Sonny and Cher, but after welding and grinding just 3 or 4 spots, the inner fender wall patch is done. Not pretty, but should finish fine after some cosmetic work later on.