Bedliner on

Some final touch-ups before I put the bedliner on.  There was a hole made in the center of the rear floor pan, which was then patched with another piece of sheet metal screwed in place with sheet metal screws that protruded through the floor by about 3/8".  I ground off the tips to smooth out the underfloor area.

Then there was the driver's footrest/step.  It had an ugly wart of some kind that I had to remove just for ugly's sake.

It wa a thick bugger, about a 1/4".  I got out the Sawzall to cut it flush.

Mostly gone.

There was a small hole made by cutting the chunk off as flush as I could.

I clamped a small backing piece on it.

I welded up the topside and ground it smooth.

I then boogerwelded the perimeter of the patch plate and left the boogers.  No need to grinder here.

I also addressed the corner of the step that was just a little less than secure for me, and since I was in the vicinity, I welded it up.

Nearby on the flange that the driver's fenders bolts to, I found a few cracks in the seam created by the bend, one near the top and one near the bottom.


The top on wasn't terribly complicated.  Weld, grind, weld more, grind more, stop.

The bottom on was more of an issue.  There was just no meat to the weld to work with my limited skills.  I'd burn through or it would allow for too much flexing.  I tried welding it from the backside, to no avail.  I decided to make a patch plate.  (I'm getting good at those.)

 Boogerwelded in place.

Ground smooth-ish.  It'll be visible, but not too terribly bad.

On to the bedliner, at last.  As I mentioned before, this is the same stuff I used on the Grand Wagoneer to good effect, and I wanted to go with a known entity rather than something new/different.

Note the contrast between the Permatex Rust Treatment (which I've duly scuffed and vacuumed as part of my prep).

Working my way around the belly.

Done with most of the back half.

The firewall area.

The rest off the back half.

Passenger's floor where I'd repaired all those hat channels last fall.

The finished firewall.

Now it just has to cure for a day or so, and then I'll flipped this bugger over and get it on the chassis.

Prepping for Herculiner application

Now that I've completed the first round of kitchen cabinet doors, I can give the Willys my attention, and after the work I completed today, I think I'm about done with my prep for the Herculiner.  Here's what I got done.  I put the turtle on its back and gave it a hard look.

I found a bunch of silicon caulk in several seams, so I yanked it all.  I'm hoping the Herculiner will help button up the panel gaps.  In the pic below, you can see the level of surface rust, caulk, and random bolted on widgets that I needed to go after.

After flipping the tub around, I found I had knocked loose some mud and rocks.  You can see them inside this hat channel.

So I bent the seam out from the hat channel's opening and rotated the tub up onto its side to tap out those bits.

You can see all that came out of the channel on the green mat below.  I have no illusions that I got it all, but I know that I got enough.

This wheel well (driver's side) had some unnoticed issues.  Primarily that hat channel loop.

The seam was bulging out from the sidewall, so I hit it with the sharp end of my body hammer to see what was what.  Those holes near the gap were easy enough to find, taking almost no pressure to get deep.

My initial thought was to remove the rotted section and replace it with some sheet metal strips.

After I'd removed that first bit, I found the rot was more pervasive than I thought.

So I cut out that entire section, revealing the rot behind it.

Not pretty, but the sheet metal doesn't need replacement.

The rest of that section of hat channel did, though, since it was barely hanging on.  Note the only two spot welds near the top of the pic.  My air chisel popped this puppy off with a few quick shots.

Rust removed with the wire cup on the grinder.

First I welded the remaining original hat channel to the sidewall.

Then I took a section of the remaining 1"x2" tubing I used for the other hat channel repairs, cut it to size, angle cut one end to overlap the original channel, and welded it to the tub.  I didn't need to weld it along the entire edge since the piece it is replacing was only spotwelded in place.  I think what I've done is solid enough.

Primered in and out.

While continuing my examining of this hat channel hoop, I noticed that the spot welds on this side had also popped free.  My scraper blade fit under it without difficulty.

I clamped it in place.

And welded it back on.

Filled a couple holes I'd missed from before.

Then it was on to more Permatex Rust Treatment application.  I started in the repaired wheel well.

But I had done enough prep (scuffing and vacuuming up the dust) so that I could coat the entirety of the underside of the tub.

Here it is already turning black.

A few external spots that needed conversion.

Herculiner is next.  Hopefully Friday when it gets a little extra warm.