It’s been hatefully cold this past week, and we’ve had a full pre-Christmas schedule so there hasn’t been much I could do on the trucks. However, I did eyeball the rear valance panel sitting in the rear bed and it sparked an idea. I brought it and the panel from the green truck into the garage, set up the welder, and started pounding the twisted metal back into place. When it was all flat, the holes were smaller and circular, just large enough to be a pain to close up, but too small to find easy plugs to fill.
I used the copper backer and started slowly filling each of the smaller holes, then cut a square hole around the really mangled section in the center. When I had the settings dialed in, I cut square sections out on the sides, and plugs out of the green truck valance to fill things in. Ordinarily I would have just fabricated my own, but these have a compound curve as they push out to the edges that I figured would just be easier to cut out of the spare piece.
After some trimming I got them both tacked in and then spent the next hour jumping back and forth with a couple of welds on each side, then swapping to let things cool while I tacked on the other side. As of Sunday evening the piece is a bit warped in the center and needs some flattening, but the main welds are complete. Tomorrow I’ll get it straightened out, then wire wheel off the surface rust and old paint, and skim it with some filler.