I've been doing a lot of cutting, still have to drill out the spot welds in the back of the floor pan and the quarter panel to release the back part of the inner sill.

I cut out the floor, then the A-pillar, followed by the inner sill and rocker. Once I clean up the previously mentioned spot welds I'll be fitting the new inner sill and A-pillar. Should be fun

Wow
Thats a stout little body and frame. Looks like a perfect candidate for a Small block

Seriously I would have seriously considered a dip for that one to remove all the old paint and rust.

Nowhere to dip where I am. The only one we had on the island was shut down 20 or more years ago. Sure would have sped up the process.

This is getting ugly.

I cut out most of the inner sill but still had the back part to remove. The bottom of the qtr panel dogleg was rotted so I cut up until I got clean metal. I had to cut another piece of it out to access the inner sill welds. Lots of grinding, drilling and bad words and the rest of the sill came out.

I figured I'd strip the paint off this area and right away something didn't look right. I was expecting lead in some of the seams but hadn't anticipated an entire repair done in lead

The top of the dogleg was a 1/4" thick in lead tapering down to zero where I cut the little piece out. I torched it out but there's more to go as it curves up over the wheel arch. I haven't stripped the door or fenders on this side yet, sure hope they're not full of lead.
I've been wearing a respirator the entire time but removing lead is no fun, it's bad stuff.
It's a pretty beat up little panel, I might have to cut out the bracing behind it so I can hammer and dolly it back out.

Ouch!
You got yourself a real project there.

'68 Coronet R/T wrote:Ouch!
You got yourself a real project there.

I do indeed. Not much going my way yet, a lot to figure out.

I bolted down the new inner sill to the frame and it sure doesn't line up well so that will be a challenge. I'm blaming most of this on the body being pushed all over the place. The body is about a 1/2" too far to the outside and about an inch short at the front of the sill. A lot of head scratching in my future.