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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.

I pulled the body off the frame to double check the frame and it's good. Took a bunch of measurements and the sill is in the right place, the body is too far out.
Best guess is the dog leg got pushed pushed in so much at the top it pushed the button by the sill out.

I'm going to replace the dog leg, hopefully that solves the problem.

The dog leg goes up to the red line on the left where it's leaded in. I have the feeling all of it is caked in lead.

Man that's looking like a jig saw puzzle, you are far braver than I. Amazing that the car didn't look too bad in your before pictures.

Wasn't planning on being brave but such is life. They did a good job hiding all the damage. I knew there would be some problem areas but it's a lot worse than I ever expected. Just have to keep plowing forward.

Once I get the right side sorted out everything else should be more basic.

[quote="v8nutz":****] Amazing that the car didn't look too bad in your before pictures.[/quote:****]
All of mine dont look bad till you dig into it and then you ask yourself "Why did I choose this as a Hobby???"