Sweet, just checking in and curious.
Are your projects for fun / luv and a little $$$.

I read through the Miata project today and it was impressive.
You seem like you have a bit of a casual following and rep. That gets you as much work as you want.

JT

I have never sought work or advertised for it.

When people bring me their projects, I tell them right up front that I do not work 40 hours a week in my shop. Might be more like 40 hours a month so if you are in a hurry take it someplace else.

I bill once a month for time and materials, you pay the bill and then decide if we keep going or you take it to someone else.

I have turned away a lot of work lately because I want to get back on my 1968 Plymouth GTX restoration.

Cool

Had some more ripped metal on the right bed side:


After a bunch of work I got it fairly well straightened out.


The lower bed behind the wheel well was in terrible condition as can be seen here:


This took a tremendous amount of hammering to get it even close. I had to use C-clamps and an 1 1/2" thick, 2 inch wide, 12" long piece of steel firmly clamped to the bottom of the lip to use as a dolly. Then was finally able to get it pretty straight.
Still needs media blasted, epoxy and then start the fine tuning.


Removed the rear bumper and found ripped metal on the left tail light:


Also severely dented metal:

You have to wonder what everything that truck scraped and got caught up on looks like
JT

Had a rip in the metal near to rear of the bed.


Need to persuade it back into position:


Got it welded together:


The lower portion behind the wheel was severely dent in the front and rear which caused the rip in the metal by the tail light.


After some serious hammer and dolly work I got it pretty straight. I already closed up the gaps at the flange area just forgot to take another picture.


Welded the rip in the metal near the tail light. Still need a dab of weld in the small inside gap.


The punctured metal at the top of the tail light was a nightmare. I got it close enough to finish with filler when I get to that stage.

An incredible amount of metal work.
Very cool

JT

Dismantled the drivers door today planning to replace some rusted metal.
Here's what I found rattling around inside the door:


When removing the vent window assembly I noticed the whole top of the door was loose and would move back and forth.
Turns out the metal is rusted a ripped at the front and rear of the window area:




Add to that the cross brace being detached from the outer door panel:


And the rusted out metal I was planning to replace:


Any thoughts on whether to repair or replace it? AMD door shell is $430 shipped.
I am leaning towards repairing this one, simply because I know it fits properly. Never know with reproductions these days.

My thoughts

Its not a show resto if I understand correctly so for $430 plus the delay I’d say save it.
You say it fits properly so that goes a long way to getting toward the finished product.

JT

Welded up the cracks today.


Next picture is a bit out of focus, sorry.


The front gave me the most trouble as the metal was quite thin.


Next will be the sheet metal in that lower front corner. I will have to give it plenty of thought as my metal shaping capabilities are limited.