When removing the firewall brackets, there were some tears and holes from the removal process:

I wanted to take advantage of having the hole for accessing to smooth things out.  There was a tear right where I need to cut which I wanted to repair:

So – I went to Harbor Freight to buy a hammer and dolly kit to use rather than ordering one from the internet and waiting.  I still might do so to get a higher quality one later, but this met my needs for now:

After using the hammer and dolly to get it somewhat flat again:

Then I ground around what I will be welding with a wire wheel brush:

Used some Eastwood Metal Wash to clean the area and sprayed with some U-Pol weld-thru primer.  It was roughly 30 degrees outside, so I kept the garage thermostat set to 70 all morning, then turned off the heater and sprayed two coats 20-30 minutes apart.  I used a fan to help air out the fumes and after an hour or so, turned the heater back on and all was well!

I also changed the wire in my welder from .030 (from the jig) to .023 for the car sheet metal.  I will brush-up on some spare metal and then weld-up the holes.  Then I should be able to do a final cut and weld in the toe-board patch!  Might be able to get some more done throughout this next week starting on Wednesday.

Got a little more done Thursday evening.  I don’t know what this goop was – if it were seam sealer or something else, but there was goop in the grooves that needed to be removed:

So I used my angle grinder with a wire wheel attached:

and it took that goop right off.  NOTE: Make sure your wearing a hat and eye protection as this junk flies everywhere!

I removed some seam sealer from the side so I could see what I needed to line up against for proper fitment:

Checked for better fitment again:

Cleaned up the edges a little more:

Now for some more clean-up, final cutting, and to weld it in place…  I need to change the wire in my welder from the thicker .030 I used in the jig to something more suitable to use on the sheet metal.

Well, I trimmed off the remaining curved lip on my patch panel…

Marked it with tape for a straight line…

Didn’t need to remove much.  What was left over minus the width of the cut-off disc:

I am really pleased with how it looks.  The left side still wants to pop-up so I might have to get a spare hand (to hold it down) when marking what to trim from the car.  I’m not planning to do any more trimming on the patch panel.  Just some final cuts from the car and then prepping the metal and welding it in…  Then there is the other side!

This has been bugging me for a while now – I have been wanting to trim the top lip off of my new patch piece, but have been struggling with how much I could trim.  Placing it in the car was problematic as the lip was preventing it from being flush and kept it raised and wouldn’t sit in there straight:

Then the light went on and I placed the piece that I had cut out of the car and used that as a reference:

I will be able to trim that lip off and have room to spare!  So after I trim the lip, I will position the new piece and trim the opening in the car around what is left.  Then I will be able to butt-weld it in place and can start on the other side.  I will also be able to place the firewall bracket to use as a rough guide as well!

Used the air hammer to remove some of the floor-pan and did some grinding of what was left.  I was happy I went with the new air hammer as the feathered trigger really helped me to control it when working by the rocker:

Checking for fit:

After a little more trimming:

There is a curved lip that I still need to trim around the edges:

After another round of trimming (still need to trim the top part – Doesn’t look like I have much to work with on the right top portion:

See the lines for a rough estimate:

I have been out of town this past week and had very little time in the garage this weekend, but here is where things are at.  Looked at both Lowes and Harbor Freight for a replacement body saw and ended up with Harbor Freight’s body saw located here.  Also purchased an air belt sander for grinding down welds.

Put the body saw to work and was happy with the performance with cutting out the remaining metal:

Should be well within the range:

Need to remove where the floor is connected to the rockers:

I think I will use an air hammer and grinder to remove where the floor is welded to the rockers.  I wanted a higher quality air hammer, so went to Lowes and purchased a new Ingersoll Rand.  Now to remove the final piece and will be able to get a better idea how the patch panel will fit and where to trim next.  Hopefully, I will get some more garage time in towards the latter part of this week.

Started cutting out the toe-boards

Started out the bottom straight section with my cut-off wheel then switched to my air body saw.  The saw was working good until it shook itself apart – what do you expect from a Harbor Freight tool?  I re-read the reviews and stopped when they commented that it shook itself apart.  So now things are on hold until next weekend when I decide between a replacement saw from Northern Tool or Lowes.  I am leaning towards Northern Tool as it has good reviews and is a little cheaper than Lowes.

What is left of the Harbor Freight junk:

Now for the moment of truth to see if my measurements were acceptable.  I took the piece I cut out and it fits well within the piece I will be patching it with.  So once I get it all cut out, I can trim my replacement piece to match what was cut out.  You will notice that the inner piece is raised some which provides me with even more wiggle room!

I won’t be able to do anymore work on this until next weekend!  Check back then!

Had a little bit of time today so played with the patch pieces because before I can replace the firewall brackets, I need to patch the toe-board areas.  I must also take into consideration where my patch will connect with the full floor pan I will be replacing.  So after studying some pictures of a full floor pan, I cut into my two partial floor pans for the pieces I will use to patch.

Used some tape as a guide so I cut as straight as possible:

Other side:

Cleaned-up the edges a bit and decided on focusing on the passenger side first where the rusted-out area was bent up from removing the firewall bracket:

So I used the plasma cutter to trim some of it away so the pan will sit in there better to give me an idea of where to cut next:

The plan for tomorrow is to cut the floor area smaller than the patch panel, then – if time permits, trim the patch panel to fit in the cut-out area.  I should also mention that there are two ways to do this: either lap one piece over the other (easier) or butt them right next to each-other side-by-side (harder).  I want to butt them together which is a little more work and difficult, but should have better results in the long run.