Tonight, as I was welding stress cracks and straightening out dents in the grille parts, I made an interesting discovery.
Previously, I mentioned that the lower pan had been welded on one corner, and assumed it had been bent on that corner from impact damage, much like the two side panels had been. As it turns out, the corner had been bent that way deliberately, only I couldn't figure out why until I finally got everything reasonably straight and attempted a test fitting of the parts to see how they aligned. The lower pan was too wide, by about 3/8 of an inch.
Initially I thought that maybe the lower pan was still bent, making it too wide, so I carefully checked the alignment again and everything was perfect, except for the width. This leads me to believe that at some point in the past, the lower pan was replaced with an aftermarket part, and since it was too wide they made it fit by pounding the corner until it did.
To solve this problem, I plan to cut the lower pan in half, then create a basic lap seam by pounding the two pieces together where they overlap, before welding it back together. To ensure a proper fit, I'll bolt the two halves to the grille assembly prior to welding them back together. Of course, I could simply replace the lower pan with a new one (about $40), but that simply wouldn't be any fun.
The following images give a general idea of how the lower pan looked before I straightened it and ground the welds off the corner. As you can see, it was in bad shape.
Previously, I mentioned that the lower pan had been welded on one corner, and assumed it had been bent on that corner from impact damage, much like the two side panels had been. As it turns out, the corner had been bent that way deliberately, only I couldn't figure out why until I finally got everything reasonably straight and attempted a test fitting of the parts to see how they aligned. The lower pan was too wide, by about 3/8 of an inch.
Initially I thought that maybe the lower pan was still bent, making it too wide, so I carefully checked the alignment again and everything was perfect, except for the width. This leads me to believe that at some point in the past, the lower pan was replaced with an aftermarket part, and since it was too wide they made it fit by pounding the corner until it did.
To solve this problem, I plan to cut the lower pan in half, then create a basic lap seam by pounding the two pieces together where they overlap, before welding it back together. To ensure a proper fit, I'll bolt the two halves to the grille assembly prior to welding them back together. Of course, I could simply replace the lower pan with a new one (about $40), but that simply wouldn't be any fun.
The following images give a general idea of how the lower pan looked before I straightened it and ground the welds off the corner. As you can see, it was in bad shape.