I put in some serious time this weekend repairing rust on my old Ford pickup.  I would like to get it inspected, and there are a 'few' holes in the floor that I need to weld up.

I pulled it into my shop to disassemble the interior and survey the scene.

I thought these 1/2" grade 8 bolts were holding the seat in, but it turns out that isn't quite the case.  These were simply acting as stilts to hold the seat at the proper angle.  They weren't actually bolted through the floor, and one of them was sitting on top of a rust hole.

As it turns out, only two of these little machine screws were holding the seat in the truck. 

The fuel tank is inside the cab on these old trucks, so I had to pump out all of the gas and remove the tank.

All stripped!  It's crazy that a complete interior removal is only 5 bolts.

I found some gems in the floor.  This was one of the gas tank mounts, it's completely rusted away.

Wow, what a hole!

I cut away some of the rust on the drivers side and started to make some templates.

It would have cost $600+ to buy all of the pre-formed rust repair patch panels for this truck, and the internet says they fit like shit, so I decided to make them from scratch.  $80 worth of sheet and a saturday spent.

I formed the rocker panel patches from 18ga steel on the brake.  These taper into a straight section, so I made it in two pieces.

I formed the kick plate by folding a flange on each side and using the stretcher.  I don't have a finger brake to fold the edges, so I used a chisel, panel forming bag, hammer and dolly.

Jimmy and Jason stopped out Saturday, and Jimmy brought a Harbor Freight 20-ton press with him!  We spent some time assembling the press, assembling the bike, and disassembling some beers.

Back to work.  I formed the step plates from 20ga steel.  I rolled three beads into each panel.  This isn't exactly the same as the OEM panel, but it's good enough for this truck.  The beads warped the panel a bit, it looks like they're a bit drunk but that's because the panel is no longer flat.

I started tuck shrinking the flanges, but I decided to just relief cut and overlap.  I folded the curved flange on the bead roller with a tipping wheel.

They're not perfect, but they're more than good enough for this truck!

I cut away all of the rust.

I trimmed the original rocker and tacked in my replacement.

I test fit the step plate and kick plate, and it looks like everything lines up well!  I'm happy with the results so far.

I rolled a step into the step plate, the leading edge of the door jamb will come down and lay on top of this piece.  That is going to be a challenge to make!

I have all of the passenger side patch panels all built, they're just waiting for installation!