Ok, before I continue with the story of the Ranchero, I need to update the story of the family garage. We took an almost 2 year break from the sheet metal work on the Ranchero. We finished out the interior of the back garage and set it up as a two-bay shop with a third bay for countertop level work. We also worked heavily on Dad's '56 Wagon and on our daughter's '89 Ranger, not to mention rebuilding the engine in a friend's Olds. The Ranchero sat from September 2010 to July 2012. We did tear down the Ranchero's engine in 2011. Needless to say, we did not make the 2013 desired completion date.

Now, back to the rust repair work. And there is a lot of it.

The debris field under the rear floor pans as we started working on the front floor pans again.

To finish the front floor pan, the small area behind the seats and the brace for the spare tire had to be fixed next.

The brace for the spare tire was removed and the ends replaced with new steel.

While the brace was out, the small floor area was replaced with new metal all the way across the body. (July 2012)

The dog leg on the bottom of the B pillar was bad on both sides. We took time now to replace the worst.

The inner braces and sheet metal were replaced first.

Then a new cover piece was created. Several pieces had to be formed and welded together to get the correct shape.

The new piece in place and ready for welding. We used a locator plate to keep it lined up, but we will have to weld those holes shut.

The new top cover welded in place.

Back to the front floor pan, which is now ready to weld into place.

This is his first time welding a major piece. Yes, he is still only 15 and Dad is supervising the welding.

All spot welded in on the passenger pan.

The rear of the passenger pan spot welds. Not too bad for a 15 yr's old first time.

Even the back area on the passenger side was spot welded in.

Time to tackle that rear catch-all area, the area that in the sedan was the rear passenger floorboard. The earlier repairs are still looking good. We started with the driveshaft tunnel.

The passenger side is in worse shape than the driver's side. That hole in the lowest rusty metal is in the actual frame rail. That will have to be replaced as well, but later when we can put the body onto the rotisserie. Before that, we have to put the new sheet metal in this area to help stabilize the body on the rotisserie.

New metal in place across the entire area.

The debris field underneath the car kept growing as we worked on this area.

So, technically, the rear area was put in place prior to welding any of the front floor pans into place, but the pictures flowed better out of order.

The rear section on the passenger side ready for welding.

For whatever reason, they took a break from the welding and took the Ranchero out of the garage. Time for the 15 yr old to learn how to drive a 3 on the tree.

Back to welding, now onto the driver's side.

The transmission tunnel had an extra flange at the rear for mounting it to the back wall of the cab.

The rear area was prepped for welding as well. We still had to cut out the original floor pan brace. Note the rusty piece at the top of the picture still has to be replaced.

The new brace was put in place and everything was spot welded in place.

Once the rear section was welded up, the bed floor was put back in place to shield the area for now. And to test the strength of the new brace.

The driver floorpan, spot welded into place.

The passenger floor pan was coated in POR15 to seal it.

The welds had to be ground down on the driver side prior to applying the POR15.

We volunteered to teach the Automotive Maintenance Merit Badge to one of the local Boy Scout troops and we used the Ranchero for part of the discussions, being a strait 6 cylinder. We also used the Wagon, Betsy, and the original blue Liberty. Other parents brought their vehicles and we did several oil changes that day, along with tire changes, and hooking up jumper cables properly. And we all learned about bio-diesel from one of the other parents.

Since our son was a member of the Troop and knew all the boys, everyone was very interested in his vehicle.

For Christmas 2012, Santa brought. the rear fender sheet metal sections, from door to the wheel arch area for a sedan body. We hoped these would be sufficient, but . . . more on that later.

We were getting close to painting the Wagon and needed the space, so the Ranchero went into the trailer for storage for a few months.