The driver's side rust behind the door to the wheel arch was cut away to check behind the rust for further damage.
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Dad measured and prepped the replacement panel.
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One replacement panel ready to install.
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The driver front fender has quite a bit of damage in an area not easy to repair. They decided to look around for a replacement fender.
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A thick layer of putty was removed from the lower section of the passenger front fender. That does not bode well.
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The passenger front fender also has damage in the hard to repair headlight area.
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And this is the rust that the putty was covering up. We definitely could use a replacement fender., but they are not easy to find
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His friend came over to lend a hand again.
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Dad started working on the rear quarter panel with the only replacement panel available from a Sedan. It is not an exact fit. The Ranchero body is ~9" longer than the Sedan body.
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The replacement panel is not correct at the taillight area.
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Despite the bad fit of the available replacement, it is better than the current rusted sheet metal. Time to use the replacement panel to fabricate a better fit.
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Before any exterior welding was done, the driver B pillar dog leg still had to be rebuilt.
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The replacement metal wasn't nearly as extensive as on the passenger side though.
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One known problem area on the Ranchero's, Falcon's, and their cousin the Mustang, was the front cowl section. Ford did not paint the inside of the cowl and it rusts out from the inside out. The plan is to drill out all the spot welds and see what is underneath.
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A better picture of the middle of the cowl section.
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One exterior replacement panel ready to weld in place.
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The spot welds all drilled out, ready for the reveal.
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And as suspected, we have a lot of work to do on the cowl. The white area is the only area they could get paint in from the factory due to the welded on cowl.
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Pinhole and larger rust holes around the air intake on the driver side. The Mustang is the same way and has the same rust issue.
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Worse holes around the passenger side air intake. We will come back to this later. For now, we at least know the work that will be needed.
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The passenger side needs internal rust repair in the rear fender, just behind the B pillar.
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More putty and obvious rust in the passenger rear quarter panel.
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The original tailgate was badly rusted along the bottom, so a replacement tailgate was found. Time to see how bad the replacement tailgate is.
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Some rust on the inside, but less than expected.
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And now time to see just how bad the original tailgate is.
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No wonder the tailgate rusted out on the bottom. The mice had built a sizeable nest inside the tailgate.
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The original tailgate definitely has more rust than the replacement.
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For anyone interested, learning to blacksmith can do damage if you are not careful. And a shoulder injury can slow down car restoration work. But there were still a few pieces that needed to come off, like the door strikers.
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Before the body could go onto the rotisserie, every bolted on piece had to be removed. The entire rear suspension was dropped out and rolled outside. I doubt any of this will be reused.
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The exhaust and rear shocks were removed and disposed of. The front tires were removed as well.
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Now to remove the front brakes, steering, and suspension.
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All of the crud built up behind the front spring is just surface rust, so fortunately no patches are needed here.
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