The left fender apron

With the right tower sitting in its new home, not permanently but in place all the same, it only seemed natural to start tearing the left side of the engine bay apart.

The left rear apron had the same issues as the right, missing thread inserts and rusted top rail. The cutter and Makita worked their mojo and got through all of the spot welds and liberated the derelict apron straight into the scrap pile. The old welds were cleaned up and the new panel is put into place and, ohhhh, the apron doesn’t really conform as closely to the firewall/cowl as the right side did. I don’t have a clamp that can reach around the door jamb to draw the apron closer to the car body.

I looked around the shop and had an idea.

A friend of mine was getting rid of stuff from an 80’ Camaro he had that had been totaled. He had kept the bumper jack and now he was giving it to me. You just don’t see these things like this any more so I accepted it and it sat on a shelf for a couple of years.

I modified the jack and using the back of the shock tower as an anchor point, I was able to use the modified jack to press the apron against the firewall. The jack press managed to push the panel tight against the firewall enough to use the Eastwood spot welder to fuse the panel in place. After that, the rest of the joints were easily reached with the conventional clamps I have.

One last apron to go and there’s really nothing wrong with it. I’m changing it just the same. I have the clamps and the welder. My day is open,