(A how to) replacing the rear panel

This replacing the the rear panel from big to small lights, although its exactly the same procedure if its big to big.

this small light panel isnt the best so decided only to use the top half and replace the bottum with a new apron.



after cutting and grinding all the excess material off i ended up with this.



heres the panel ready to go on



first steps cut off as much of the unwanted panel as possible, making sure not to damage any of the panels that are staying.





next its removing whats left of the panel, again trying not to damage the exhisting metal to ensure a good fit of the new panel.
start at one end if you cant see the spot welds on the outside there clear to see from the inside, grind the area until your able to see the spot appear. then it should pull apart

here you can see the spot weld appear as a circle. with a bit of a wiggle it will free up.





if it goes well it should look like this



the offending weapon and the left over bit of panel.




next start on the corners, same sort of procedure.
cut as much of the unwanted first then go round taking it don to the panel thats staying.








from these four spot welds down the panels are bonded down the sides until they get to the bottum.








after a clean up it should end up like this, not to much distortion on the inner panels.



once its all off and cleaned up fitting the panel is a case making sure everything lines up well and spot welding it back on or drilling the  panel and plug welding. i also welded down the seems as the guy wanted to loose them. and also welded the towing eye hole up.

Cheers for this Rob - top 'how to'  

Can we get in to how to section? :notworthy:

:clap:

well done mate, tho a spot weld drill would work aswell.

should be made in to a sticky

yea spot weld drill is usable, although it's hard to pin point all the welds from the outside, it would be easy drilling from the inside but it damages the panels more.
That's the only reason I prefer to grind it off.

I used to clean off with a belt sander then drill, however im getting old and lazy now so id grind them aswell  

Spot weld drill is ideal for panels you want to remove but then also replace/reuse. If you don't need to do this, then a careful grind is better since you can leave a sliver of metal and tug off the panel, with no damage to the one below.