Trunk Corner Repair, Part 2

I continued cleaning up the corner to ready it for the patch. After cutting out the area that had rusted through, I had discovered that a bunch of tar had been stuffed in an access hole in the trunk--that needed to come out of there before I could clean up the surface rust around it. After who knows how many years, the mass was solid, so out comes the heat gun and putty knife.

And soon it is out of there:

Large, tar-like substance defeated!

Next, I needed to make a patch for the area I cut out. After forming a pattern out of cardboard, I cut a piece of sheet metal to size and welded it into place.

Still needs a bit more finishing--but there's more welding to be done.

Next, there was a bit more clean up on the inside. I had to get rid of all the remains of the trunk corner, so there were a few more spot welds to drill.

Still a bit more clean up to do, but getting close.

I'm finally ready to cut down the corner patch and fit it. Now I must say that this corner patch, while solidly built, was not the best match to the corner--so a lot of adjustment was necessary. But after lots of trimming and pounding and bending, I got it tacked into place.

And then it was simply a matter of closing the gaps. And while I had spot welded the side (at the top of the above pic) I still needed to spot weld the corner to the back of the car. And here's where I left off--still a few little holes to fill and a bit more grinding and hammering it flat:

I still have a solid day or so of work--most of it underneath grinding down the underside of the welds, but overall it looks like I'm done with all the major patching. It is a good day.