Heres how I made my lower A post repairs. I used pretty much the same methods as I used in pt 1&2 of making repair panels, this one is pretty straight forward to make. The hardest part is knowing what it should look like if yours has completely rotted away. Luckily mine was intact but still needed replacing. This is what they looked like before I started pretty ropey but intact so at least I could take some measurements and see what the original looked like and had something I could copy. The A post panel is made up of 2 sections which come together to form a box section to give it it's strength. The inner part which joins to the front arch and the outer which "closes" the box section I started off by making a card board template of the profile of the inner part of the A post and then bent a bit of steel to the right shape using the template as a guide. As with all the bits I make, I make them bigger than I need and cut them down to fit. once the profile was right I cut off the old rotten bit and welded the new one on (only got a pic of the finnished thing I'm afraid as you might be able to make out in the pic the inner face is longer than the rest of the panel and sits about 10mm lower. I had left the outer part of the A post (closing peice) intact to help me get everything back in the right place I then cut the outer part off ready for the new bit to go on heres the repair for the off side Heres how I made the near side started off with a bit of sheet steel big enough to cover the repair, luckilly I got some bits with a bend already in it next I clamped it in place like so..... so I could mark where to cut around the step I took it off and made a slit, then bent the bottom part forward to meet the front of the step lip bit as this is what the original was like then I could bend/form it around the metal behind it and finish it off with a final bend for the outer skin to attach to and here it is finished I then wire brushed all the surface rust off and painted the inner surface with epoxy mastic. it was then welded on by plug welding the side to the inner A post, through the middle to the inner A post and through the lower "lip" to the bottom of the front arch and with the A posts painted they look pretty close to the originals
Don't suppose you made a load of these up or kept the templates? Looks very similar to the rot that I'm currently faced with
