Well, the journey continues. I know I have seen several people convert their front bulkhead to the earlier style, but I never realized that it was quite the PITA that it turned out to be
I basically started out by drilling out the spot welds, tried several methods and ended up with using a 5.5mm drill bit suitably located with a punch to drill partway into the spot. Then I took another 5.5 mm drill bit that I had cut off square to finish the drill through the weld.
Early on I realized that I was not going to be able to save the old panel
and so I just hacked out the centre section as it was getting in the way.
Here it is partway through
Drivers side, had to pull back the front edge of the battery tray as it was welded into the bulkhead.
And they sure were generous with the chipguard, seriously....there were places where I removed about 8 mm of the stuff and this is all original. The oscillating knive thing that has been listed elsewhere is the ticket, finished up with a wire wheel on the grinder
There is a structural tube that is formed by the pan and the front bulkhead. This is one one that is the biggest issue and which needs to be kept whole so that the integrity of the front remains intact. It also needs to be bent way back to clear the new panel...but more on that later.
