About time to do the body work on my 83 brat. None of the rust is threatening important structural areas so thats good. I was wondering If i cut big pieces out of my parts brat, can they just be welded in to my good brat by a professional? Hopefully saving me lots of money?

 

I can't weld and this is my first experience into auto body stuffs. So i dont know if this is a viable option or if there is something obvious that im missing that wont allow this to work.  thanks for any advice in advance

Most of the panels you can get direct from an OEM parts dealer, some of the panels can be expensive... so in some cases if you have access to a parts brat you can cut (but usually parts brats are rust buckets also).

But after reading again; yes you can just cut and weld in or find a professional to do the welding. You, or they, will have to clean up the area around the weld points. Doing panel to panel will result in a better look most of the time though.

Nice ! yeah the parts brat had a canopy on it for its whole life, so the bed is great but the rest is a rust bucket. Then my good brat is rust free except a bit on the bed and a sizeable spot under the rear bumper from where it looks like an old owner backed into something and never repaired it. Now i just need a friend that can weld.

Where is the rust present in the bed on the non-parts one? I have the line between the cab and the bed I'll be working on mine this weekend... need to sand it down, treat it for rust to be sure I get it all, then using fiberglass filler there since the holes are quite small, then sanding, then priming, and then will be adding the roll on bed liner.

 

The rest of the bed - I need to pull up the old seam sealer, sand, treat for rust, sand, primer, reseal, sand more flush, primer again... and there is some surface rust that needs to be sanded.

 

Going to be a project, but need to get the bed done and ready before it starts raining.