Rat repair.

[Vic1947]

What I do is take a grinder with a flap disk and carefully grind the edge down perpendicular to the door skin until you see all three edges... outer skin, inner structure and folded over metal strip. Don't worry about the spot welds, you can use a thin kerf wheel on the grinder and remove enough metal around the spot to loosen the strip that's left behind.

You can go up the front and back edges as much or as little as you need. This will free a strip on the door skin that can be trimmed with the thin kerf cutting wheel or snips... if you're really into self abuse. Trim the patch panel to match and leave about a half inch extra where it meets the trimmed edge of the door skin. If you don't have an offset flanging tool, there's an air powered one available from Harbor Freight or manual ones from various sources.

There are clamps available that grip each side of an unflanged cut, but sometimes the weld draws the gap together and makes it very difficult to remove the thin blade. I prefer to flange the patches so I'm not trying to fill a gap on long sections. The extra material helps reduce warping, although low heat and patience are still needed.

Don't assume the GEM product will get in all the tight places. Last thing you want is rust popping back 6 months to a year from now.