Cab rust repair 72 c10

[Mike_The_Grad]

I'm sure this is trivial to some and I'm not the first person to ask these questions. But this is pretty new to me and looking for some advice on how to proceed repairing rust on my 72 c10 cab and doors. First off, I have rust bubbles and holes through the outer roof skin on both sides of the cab above the windshield pillars. Passenger side is worse than drivers side on the actual outer cab skin, but the driver side has a good size hole in the windshield pinch weld area that is covered by the windshield seal. I have patch pieces cut from a complete outer roof skin that are about 6" wide from the drip rail all the way to the seam at the back of the cab for both sides of the cab. I don't need to use the entire section to repair the rust I have, but I also haven't started digging into the extent of the rust yet. Which leads to my next question. How to remove old drip rail sealant. It's got to be the original factory stuff still on there. But I also don't have anything on hand to replace the sealant with. I do have a 220v mig welder with a bottle and .024 wire on hand. Which I've already been using to weld up the antenna hole in The cowl and a small section of rust close to the hood seal.

The rust goes down from there, both bottoms of kick panels leading into floor boards and obviously rockers. In addition to both doors having rust bubbles both front and back of outer door skins. Passenger side rear cab corner also. Floor pan has rust at intersection of pillars and kick panels. Driverside being worst of the two sides.

Now, I do have 19 gauge sheet metal on hand I got for free from a buddy that works in a machine shop. It's just flat sheet stock. I also have Passenger side rear cab patch panel, new cab supports (not slip on), and new outer rockers for each side.

Truck is my daily driver but has be out of commission since May due to snapping #1 piston wrist pin in the 388 stroker motor I had in the truck. That's a whole nother situation in itself. But it will be at least another 2 months until it's back up and running. So why not take this opportunity to tackle the real damage and rust while I can. I am familiar with spot welding on the truck as I have welded up at least 75 holes in the bed of the truck.( longbed that used to haul fifth wheel probably had bed liner, and had tie downs bolted on. Plus the bed rails looking like Swiss cheese. All of that work went well and I have since rolled on bedliner with good results. It's one thing to weld up holes that are perfectly round from a drill but totally different from rust repair and patching with long straight butt joints.. especially in round and irregular shaped areas. With low and high crowns.

So my doors are still bolted to truck and complete with all internal parts as is the cab with cheap old carpet but my nice bench seat and complete new dash parts and steering wheel.

Should I remove doors to tackle the rust in the corner door skins?
I realize I need to protect glass from sparks from grinding and spatter. What can I use? Any advice on where to start and best practices for achieving successful results any products to use for drip rail sealant. Etc. I am not really concerned with the process on rocker repair and replacement as I already have plenty of info and web pages book marked for when that time comes. Thanks for your input and experience to all who can help me out.