Wow...A year since I have updated this thread. Time to correct that....
I have been making slow (glacial) progress on this project, with most of my efforts resulting on little discernible change to the vehicle. I had been gathering parts, restoring small items, and researching the car and processes.
However, recently this has changed. Finally - after a lot of searching I found a shop that I could trust (and had the time in their schedule) to do some of the body work that was over my head (fitting the new trunk pan, braces, and quarter panel).
Prior to going into this shop though - I had to get the body onto a set of body mounts and assemble the front clip correctly so that I could gap the body panels for the placement of the new quarter. This turned out to be pretty straight forward - I lifted the body using two padded floor jacks on the rocker panel and lifting one side then the other.
Pulling the front end off also gave me a chance to get a nice picture of the firewall. It appears to be in really nice condition - excepting the two giant holes someone drilled into it.
Fitting the panels gaps yielded OK gaps and I was able to eliminate a tall stack of shims on the passenger side fender - once issues with how the core support and been installed were fixed.
Off to the shop we go...
The shop straightened my damaged wheelhouse...
And installed the truck floor/braces (3 piece - Goodmark)...
Continued in the next post...