Today the central belly pan was welded back in place and I began fabricating a replacement belly pan section for the forward passenger side belly pan area. The are a few holes in each of the belly pan areas but the forward passenger side belly pan was beyond salvage; when the bus was parked outside for 25 years it was likely facing downhill and leaning to the right, at least with enough slope for all the water to collect here.
To reproduce the belly pan I created a hardwood form to match the contour of the existing rusty pan and I’m using the hammer forming process to stamp the rib pattern into the new sheet metal. The belly pans were only used as reinforcement on busses with sunroofs or large pop-up campers; because of this, repair sections are not as available as other parts have been.
