To get the car ready to paint, I had to remove the hood and front fenders which gave me the opportunity to create an access panel in the passenger side inner fender panel so that I could get to the A/C – Heater hose bulkhead fitting for repair etc after the car was finished.

Of course I had already moved all of my shop equipment to the garage area where the Ford normally lives, so I had to push the fab table back into the shop and also the MIG welder. After a bit of clean up I estimated the size and location of the panel and then made a template of the access panel which I then laid out on the inner fender panel. After cutting the hole I double checked my template and then cut out the new panel from a piece of 11 ga sheet that was in stock. I then laid out the mounting holes for the screw clips and drilled the holes in the inner fender panel. I then placed the replacement panel to cover the hole and transferred the mounting hole locations to the panel. I reinstalled the inner fender panel to make sure that the fit and access was okay.

It was a nice change of pace to actually fabricate something again!

A/C Fitting Access Panel