Ok, I just dropped the tools when this happened and walked away to take a breath. That's the beauty of not being under a deadline - you can do things like that when $hit happens and walk away. Now that I've thought about it, I believe the best way to proceed is to cut a hole about 1" to 1 1/4" and attack the problem from the rear (insert wise ass joke here
).
The frame upright in question is about a 3" x 3" square tubing. I can't get to the rear of it because of all the bonded in fiberglass inner fender panels, but I can get to the side of it easily, which should be just as good. The only question I have now is, what do I use to cut a hole?
I'm fine with assembling, disassembling, cleaning, etc. I'm not much for any fabricating, so I have no metalworking tools or experience. What tool do I use to cut a 1" hole in metal chassis tubing, what is it called, and where do I buy one? I have tons of woodworking hole saws, but I doubt one of them would make a dent in this tubing before the teeth wore off.
Thanks for all the help, guys - one of these years I may actually drive this thing. I had a friend drop by today in his beautiful SPF, all shined up and growling like the beast that it is. I looked at my dirty pitiful excuse of a car up on jack stands with it's guts ripped out, and saw the opportunity I had to try to make this thing even half as nice as his, and I felt re-energized. Thanks for the visit, Tony, and thanks to all of you for the help and encouragement. I've been going great guns non stop on this thing all alone for months, and I guess I just hit the wall today. Probably wont be the last time that happens, either.