I'm Heartbroken. Time to face reality that my Cuda is a parts car.

Yep, that may just be your first project to get your feet wet. Concentrate on making that solid, and dont look at the rest. Fight the war one battle at a time. Once it's in primer, then head for the next battle.

ALL A bodies from 67-76 use that same part. Your right forget splicing. Just change the entire part out. Look at my posts in 67/68/69 cuda dilemma about removing rust. Your gonna find surface rust between that part and the sheet metal underneath it. Pretty typical. You want clean it out, and treat it before covering it up with a new piece as you reassemble everything you cant get to the inside once reassembled.

I have found that a good 2K epoxy primer on clean sheetmetal is what your gonna want to use. I have been using PPG 512X310 urethane compatible epoxy primer. Of course areas where you have to weld, you will have to grind down to bare metal, spray on some 3M weld thru primer then weld up. Self tapping screws help to hold this stuff in alignment before welding it up, then remove the screws and weld over the screw holes, grind your welds smooth, primer, and rock on.

Remember when welding or grinding, that those hot sparks will embed themselves into glass, stainless steel, aluminum, vinyl and plastic and **** it up. Remove anything and everything that can get damaged from that, or at the very least cover it up with welders blankets, and aluminum tape. It's a ***** finding 50 year old trim and window glass, especially since the only trim and glass you can get new for this car is for the windshield, and possibly the vent windows.