My van will need sills, B posts, both arches, inner valance and deformation panel plus the front panel replacing. Which order or replacement would make things easiest? Do i needs the sills and B pillars sorting before the arches, and the arches before the front panel? Bit of a fact finding mission really though, as i can't afford to do any of it so it'll get stuffed full of filler again.
I normally cut everything out on one side first, then you start in the middle and work out: Top hats, inner sill, mid sill, JPs & outriggers, B pillar, outer sill, rear arch, front arch... corners I leave til last after doing the rear valance... front panel is a job all on its own
I do roof/ window aperture repairs first, that way grinding dust won't fill up new panels. Then inner sills, floor supports and jacking points at the same time. then middle sills and b and c pillars, outer sills. If the front needs doing, the A pillars probably need attention and you need to do this before the front arches, so I do the front including inner valance etc, then front arches, cab floor, wheel housings together. At the rear I do the skirts in the engine bay if they need it and inner rear valance, then outer rear valance and corners at the same time, then rear arches.
I agree with both above ....front panel as a separate job I did pretty much all the same bits on mine, I cut out the sills first and kept as much either side as I could as a datum. Once I got the inner sill welded in, I cut out the B post and inner rear arch and used the new sill as a datum to put them back in the right place. Once the inner and middle sill is in, and the B post repaired then the front arch could be done, once the inner rear arch was done I could get the outer on at the same time as the outer sill to make sure they lined up together
