I got tired of practicing with my welder on the rear tail pan, so I decided to put it to good use. This is my first attempt at welding on my car. The original tail lights mounted on the rear fender with a few bolts through the fender.

I cut out the area where the mounting holes were, plus a little extra because the weight of the lights had slightly stretched the fender metal in the shape of the light mounting bracket. I'm using 22 gauge sheet metal from Lowe's for the patch.

Well, it's not pretty, but it's in!

That's what a grinder is for!

I didn't burn through too bad, so I'm happy with it.

It's not smooth as glass, but not too bad for a first try.

I was kind of surprised by how smooth the grinder got it. Mark this body mod off the list!