OK - today went pretty well, all things considered.
The flange/punch tool I picked up from Harbor Freight snapped the head off when I attempted to use it to straighten one of the frame rail tabs. First try - POP! I guess that's why I call it, "the Dollar General of tool stores." I did get the 1-year warranty, so I'll pick up the new one tomorrow.
I got the rear cross member all welded up after a little tweaking of the frame rail tabs and grinding off the last of the factory spot welds. Fits in there nice and tight, thanks to the Redneck Gas Tank Hammock's last gasp (tossed it aside once I got this piece in).
Then, dropped in the new trunk pan for some test fitting and discovered something really sucky: the pan from CJ Pony Parts (that I ordered because I thought I was saving a couple bucks) is actually 6" 'shorter' than the 'full pan' from Ohio Mustang Supply (WTF is up with that, anyway?!). Crap! Oh well - "my bad" on that one. Otherwise, it fits like a champ (except for falling short of the intermediate panel above the shock mounts, that is).
So now I gotta score a piece of sheet metal (6" x 44"), bash it into shape, and weld it down before dropping the pan in 'for real,' thanks to my not paying attention when ordering the part (way back in early December before CJ pissed me off with all the 'back order nonsense'). Hemikiller's trunk build-up thread was huge today, because I also had the dilemma of wondering what goes in first - the pan or the drop offs? (The pan according to his fine pictures)
Hopefully, next weekend will be about getting the pan and drop-offs nailed down, and opening up the quarter panels to see how bad the outer wheel houses are. Hopefully, the sub-frame connectors my wife bought me will show up as well.