first time shave

ok heres the story. my little brother has a 85 dodge ram 50, and the body is rusting out! like i mean holes in the side of the box and stuff. as a peace offering im going to fix the big holes and shave the door handles wile hes at a friends for a weekend. what will i need to get to tackle the job? im talking about the hole list of suplys (exept welder). This is my first time so even if you describe the prosses and a few tricks idd be so thankful.

i think you're going to have your hands full just fixing the rust let alone shaving it. you need some donor metal. 18 gauge is thick enough to do and a shaved handle kit. search ebay for it. i've always used 15lb solenoids and they work just fine, some people swear by heavier pull ones.

ok well the rust is first on my list. i planned to grind off all the rust in the area and then cut it out into a box-shape. then get the metal from a wrecker. after that i need to know if i cut it to fit or from the back side of the box? i am quite sure that its flush with the box tho. then grind the welds... and thats as far as i can figure

just spot weld the parts in slowly till complete. Its easy to go to fast and warp the hell out of it. I normally do many spots at a time, and jump around, it allways seems that it will never get done that way, but it helps keep everything from warping.

ok then just litely bondo the spot and sant to make smooth??? what grit sandpaper?

just remember to take your time! dont try putting a bead on it obviously. put anywhere between 1-4 tacks (depending on the surface area of what your doing) at a time jumping around from side to side. let it cool, and then repeat until its fully tacked. then grind it down with a flap disc. make sure you dont stay in one spot too long when grinding either. sheetmetal is very easy to warp if you aren't patient!

u gotta take your time on every part man, it seems simple but it takes much longer than expected to learn how to do all of this especially teaching yourself hands on to make things turn out good. lots of different things are required to make the job go smooth, you need a long board sander and i usually start with 80 grit paper to knock down the first coat of kitty hair (fiberglass resin) then i add body filler and knock that down with 80grit as well till it gets pretty smooth then when u cant feel any big imperfections i start using 120 then when its pretty smooth i finish it off with 220 then add a coat of metal glaze and smooth that out. i have taught myself most everything i know, it may not be the way of the professional but it works good for me and it always ends up with good results. make sure you go very slow when tack welding the filler panels cuz it will warp very easily, also when you grind it will warp even easier if your not careful.
if you need anymore help feel free to send an IM.

Also when u make ur flush filler plates trim them so there is 1/16th gap around edge between it and panel so ur tacks fill the gap, get less warpage this way and once ur done its like there was never a hole.