Once all the aluminium repair sections are welded together, I will attach the entire thing as one piece. I'm not sure of method to keep this in place, but am considering construction glue and having a plate welded against inside of the repair patch, overlapping the inside edge of the original by at least 1". The metal of both items is thick enough for me to drill and tap the few holes for better fixing. I will need to be careful not to go too high with anything on the inside, because there is a gear toothed sector that adjusts up & down in there. If done carefully, I should be OK.
The new pieces sit better than they look in my photos. They're only held in reasonable proximity, with a few bits of masking tape.
The below photo shows the only piece that won't be seen, but it's important. This piece needs to help secure the large cover panel you can see sitting above it, and one hole will be required for a fixing bolt to keep the cover in place. That bolt will also help keep my repair in place. I should have no problem keeping the new bit in place, once all methods of fixing are used.
All these bits go together to fix one rust out!
