Not much progress today, but I did manage to remove 1 inner a post panel to unearth some more of our ferrous friend that was lurking inside.
And I realized i have to take more steps forward to go...erm....backwards, I will explain.
I was worried that i had put the bracing bar over the spot weld i needed to drill out, but I got lucky and placed it right in the middle of 2.
Inner panel removed
Furry inside
Eugh what a mess where the A post meets the bulkhead and the inner wing.
Not much holding this all together, and that patch that looks like filler at the bottom of the photo is just that, a metal patch glued on with filler.
Top down view of the outer A post and how it connects (or lack thereof) to the rest of the shell.
Front view of the connection
This mess, eugh
So, how do I clean up the insides of the A post, weld it back on and connect it to the inner wings and the A panel? But as the A panel and door frame need replacing anyhow, why bother?
My door bracing and the cross brace across the shell is tied to the A panel and door frame area too. So cutting it off and replacing it for new might be a challenge as it will jeopardize the upper A post real position I'm trying to maintain with the bracing! Chicken and the Egg scenario.
Or could I brace from somewhere else close to the door frame point? How about the sub frame mounting points in the floor/toeboard?
Nah, they are probably long gone when the floor was bodged in the 70s, right?
Wrong.......
Here's what I was faced with, the 'replacement' floor has been covered with fiberglass, but I started to chip away at it and managed to pull away loads to unearth a patch, brazed on.
Here's the patch, difficult to see, in the centre of the picture.
And here's some of the 1970s fibreglass work ripped off
I started to cut and pull the patch away
Finally unearthed the subframe captive nuts on the toeboard!
Rusty, but they are there!
I started on the drivers side
Cut away the fibreglass, to find a big patch again brazed onto the floor, just covering the nuts.
That's as far as I got this evening, as my next job would be to fire up the grinder to get that patch off.
The next job is to make some pickup points from the cross brace down to the 2 subframe mounts on the toe board, that way I can undo the welds on the bracing from the A panels to replace those and get them back exactly where the old ones went and tie then it all back to the A posts.
I can also then, if I want, cut the toe board off and replace or restore or whatever and put it back exactly where it went.
Then I can start to refit the cant rails and inner B posts (basically the reverse order I removed them)
In other news, I also called M Machine to price up a new floor. The lady I spoke to was very helpful and knowledgeable and asked if I had the early mk1 floor. I said I wasn't sure as it's just a patchwork of crappy panels brazed on and covered in fiberglass in the early 70s.
But she told me things to look out for to identify it, like the cross member going all the way through the inner sills and the early mk1 floors didn't have separate outer sills, but separate inner sills. I had no idea.
I checked mine and it looks like, yes, I do indeed have the very early mk1 floor. So it will be £650+VAT + shipping to USA converted to dollars in adding up to a lot of money!
Or save a bit on shipping and get it in kit form instead of assembled.
I have a question to you smart chaps, do I have to fit this early mk1 floor or can i just fit the more common later mk1 floor? Are they easily interchangeable into my shell?
The more common mk1 floor is £550+VAT compared to the 1959-1960 floor which is £650+VAT.
Edited by Chappers, 01 July 2016 - 02:49 AM.
