16-04-2019, 07:39 PM
In truth I did not notice any movement in the body ...….but I did not really give it a chance.
When I looked at how much of the body had to be removed at the bottom of the post and as you can see in my attachment no. 0014 that gaping hole of the rear wheel arch which appeared when I removed the Ali sheeting and filler, the hole ran the full length of the rear wheel arch. Add to that the front door post was in a similar condition there was little to stop the body sagging. I must also point out I had none of the interior woodwork and so had to replace all of this too. So to me it had to be suitably braced.
As for taking the bottom section of the rear door post down below the running board, if you look again at the attachment no.0014 you will see that the biggest area of rot is all around the same location as the running board. All of the outer body work, the inner structural member and the inner section of the wheel arch have all disappeared. Maybe I am wrong but this looked too much of a coincidence to me and so I made the choice to use a bit of licence.
I removed the outer body far enough to get back to solid metal and to leave me sufficient access to the inner structural member to remove all of the lower end. I then replaced the lower missing area of wheel arch, formed up new sections and replaced as required. I was also able to blend the section nicely into the wheel arch section. See attachment 120
I felt that if I left the body section above the running board you have a thin metal section at the bottom that is extremely difficult to suitably prepare and paint in a manner that will leave it sufficiently protected. My work experience in the design of equipment on oil rigs always taught me not to leave sharp edges/corners which were to be painted and this is effectively what you would have at the bottom. So by taking the section below the running boards it protected the inner sections and meant that I could paint it and liberally apply dinitrol or wax oil up inside the sections and also paint all the exposed surfaces with a good underseal/stone chip seal.
This does give you a problem with fettling the running board and rubber cover to suit, however maybe I was just unlucky but when I came to fit the running boards and rubber covers they were some 20mm + too long and had to trimmed and rewelded to fit anyway, and yes I did check the locations of the front and rear wings several times before I gave in and cut them to suit!!
I certainly believe Paul's arrangement to be more accurate than mine, but you have my reasoning.
Best of luck whichever you way you go
Cheers Denis S
When I looked at how much of the body had to be removed at the bottom of the post and as you can see in my attachment no. 0014 that gaping hole of the rear wheel arch which appeared when I removed the Ali sheeting and filler, the hole ran the full length of the rear wheel arch. Add to that the front door post was in a similar condition there was little to stop the body sagging. I must also point out I had none of the interior woodwork and so had to replace all of this too. So to me it had to be suitably braced.
As for taking the bottom section of the rear door post down below the running board, if you look again at the attachment no.0014 you will see that the biggest area of rot is all around the same location as the running board. All of the outer body work, the inner structural member and the inner section of the wheel arch have all disappeared. Maybe I am wrong but this looked too much of a coincidence to me and so I made the choice to use a bit of licence.
I removed the outer body far enough to get back to solid metal and to leave me sufficient access to the inner structural member to remove all of the lower end. I then replaced the lower missing area of wheel arch, formed up new sections and replaced as required. I was also able to blend the section nicely into the wheel arch section. See attachment 120
I felt that if I left the body section above the running board you have a thin metal section at the bottom that is extremely difficult to suitably prepare and paint in a manner that will leave it sufficiently protected. My work experience in the design of equipment on oil rigs always taught me not to leave sharp edges/corners which were to be painted and this is effectively what you would have at the bottom. So by taking the section below the running boards it protected the inner sections and meant that I could paint it and liberally apply dinitrol or wax oil up inside the sections and also paint all the exposed surfaces with a good underseal/stone chip seal.
This does give you a problem with fettling the running board and rubber cover to suit, however maybe I was just unlucky but when I came to fit the running boards and rubber covers they were some 20mm + too long and had to trimmed and rewelded to fit anyway, and yes I did check the locations of the front and rear wings several times before I gave in and cut them to suit!!
I certainly believe Paul's arrangement to be more accurate than mine, but you have my reasoning.
Best of luck whichever you way you go
Cheers Denis S