I needed to recreate the pedal reinforcement plate the I absent mindedly cut though thinking that it was part of an old crusty patch repair. Using a piece of 5mm flat bar I transferred the dimensions from the drawing I created and used the remains of the original to double check accuracy. After some trimming and grinding I had the basic shape sorted:
Once I had located the exact position of the mount holes I began drilling them out on the pillar drill, firstly with a pilot hole:
I then moved up to the 6.80mm tapping bit that I ordered online specifically for this task:
Then added the treads using an M8 x 1.25 tap to match the original. It really pays to go slow here and use tapping compound:
I needed to add more material to the top of the naps hat flange so that the overall thickness approached that of the pedal reinforcement plate (wish I would have thought of this at the time I was repairing this section). To do this I clamped some copper underneath the section and progressively added weld to the top, which I later ground flush:
To assist with getting good weld penetration I chaffered the edges of the pedal reinforcement plate and set a 1mm root gap at the bottom (with corresponding 1mm root face):
Offered up, fitting finessed and ready for welding:
I practiced on some scraps first as I have never welded steel this thick and I really only had one shot of getting it right. Welder settings needed to be cranked up and I also fitted my welder with thicker 0.8mm wire. Blew a couple of fuses whilst experimenting with the setup! This is the finished product after a wire brush and zinc priming:
Top side sanded flush along the weld seams and ready for final fitting of the floor pan half. Fitted a couple of new M8 8.8 bolts for good measure:
On the last update I mentioned that I was frustrated by the fit of my passenger side pan. I have since asked around for advice and got some really helpful feedback. Most agreed that the pan fitment looked fine, but cautioned that I should really double check my dimensions before plug welding them into place. I have now added a few technical diagrams to the 'useful resto info' page of this blog following extensive online research. In order to check the accuracy of my dimensions I decided to plough on and fit the other outrigger which would allow me to assess how everything was looking:
I then flipped the chassis over and welded the u-shaped torsion bar bracket to the support foot I previous fabricated:
Cleaned up and zinc primed:
Spent a great deal of time the tape measure assessing the distance between the two outermost holes in the outrigger sections. Made some notes to compare against the technical diagrams that I sourced and concluded that I was 4mm in total (i.e; 2mm on either side). However, the tape measure had to go over a slight hump (centre of the chassis tunnel) and would probably account for the extra width I was detecting:
It made me consider whether the diagrams had been drawn up with this aspect in mind or not. That would make them open to interpretation and so my findings will remain inconclusive for the time being I guess. Ultimately I would have preferred the gap to have been a couple of mm smaller so that the pans butt against the tunnel tighter, but I can live with what I have and make it work ....I hope this doesn't become a statement that I haunts me further down the line!
