The last few days have been spent preparing to fit the steel reinforcement plates to the new (and old) timber around the NS of the boot.  This involved marking-out and drilling pilot holes in the plates, then using these to locate pilot holes in the body bearers and the side rods.  The holes in the bearers were difficult to drill due to the steel insert (Weymann’s “composite” construction)  and the lack of clearance between the boot floor and the position of the upper holes.  Once the pilot holes had been drilled they had to be opened out to clear the 1/4″ bolts that pass through the steel plate, the bearer and the second steel plate.  I found it helpful to drill slightly larger than necessary clearance holes in the steel plates to compensate for any misalignment in the the through drilling.

Once all the holes were drilled I etch primed and painted the steel plates with blue smooth Hammerite enamel.  These will eventually get refinished in grey or interior brown depending on where they are located,

Drilled the rearmost bearer and corner pillar ready for the bolts to attach the steel reinforcement plates.  I first drilled pilot holes in one of the steel plates then used these as a template to through-drill the bearer.  This bearer has a steel insert so it was quite hard work and tough on the drill bits.  Once the bearer had been drilled 1/4″ clear for the fixing bolts, the two plates for this section were aligned then drilled clear for the bolts.

First job today was to apply grey paint to the frame timbers that will be in contact with the aluminium cladding.  Next, while this dried, cut out the remaining steel gusset  plate.  Then I marked and  pilot drilled the mounting holes in one of each pair of plates.  I just had time to line up the first one on the timber cross bearer and drill through the pilot holes.  These will later be through drilled 1/4″ for the mounting bolts.  Once the  reinforcement plates are painted and mounted, the repairs to the nearside frame will be pretty much complete and attention can turn to the boot and boot doors.