Outrigger replacement

A previous repair

When Frank was in for his last MOT he failed with some holes in the chassis and outriggers, I asked the MOT guy to patch the chassis (to pass the MOT) and although he offered to patch the outriggers I thought it’d be best to replace them.

Daylight through the outrigger.

The difficulty is knowing where to stop. Frank is a ’71 early bay and there’s a job to be done pretty much everywhere you look. But I’m keen to break the ongoing work into chunks that are small enough to be achievable, without turning him into a graveyard project.

You can see from the inside of the front wheel arch that the outrigger is toast, and there is also a hole in the top hat section above.

Outrigger complete with holes.

Middle sill with bottom half missing.

Cutting away the outer sill underneath the sliding door showed that the middle sill had been cut short and doesn’t meet the bottom of the inside sill.
Whilst most of the middle sill is solid, there are holes at the rear of the track, and the rear of the inside sill has rotted through.
After cutting out the front outrigger I uncovered a sizeable hole in the chassis beneath. Not a high point of my afternoon! If you think about the shape of the outrigger and how it meets the chassis, it is pretty much an ideal dirt and moisture trap. Which makes you wonder how many gaping chassis holes are covered up by outriggers.

Rear of the inside sill.

After cutting back the front and bottom of the hole to good gauge steel, the inside of the chassis was treated with rust killer (Jenolite), and primed (Zinc primer), then sprayed out with stone chip paint.
Patches were fabricated in 2mm steel and primed / painted on the inside keeping the weld area bare.

Chassis with outrigger removed.

What was left of the old outrigger.