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Re: 'Nother B question

To: "W. Ray Gibbons" <gibbons@northpole.med.uvm.edu>
Subject: Re: 'Nother B question
From: Allen.Bachelder@vt.edu (Allen Bachelder)
Date: Mon, 27 Mar 1995 10:18:15 -0500
Ray Gibbons writes:
>So what is the third vertical membrane seen after the outer sill and the
>inner membrane and castle section are removed?  Is this just the vertical
>side section of the floor???  Why does he assume this will be sound--does
>the rust almost always stop after eating the inner membrane?
>
>Where is the jacking point reinforcement welded?  To what I am assuming
>must be the side of the floor, to the center membrane, where?
>------

Ray -
Let's see if I remember this.  First, most catalogs, such as Moss,  show
some pretty good cross-sectional views.  The "third" vertical membrane is
the inner box section between the door and the floor - normally covered
with the rubber floor mats on the inside of the car.  Sometimes it IS
rotten - as on at least two of my Bs.  Hopefully, the flange that comes on
new floor sections extends high enough to patch these if necessary.

The castle section looks like part of the floor from underneath the car,
but it forms the bottom of the aforementioned box section.  The outside of
this box section is the inner membrane (new ones have a girder-like
diagonal pattern stamped into them - as did the originals before the iron
worms ate them.

The jacking point reinforcment rests on the castle section directly over
the jack socket - triangulating  it to what you are calling the side of the
floor (or "third" vertical membrane, or inner box section, as I tried to
describe it above).

Again, viewing cross-sectionally, the inside edge of the castle section,
the "third" membrane, and the floor all join at the base of the "third"
membrane.  The outside edge of the castle section, the other bottom of the
(stamped) vertical membrane and the outer sill form a welded sandwich right
where the drain holes that never work were when your B was new.  Alas,
these drain holes are the one thing on your B that does not leak.  The box
section I mentioned above, the top of the inner (stamped) membrane, and the
outer sill all meet at the top of the sill, and you can see this
spot-welded seem when you remove your fuzzy door seal.

I have yet to do this work - my new mig welder is still in the box.  But I
recently had the opportunity to work along with a fellow who was replacing
a complete sill assembly - several days work even for an experienced pro.

Among the Things That Porter Never Mentions are the problems of working
around the rearword curvature of the door jam (base of the B post), and the
problems of trimming old rotten pieces of castle section off the top of the
cross member without distorting it.  The guy I observed solved these
problems (with a bit of good fortune)  by salvaging a bit of the the castle
section where it goes over the cross member, cutting up pieces of the new
one to repair otherwise as needed.  He also fudged  a little to save the
weld joint under the fuzzy door seal.  There was enough of the inner
membrane intact at the top so he could cut it - leaving a flange to which
to weld (trimmed) the new one.  He saved the horizontal part of the old
outer sills from the A post all the way back (thus saving the impossible
weld under that (albeit replaceable) curved section to the door jam and
trimming the bottom flanges of the A post.  This helps maintain alignment
also (do keep the door on, brace the thing much better than possible, and
keep checking the door seams over and over again as you work!).  This
method did result in a weld joint in the outer sill right under the door.
I guess you pay your money and take your choice.

This is already much more than I know about sills!  I better stop.  ' Hope
some of this helps.

Allen Bachelder


***********************************************************
Allen H. Bachelder, Associate Professor of Trumpet
                                         =iii=<
Department of Music, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0240
E-mail: Allen.Bachelder@vt.edu, Phone: 703-231-6713,  Fax 703-231-5034
***********************************************************




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