Boxing Plate end replacement

[thewdkid]

Hello Folks,
I need to replace the end of the boxing plate at the front.As Sod's Law would decree, the bit that needs to come out is hidden by the hinge pillar which is fine with no signs of rust.The floor underneath the hinge pillar (and the rest of the sill structure) is solid.Apart from a small hole where the floor meets the inner wing that is.The inner step is also solid apart from an inch or so where it meets the inner wing again.Now the way I see it I've got 2 options:either cut the bottom of the hinge pillar out to get to the rusty boxing plate end or cut the inner step away.As both areas are sound (and remembering what a pain it is to rehang doors)I'm in a bit of tiz!Your thoughts please...
(I will post a photo later)
Cheers.

[chickenjohn]

Drill out the spot welds on the A pillar cover panel and remove it, this is a cheap repair section to replace. Then you can get access to the boxing panel front end and also the bottom of the inner will step. You can do this and leave the door in place.

[thewdkid]

Thanks John.I've removed the cover plate and discovered some things that I hadn't known in 25 years of owning the old girl.What surprised me most was that I hadn't noticed the last time I replaced the cover plate 16 odd years ago and that is it looks like the hinge post has been replaced at some point and not very well at that. This leads to a couple more questions:
1.Should the flitch panel extend right the way back and be welded to the hinge pillar?As hopefully can be seen in the pics,mine doesn't.
2.How many panels make up the hinge post assembly?There's the hinge post itself which holds the hinges,then there is the cloaking panel as the catalogue calls it,but is there then another cover panel which should be attached to the flitch panel?
Cheers.[frame][/frame]

[chickenjohn]

Thanks John.I've removed the cover plate and discovered some things that I hadn't known in 25 years of owning the old girl.What surprised me most was that I hadn't noticed the last time I replaced the cover plate 16 odd years ago and that is it looks like the hinge post has been replaced at some point and not very well at that. This leads to a couple more questions:
1.Should the flitch panel extend right the way back and be welded to the hinge pillar?As hopefully can be seen in the pics,mine doesn't.

Yes it should extend all the way to the back of the hinge pillar

2.How many panels make up the hinge post assembly?

Just the hinge pillar the cover and the captive thread plate retaining tabs

There's the hinge post itself which holds the hinges,then there is the cloaking panel as the catalogue calls it,but is there then another cover panel which should be attached to the flitch panel?

No, the cover panel should be spot / plug weld to the rear of the hinge pillar side flange on one side and the flat inner wing "flitch " as you call it on the other side of the cover panel

Cheers.[frame][/frame]

[thewdkid]

Thank you!

[Mark Wilson]

The flitch should finish with a twice angled return spot welded to the edge of the kidney panel and to the boxing plate. The hinge pillar should be welded to the outer corner of this. Yours appears to have been cut back and a separate panel welded in, with the addition of a small bracket next to the retaining plate. Mine had been bodged far worse than this! I decided to restore as much stiffness as possible by replacing the flitch section with ESM part RP124AL (sorry, can't do links on iPad). Worth looking at the ESM photo to see the intended arrangement even if you decide to improvise

Mark.

[thewdkid]

Thanks Mark.It's all falling into place now!

[thewdkid]

After much dithering and a lurgy I've deciced to replace the flitch panel and hinge post and to do a proper job.It's not as if the door is a great fit in the first place!