Herald treadplate / door step repair question

[steveo]

Hi all, bought some treadplate repair panel's from Rimmer bros ( part no.566034 ) are the original Herald ones double skinned as there is so many bodges & poor repairs on my car its hard to tell what the original step looked like, it was just filler & a step pop riveted on to give the door seal something to fit on ! 

This is what I have left after removing all the rust & crud.

Thanks, Steve.

[Pete Lewis]

believe they are all double skinned from what ive seen  

there was some thought it was to stiffen the body a bit 

my 64 vit was double 

Pete

[Pdv]

Hi Steveo

The ones I purchased from Chic Doig a while ago are double skinned and are a thicker material and have the body mount spot welded in place.

Knowing the quality of work that Chic produces this would suggest that the originals were double skinned.

Steve

 

[TomL]

Hi Steveo,

Yes, they are double skinned.  I believe one or more supplier does a replacement in thicker steel so that you can achieve single-skin construction here, thus eliminating a potential rust trap.

Tom

[steveo]

Thanks to all, off to the steel supplier tomorrow to get a sheet to make the lower panel then I will spot weld my new Rimmer ones on top.

Cheers, Steve.

[Clive]

I have always repaced the treadplates (probably a dozen over the years) using just one and not double-skinning. Like you I left the body mounts in place (do check door alignment carefully) and extended the floor edge with just a narrow strip if there was not enough to stitch the treadplate to.. I really dislike doube skinned stuff, it is doomed to an early rusty death. 

[PeteH]

My 13/60`s are single skinned. I assumed they where as O/E?, as when I took what appeared to be "overplates" off the underneath was just pure "oxide". The replacements are 1.2 mm thick though now. Might account for some of the difficulty getting my cill alignment correct?.

Pete

[Colin Lindsay]

1 hour ago, PeteH said:

My 13/60`s are single skinned. I assumed they where as O/E?

I was intending to check this; mine are all single-skinned, and at least one has never been dismantled (until I did it!) and that's four tubs in one garage.

In some cars I've seen a treadplate welded over the top of the two (bulkhead and tub) flat sections to cover the join, and I know there's a repair section available that again some owners just weld over the top. 

[Clive]

1 hour ago, Colin Lindsay said:

I was intending to check this; mine are all single-skinned, and at least one has never been dismantled (until I did it!) and that's four tubs in one garage.

In some cars I've seen a treadplate welded over the top of the two (bulkhead and tub) flat sections to cover the join, and I know there's a repair section available that again some owners just weld over the top. 

Have a look at the lip the doorseal sits on. That is part of the treadplate. And teh treadplate sits over the edge of the floor, the floor having the body mounts welded to it. The treadplate is spot welded to this section of the floor. Or was!

[Jon J 1250]

Here's an end on shot of my NOS floorpan to show how the two parts fit together.

Hope it helps, let me know if you need any other details like how the B Post area is supposed to look.

JJ

 

[Colin Lindsay]

2 hours ago, clive said:

Have a look at the lip the doorseal sits on. That is part of the treadplate. And teh treadplate sits over the edge of the floor, the floor having the body mounts welded to it. The treadplate is spot welded to this section of the floor. Or was!

I nipped out and photographed the closest; which are the two I've been working on most recently - this looks single skinned from that angle. The others are incredibly rusty but the one you can just see to the left is single-skinned too. I just wanted to confirm if they had been single-skinned due to early design or later cost-cutting, or were they found to be a weak spot requiring reinforcement in later models? (or mine might even be a replacement treadplate assembly. I'm not ruling out PO modifications!) Originally due to the method of assembly they were actually triple-skinned close to the b-post, which was definitely overkill. 

  

[Clive]

22 minutes ago, Colin Lindsay said:

I nipped out and photographed the closest; which are the two I've been working on most recently - this looks single skinned from that angle. The others are incredibly rusty but the one you can just see to the left is single-skinned too. I just wanted to confirm if they had been single-skinned due to early design or later cost-cutting, or were they found to be a weak spot requiring reinforcement in later models? (or mine might even be a replacement treadplate assembly. I'm not ruling out PO modifications!) Originally due to the method of assembly they were actually triple-skinned close to the b-post, which was definitely overkill. 

  

That treadplate looks (from teh photo) to be a homemade type. A proper one has a swage" line about an inch from th edoor seal flange. As shown on the NOS tub above. 

I have no issue with homemade panels, especially if simple shapes as they are usually made of decent steel (many pressed new panels are made out of a very soft/bendy steel, I presume as it forms easily, but probably rusts easily too)

[steveo]

Gone for the double skin as in JJ's car, has given it lots of strength back, now got to to do the base of the A & B post ( and make sure the door fits ), these still kinda exist so I have something to go on, its never going to be a show pony so its not perfect fabrication & welding, just got to look tidy & hold it together !

Poor old car has had so much bad welding & paint in the past its not worth investing the time & money to make it perfect, cheaper to buy a nice one, but it should all come in at under 2k & will be a usable every day car that I don't have to worry about car park dents in Tesco's .

Thanks to everyone that has replied to my post, this has been so much help, as its my first Herald I am not familiar with the construction of body on chassis, if you want to know about a 1986 Chevrolet Camaro I have welded one from end to end !

Cheers, Steve. ( will try and post some pictures of the outcome ! ) 

[steveo]

Spent the afternoon welding, got the floor patched & now the B post is connected to the floor, sill & door fit ok, on to the A post at the weekend.

Cheers, Steve.

[Colin Lindsay]

Looks good, you're right to go with John J's photo as his is unmolested. I suspect some of mine have been replaced with single layers as the double skin is a notorious rust trap, and if I remember correctly after many years they used to sell a single-skin heavy duty treadplate to overcome this on replacement.

[Richeee]

I was going to at some point query as original poster the single v double skin and it reminded myself to check my new old stock treadplates which 1.7mm and got to be 15 years old and my intention is to replace as 1 unit and do away with double skin, thats a rust trap.    

[steveo]

Got the drivers side done, don't know if the right shape but the door & sill fits, so cant be that far off, just got to weld about 200 holes up in the front foot well & plate the rear inner arches ( been done before but its a mess ! )   already replaced 1 rear chassis leg, done 2 big holes in the boot, both rear body mounts & front outriggers.

Next week will be groundhog day when I turn it around & start the passenger side, hopefully better then the offside  ( fingers crossed ! )

Cheers, Steve.