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,