another bulkhead repair ?

[LH Drive]

I just removed my bulkhead for your average footwell repairs. I want to make a brace or jig to reduce warpage before I start removing the rusty footwells. My door pillars look good with only visual surface rust.
Whats the center hole to center hole width from left/right bulkhead mounting legs? Mine came back from the sandblaster measuring 59 inches from leg to leg but it could be wrong due to the footwells being rusty and metal warping from the sandblasting. I have not removed the transmission so I can't get a good measurement off the rolling frame.

[crankin]

Those mounts can actually be removed. And seeing how everything looks pretty rusty...you might want to replace them, they might be rusted out inside the door post.

[LH Drive]

Those mounts can actually be removed. And seeing how everything looks pretty rusty...you might want to replace them, they might be rusted out inside the door post.


They do look pretty bad before sandblast. This S3 came from the South West and before purchase, I did the old hammer/screwdriver test to the frame and found no rot, just surface rust. Thats the reason I want to strip it down and stop the rust before it gets worse. I also inspected the frame with a flash light in some of the larger frame drain holes and saw new metal inside the frame. This Series must have been Waxoyled some time ago. Two of the three door frames are rust free with only the passenger bottom corner rusted. Thats where most of my rot is. The footwell will need to be replaced.
Does anyone have the measurement from bulkhead leg to leg? (center mounting hole to center mounting hole)

[Drain Rovers2]

Looks real solid, i wouldn't even touch the door posts they are a pain, im in the middle of doing them on mine. I would just patch, don't buy a whole new foot well because they are solid for the most part.
Good Luck,

[LH Drive]

Thanks Carey for the measurement. Seems like mine wasn't too far off after all. I'll weld up a steel brace at center mount hole to center mount hole of 59 1/4 inches apart.
will post pictures of the patch work. Need to get a flat sheet with the 3 ribs rolled in from a sheet metal shop.

[rovertek]

i agree dont touch the mounts, just patch and weld and in the end you will be a lot happier.....

[LH Drive]

The driver side footwell only has a few rust holes and should be easy to patch. Its the passenger side thats bad. My guess is the top area of the door pillar just under the top door hinge is where the water leak started. I've already cut off the bottom section from the left side footwell where most of the rust was. I plan to cut/shape new steel sheet 18 gauge to form that section and weld it on before I attempt to patch another area.

[thixon]

My 2 cents.

If it were me, I'd go ahead and replace the footwell. It can be done faster than patching what I see in the photos. If you go that route, you can install the bulkhead on the frame with the footbox removed (no jig), and use self tapping sheet metal screws to mount the new footwell in place, and suck the assembly together. Then start plug welding. You'd have it done in a saturday easy. You also won't have to piece together the footbox, and go and get a sheet bead rolled. The stiffener looks great, just drill out the welds, and weld it to the new footbox.

Admittedly, piecing it together will probably be cheaper, but I'm for the quick and easy here.


If you door posts are fine, then great, don't mess with them.

Good luck with it.