Footwells.

[Fhill]

The original footwells in my series 3 had double thickness metal round the holes where the brake and clutch pedal came through. Im just about to weld new ones in and am wondering if I should make some to fit on the new ones to stop any flexing. I got the new ones from paddocks could any tell me if they have any problems with them or are the strong enough without welding on a plate.

[Snagger]

Definitely reinforce them - the work involved is much less than that of rebuilding the whole car with broken limbs because the pedal box separated from the foot well. Frankly, it's something that Trading Standards might be interested in; the bolt holes will crack pretty quickly on a single sheet well unless they are made of significantly thicker steel than the original wells.

[Bowie69]

Yup reinforce, pretty sure it was 2mm reinforcement on my old lightweight.

[secondjeremy]

I agree that the things should be re-inforced.

Has the top of the footwell rusted? Often its not and a better job can be made by cutting the old footwell away to one of the folds at the front (mounting for steering box etc) and welding along the join/angle. I have managed to unpick the rotten floor from the re-inforceing plate, leave it in place and simply weld the new floor to it.

[Bowie69]

As above, if you don't need to replace the top, leave it as-is, makes the job a LOT simpler, especially if still in the truck, and has master cylinders attached!