ELAN '68-REPLACING TRIANGULATED STEEL LADDER IN INNER CILLS

[Charlie Farley]

Hello chaps,
Im hoping that someone out there may have successfully completed this work and may be able to advise me of the best way to approach the job.
At the moment, a small split has appeared where the outer cill joins the floorpan and ive been advised this is because the ladder is rusting.I presume you have to cut away the inner sill section and that the bottom rail of the ladder sits in a small channel.Is this ladder easy to remove when cut into small sections? What about the bottom rail that sits in the glassfibre channel, is this covered by matting? is it feasible to install the new ladder in small sections and tig/mig weld it insitu?
Im proposing to remove just the horizontal ladder section, leaving inplace the members that go up into the wheel arch sections, these look in good condition.
Finally, is it a feasible alternative to use stainless steel , when replacing this ladder?
Any advise would be gratefuuly recieved.
At first sight, it looks a 'pig' of a job!

[bill308]

Charlie,

Have you seen?

http://www.lotuselan.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1979

While not discussed in detail, I used a stainless rod to replace the rods that extend up and over the rear wheel arches. I had a pro do the welding on this portion and he stick welded it with an appropriate electrode good for both stainless and mild steel. This joint is a lap joint and the welds looked really good. I used mild steel for the lower truss rod and had my brother, who is not a pro, butt weld it with a MIG welder. He had some trouble getting good penetration but eventually got a good but somewhat ugly joint.