Found a fully threaded tube the right length that could be drilled out ... infact the minor dia of M12 is around 10.1...
Ideally you would push in a tube which had a 1mm step turned into each end, so it "pops" into the hole as you get it in place, (and then is TIG welded in.. )but thats going to be a fiddle getting it in, especially with the crushing .. Think turning on a lathe, or using some gas pipe style steel tubing with a smooth 10mm ID.. You could drill out one side to clear the tube and then weld it into the hole. Provided its lined up with the hole the other side and pressed against the back of the metal while welding, it should act as a spacer.
There appear to be 4 small dimples around each through hole on the box side protuding inwards... not sure if these are what holds it in place or a temporary measure while tacking in... Think I'm gonna go with the M12 hex spacer for now and whack them into place and hope...
Think about how you'll get a tube with a large enough diameter to support the hole... through the hole. Answer - you won't. Must be in there - I'd have a fish - you'll have more luck with one already inside the chassis. That's all that holds them. Perhaps someone previously got Neanderthal in the area enough for them to fall out of position.
Will do... I took a couple of days off to mess around with the steering box , links, pins etc ... I guess most of it will now be spent fishing... I dont think that front bit of box section is too long though
I bet someone has got their lefty loosely righty tightey mixed up and wondered why they couldn’t get the bolts to undo.
Box section is fairly open at the end and can just about feel inside through hole where clutch cable lever housing goes... dooesnt seem to be anything in there... more internet searching required I guess now
Could be they just fell out as the back end is open…I need to stick something in that’s a bit more flexible…a bit of breather pipe…
15mm steel tube with a 1.5mm wall will be a 12mm ID. Take care pushing the chassis leg metal apart .. the other spacers may fall out as the gap increases.. put a bolt in the holes that have spacers, torque them.up so that doesnt happen. .. random ideas... Its going to take a lot of force on 2mm steel to bend it out , may have to get creative with using studding and nuts inside the chassis rail to push out.. It may end up a total nightmare.. Cutting out a window in the bent region and flattening it , hammering the other side out then welding new spacers in while there is access, then welding the flat piece back on.. nightmare with limited access .. Or you chop out a saddle shaped piece from the bottom containing the holes and spacers, repair it and weld the saddle back in place (can access all the cuts as places you can seam weld).
Found something that should work that I van get from down the road...not stainless but I can hammerite it.
Excuse me being a pooper, but how the heck are those short things going to work? - you need some tube to jam between the two side of the chassis to stop the bolt crushing the chassis and provide a solid structure to tighten against.
You may be able to take out the dimple caused by lack of tubes by inserting a set screw with a thick washer from the inside and tightening the nut outside. That way you'll get a slightly longer tube in and be back more or less to how it was designed. How you'll keep the tubes in place I don't know. When I've had to move them on earlies to do steering box conversions I've got lucky and they stay jammed in place.
I think I would go on eBay and buy a length of 15mmx1.5mm wall steel tube. Then you cut it to the length that you end up with after chassis bending efforts, make it a bit too long so it wedges in there. A 200mm length would give you a few tries worth. Or see if there is a Metal Supermarket or equivalent in the Edinburgh area. .. and in their offcuts bin there may be something you can buy and use .. if not you just buy a metre or whatever.. Even B&Q sells a selection of steel tubing.
They arent as short as they look... I checked the minor dia of an M12 thread of course before buying!! Edit: actually 40 long so 10mm to file / saw off Plus I did buy some M10 bolts, nuts and washers to be able to push out from one side of the beam I hope... 2 washers against the inside of beam, screw bolt head from outside while holding inner nut
Took about a week but finally got one spacer in place with the bolt nice and free…beam is tapered it seems so had to remove another 2mm or so off the hex piece…onto the last one
