Help - Door hinge post reinforcing bracket rusted

[Jez007]

I'm in the process of undertaking a full interior re-trim on an 88 Turbo Esprit and upon removing the carpets I have found that the reinforcing bracket that is bolted to the bottom of the door hinge post has rusted through on both sides.

 

From what I can see the purpose of the reinforcing bracket is prevent the door hinge post from twisting and putting stress on the body that the door hing post is bonded to.

 

Initially I thought the bracket was bolted to the inner sill (wrong advice from a Lotus specialist) however upon cutting a small hole in the inner sill to gain access I realised that the bracket is actually sandwiched between the inner and outer sills. The problem I have is getting to the bolts on the outside of the outer sill.

 

Without removing the side skirts I see no way to get to the bolts. I'd considered whether it may be possibly to cut a hole in the side skirt to gain access, but I can see that filling a hole may not be feasible.

 

I've also inserted a camera into the small drain hole in the sill and from what I can see the end of the bolt, nut and washer are a mass of rust and even if I could get access with a spanner through a hole in the side skirt I couldn't gaurantee I could get the bolt off. The drain hole is obviously where moisture has got in and rusted the nut and bolt.

 

It looks like I'm going to have to remove the side skirts, which look to be a real nightmate as they are riveted and bonded. Before I do so I need to understand whether anyone else has encountered such and issue or has had experience of removing the side skirts.

 

This is an utterly ridiculous piece of design by Lotus and it's a pitty they didn't pick up tips from boat builders when building fibreglass bodies and used stainless steel. Something I intend to do when I figure out how to get the brackets out. I wonder how many other owners are going to be finding this issue before long.

 

Any help anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated as I'm stuck now and can't get the interior back in the car until I get this problem fixed.

 

Jeremy.