Deejay has told me he is fairly sure his twin rail has the drilled holes in its side plates that were originally used to mount the single deck, and were re-used by the factory as weld holes for the twin rails. If we can verify that by actually laying one over the other, it will greatly simplify the future conversion process. It would mean the original holes just needed to be drilled out, to convert side plates.
Hi Grumpy,
I think you'll find that this particular machine was probably a transition machine with SB still having a stock pile of solid deck side plates and using them on the twin railers rather than wasting them. I'm sure after a few months of production the newer side plates being made would not have had the older style holes in them any longer.
Now, back on topic
As far as confidence in the new top deck being made in China is concerned, if it was to be made to stronger standards than the original and was spot on correct then word of mouth would do the job for us, especially if they were endorsed by the ODK and also sold through the website store. This would give huge credibility to the product, but yes you are correct that a prototype built here in Oz and proven, would be the item to send to China to produce masses of, thus making it affordable to retail and not be too far out of reach to purchase by the average restorer.
Does this sound feasible ?
Cheers,
BB.
