Last night's progress - passenger side interior plate is in, and inner plate is mocked up. The passenger rail flange is trimmed and welded in preparation for fitting the interior rail plate.
Plate is fit and in. Working with the rails up close like this, it's easy to see the variations in assembly from left and right. It makes it impossible to reference and measure from features, and I have to rely on finding level and measuring from set points on the frame table.
Now, it's easier to see where we're going. The rails are about 7" tall at the crease, and the interface between the torque box and rail is a square 5". Recall that the boxes are 5" wide and 4" tall, so the interface is width matches the depth and the plates internal to the boxes also align with the overlay plates.
It's a lot of steel up front, but the improved stiffness should be worth the small amount of added weight. I'm looking to get back out there tonight.
David