ok, so I've removed engine/box and have been cleaning up in prep for transplant. cleaned up lots of messy oil and grime and found only original brown chassis paint.....

doing some more cleaning tonight in the void behind the rear crossmember where the handbrake pivot is mounted, (drummer). I noticed some odd flex when pushing on the lever......Its very difficult to see, but my fingers tell me there is some crispy metal down there

The chassis looks otherwise rust free....

So, I'm going to have to cut out a bit of the undertray to chop out and replace the bottom flange of the crossmember and reattach it to the undertray. Is the pivot welded or bolted??? Just trying to get my head around the repair before cutting the metal...

It is welded wih some spotwelding .
Best is to remove the pivot with help of some spotwelding drills , or with an ordinary 8 mm drill.
If you drill through the metal of the crossmember, you can repair
the hole with a little weld .
use brakecleaner to get rid of the grease, it is easier to spot the welding then.

Cheers, I'll open it all up tonight.....

Sooooo, of course, Once I chopped out the undertray, it was worse....Of course I expected this,but still not nice to find. Bottom of both flanges were knackered.

So a bit of cutting and grinding all of the nasty stuff is out and the replacement sections are simple L shapes. I didn't have to disturb the upper fixings for the handbrake pivot, and will be able to reach it for welding.

Talking of which.... Jeeze this is thin metal !!

A little further back on the chassis, there was 2 mirrored bits of minor rust so I thought I'd chop it out while I was manky anyway.....6"x 2" section was soon out.....along with a sliver of paper.....Odd,,,a bit of poking revealed some more, along with some fluff...'kin mouse house !!

By the time I gave up, I had filled half a bin bag and its still packed !

Going to have to think how I'm going to weld the small patches without burning the garage down.....

I swear, this is the last project I will EVER tackle........This was supposed to be a simple engine/box swap

Like this now....

question, How much movement should there be on handbrake lever?? Currently around 2" linear motion at end of lever, does that sound right? (drums)

P1000369 by Robndaisy, on Flickr

It is not overwhelming I guess, but it may be just enough.

I would have to check my van´s handbreak pivot to see if 2˝is sufficient.
I will measure it later today and let you know.

I measured 8,5 cm.

cheers, I'm going to measure again

That's the problem the 2cv is in cms not in inches....