Whilst out today fixing a hole in my sump and painting some of the underbody, I prodded what I though was just loose flaky rust, next thing I know I have a huge gaping hole along the whole sill.

 

I have skirts on, so its hard to tell, if this is the side of the sill or the actual bottom of the sill itself.

 

So...three questions -

 

1 - Is this fixable, can it be welded and if it can be welded, is it a huge job costing many hundreds?

 

2 - If welding is possible, will the skirt need removing?

 

3 - How safe is this, is my drivers side floor likely to drop out; killing me?

 

Thanks all.

 

The link below might help you with your decision,

Mine was very similar. :excl:

It was a matter of "do it myself" or give up on ever owning a Z.:no:

4 years later I am back up and running.:w00t: worth the wait.:thumbup1:

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=15465

 

Hey, thanks for this, it looks very possible. It has given me hope. :) My dad is trying to convince me to put my Zed on his drive and do similar, though I don't believe he's thinking of such a major overhaul, more of simple semi-bodge job, which I've explained wont work. I'm not convinced anything much will happen this year.

 

My rear arches are ok, I've already had to patch up the fuel filler pipe which I then coated with several coats of Hammerite, as well as the arch! The rear bumper fuel tank area looks fine. I'll prod the passengers sill area a little more , but it seemed sound.

 

The thought of expensive body work and respraying afterwards is putting me off...though had considered getting a compressor and gun and attempting the respraying myself. I don't have an indoor area in which to do this however.

 

Well, at least this is a possibility....I'll give it some further thought.

 

Cheers everyone, I'll let you know what I decide.

I've just done this job matey, my skirts were blended in so there was no way of removing them,

 

i cut a huge chunk out of the rear wheel arch so i could see the damage all inside the sills, not good at all, i then had to weld in that tight space

 

as stated on here it didnt have to be the tidiest of jobs as you dont see the sills at all but the most important thing is that there structurally sound,

 

brace yourself when you first cut into your sill for a look as my inner sills were non existant, and then having to cut back again into good steel for welding onto,

 

i was able to do this job myself as i do a lot of welding at work, also my father is in the bodyshop so he gave me some tips,

 

one thing i had to do was cut a section out of the bottom of the side skirt, i was able to repair this and spray it and is now un noticable, i will try to get some pics up if you like,

it is possible to repair as i used my own steel thicker gauge

 

a body shop to do it would be quite expensive i would say, any help matey just let me know

 

Cheers, the weird thing is I've looks at the sills from the inside of the car (carpet up obviously) and could see inside the sill and it looked fine, so to discover the bottom missing, well, was kind of a surprise! :sweatdrop:

Glad to hear you haven't given up. :thumbup1:

Most of my paintwork came up OK with some elbow grease and I am reading up on re spraying my repares with decent rattle cans.

I take it this is a UK spec by the looks of that rust?

 

SCRAP IT!

 

Better in the long run

 

Nope Jap import...

how didnt your last mot pick that up!?

It didn't actually look bad, till I poked it and discovered it was all rust.

 

I think the last MOT may have been a bit dodgy... (before I bought the car)

thats a kick in the balls sorry bout it mate hope it works out 4 ya

It didn't actually look bad, till I poked it and discovered it was all rust.

 

I think the last MOT may have been a bit dodgy... (before I bought the car)

 

Same as my Zed, on both points :(

 

I don't know how it passed the MOT that it already had when I bought it :sneaky2:

 

Also, my sill fell to bits after some serious "poking" :blushing:

 

 

Inner sill.....what inner sill?

 

 

All sorted now apart from some cosmetics and a paint job :)

 

If I did go down the 'spares or repairs' Ebay route, considering the rest of the car is good, how much do you think I'd get?

Wow,

some of those photo's bring back memories.:shock:

I guess maybe the lesson is 'don't poke!' lol

Mine also had an MOT on it which there's NO WAY it should have!

At some of those prices I would of cut from another sound car thus matching parts and having spares

I would repair it, then i have repaired and made parts for worse jobs than yours mate, Im an engineer and body repairer/mechanic by trade although i no longer do it for a job. I would pull your carpets up and have a good poke around before deciding on what you will do, there are good welders out there that would take on this sort of work. the floor is fixable and so is the sills and inner sills. It all comes down to how you feel about doing it and how competent you are if you decide to do it either way if you do it is a good learning experience for you.

yes a bit dangerous shame you live so far away i could have helped you out .welding wise....help you save some money

Guys ... this thread is over 6 months old.... maybe a little bit late for useful suggestions:whistling:

Guys ... this thread is over 6 months old.... maybe a little bit late for useful suggestions:whistling:

 

I'm guessing their responses are in response to my recent post -

 

http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?160220-Sill-question-how-many-sections-(Photos) :)