I got underneath the car to do some sealing and rust preventative and managed to make 2 holes using the wire brush and a paintbrush covered in underseal.....

Can anyone advise me where to source section of panel I need ?

I want to cut out section and replace.......

I am trying to track down anyone I know who can weld.....

I am going to clean area up later with drill and wire brush to see how far the rot has crept......

Is this sill section or floorpan?

any idea of thickness of metal to use to make replacement section if I can't get replacement?

 

I even thought about aluminium mesh and JB weld for about half an hour......( I was a bit depressed when finding this so please forgive me!)......lol

 

I am getting more and more upset finding how many things need doing now.......

Edited August 27, 201312 yr by veilside01702

Rear - (well, what's left of it). The water drains out of a small slit (or preformed/pressed section), right at the back where the sill joins together, it's only about 2mm wide and about 4cm long. I'm unsure if the pipe is fixed inside, I thought it was, there is a piece of rusted steel in the end of the pipe below, which I had assumed was once connected to a drain pipe within the rear sill quarter. I plan to protect my new shell to the max, so will be getting in there to do some work, to stop anything like this every happening.

 

 

 

Front - Way higher up and in a total different place than what I was expecting. I always read that they drained around the fuse-box area further down below, but no, here they are. They drain inside the wing and the water runs down off the sill.

 

 

I think the rear is the worse idea (Nissan, what were you thinking?!) but the front one still isn't brilliant.

Edited August 2, 201312 yr by MasterCookieman

the front one is the drain for the section under the windscreen..unless someones fiddled with yours. I can assure you it comes out of the sill.

Edited August 2, 201312 yr by santa

in fact i have my front wing off at the moment. i`ll double check in the morning to confirm for you..maybe someones fiddled with mine!

Edited August 2, 201312 yr by santa

in fact i have my front wing off at the moment. i`ll double check in the morning to confirm for you..maybe someones fiddled with mine!

 

 

Those pics are from a while ago, but I'm sure I tested it. I remember seeing the connecting pipe on the inside. I could be going crazy, but if that isn't the front drain then I have no front targa drains (which might explain a few things!) lol

I shall look tomorrow and see if I can spot it in the rear sill.... I loosened the rear panel for a peek at the rust.....lol

The fronts do drain up there. Mine I've re-routed so the pipe comes from the drain, out the hole and all the way out the so that it doesn't just run on the wing.

My rears I've just run pipe the pipe all the way out so there's no join to fail.

yep my bad, they do indeed somebody had buggered about with mine in a past life.fixed now. the rears do attach to a metal pipe welded or rusted to the sill. ive had mine welded

Well I went to check drivers rear sill that is hiding behind the veilside side skirts and......... it started as a small scab and grew to NO REAR SILL LEFT.....

Yep the dreaded metal worm has eaten the rear sill.... couldn't see it behind skirting....

So I now need to remove the skirt that is bonded and painted to the rest of the car........ any idea's to do this as cleanly as possible?

I was thinking stanley knife through the paint along edge of skirt and use sharp wide chisel to try to lift the skirt from the body?

 

I now feel sick.... thought the N/S was the worst rust, but that outer sill has been replaced before..... the O/S one hadn't....

Just glad I found it now....

I Now need a O/S rear sill piece.... Any idea's...?

I could try to fabricate one as the skirt will go over the sill again anyway....... Or anyone breaking a car with a good sill?????????

Looks like a respray is in the works...... Just wish I could afford all of this...

Is it the entire rear sill, or just the outer sill? Can you post pics?

 

I too was tying to think of a way of removing the effected areas, with minimal damage, as mine were also blended into the bodywork and painted. In the end I just has to cut them off with an angel grinder, and worried about the atheistics later... Sadly the more I delved the more rot I found. Not what you want to hear I know!

 

If you're able to check the sills all the way along, underneath and from the interior, without removing the skirts, then I'd do that. Give them a damn good poking. It could just be the rear sections, they seem to be a common problem (probably because of the drains), I know many have had to do work in this area.

 

It sounds like you've caught early what could have turned into a nightmare, so look on the bright side.

 

So far, from what you've said, it sounds repairable, so I wouldn't freak out yet.

Is it the entire rear sill, or just the outer sill? Can you post pics?

 

I too was tying to think of a way of removing the effected areas, with minimal damage, as mine were also blended into the bodywork and painted. In the end I just has to cut them off with an angel grinder, and worried about the atheistics later... Sadly the more I delved the more rot I found. Not what you want to hear I know!

 

If you're able to check the sills all the way along, underneath and from the interior, without removing the skirts, then I'd do that. Give them a damn good poking. It could just be the rear sections, they seem to be a common problem (probably because of the drains), I know many have had to do work in this area.

 

It sounds like you've caught early what could have turned into a nightmare, so look on the bright side.

 

So far, from what you've said, it sounds repairable, so I wouldn't freak out yet.

Is it the entire rear sill, or just the outer sill? Can you post pics?

 

I too was tying to think of a way of removing the effected areas, with minimal damage, as mine were also blended into the bodywork and painted. In the end I just has to cut them off with an angel grinder, and worried about the atheistics later... Sadly the more I delved the more rot I found. Not what you want to hear I know!

 

If you're able to check the sills all the way along, underneath and from the interior, without removing the skirts, then I'd do that. Give them a damn good poking. It could just be the rear sections, they seem to be a common problem (probably because of the drains), I know many have had to do work in this area.

 

It sounds like you've caught early what could have turned into a nightmare, so look on the bright side.

 

So far, from what you've said, it sounds repairable, so I wouldn't freak out yet.

Hi, It is rusted through outer, both inner panels with holes in and the inner sill is caked in rust.... but looks bad.... the rear mounts seem very solid.... I am going to clean up tomorrow to see how bad it is with wire brush on drill....

I have some pics....lol

The hardest part was removing the bonded on skirt..... that was hard, a few small cracks occurred, but all repairable with some fibreglass and resin....

These were before I took the angle grinder to it this afternoon....lol

I marked a few lines up the outer sill and cut till I was on all good metal... About 1 inch below the swage line on the rear qtr panel.....

The pillar is rust free....

The front of the rust is where the rear quarter is welded to the front sill section....

The inner 2 panels are gone about half way up the preformed holes......

The inner sill / box section is full of rust from everywhere else, so needs some work to see just how bad it really is.....

I measured the sheet metal I need and ordered some from local supplier today...

I have gone for the 0.9mm he had..... is that thick enough?

I have checked and the front jacking point is gone as had the other side I just repaired.... I have already done the other side so was ready to do this anyway....

The middle piece of sill seems solid and pretty rust free..... Had a look down and it looks solid....

I am just a bit nervous about the rear inner section, but I will know more tomorrow.....

Looks just like mine did when the body shop started cutting. Wish I had the tools and skills to have tackled it myself but either way, at least its being sorted.

I did find out why..... the targa drain hole had been welded up on bottom of pipe.... someone must have thought it was a hole in the sill and welded it as well as covering over with seam sealant......grrrrrrrr

Looks just like mine did when the body shop started cutting. Wish I had the tools and skills to have tackled it myself but either way, at least its being sorted.

I was hoping you were going to say you are a master at welding and fabricating and would come and mend this for me......lol

Well rain has stopped play for the moment.... But got a picture of what I have got left and the rust treatment that I have put on to try to cover up while the weather is a bit damp......

I have treated all surface rust to a wire brush down and then coated in Hammerite Kurust... I let that soak in and dry then a spray coat of Hammerite No1 rust beater....

I was thinking of using a Zinc coating as far as I could get into the sill sections that are left?

What's the best high zinc content weld through spray to use for the bits I can't get to?

Going to have a go at fabricating first panel today.... Going to do the inner sill closing panel, flat one first....

I have made a cardboard template of piece I need using redwine300's pictures to show the rough shapes I want for the hole as the big one has only top section left....

Then weather permitting grind down the last of the rust metal from bottom of inner sill where the spot welds were and clean up.....

One panel at a time so I get them right.....

The other thing is where to run the Targa drain to....?

There is a hole left in the sill if I don't run a pipe through it?

As the inner sill panel has a recess for the metal pipe to run through.... I was thinking if using some either copper or alloy pipe and fixing in afterward with some quick steel, but letting the pipe protrude a bit to stop the rotting?

Thoughts anyone?

Edited August 9, 201312 yr by veilside01702

Watching this thread with huge interest. As it will be what I''ll be doing over winter :(

 

I think I would run a silicon pipe all the way from the targa, right through and out the sill. That way eliminating any chance of it happening again. Mastic the bit that pokes out in place.

I ran my targa drain out of the wheel arch. Got pic of it in my thread mate

I ran my targa drain out of the wheel arch. Got pic of it in my thread mate

I had a look.... thanks for that it looks a good idea.... but I think I am going to go with the running silicon pipe down to the original hole and use aluminium pipe and bond it into hole protruding a bit....

 

Just had family friend round to help with this as he used to build aircraft. He has offered to help when he can and showed me how to fabricate what I need....

I just need a panel beaters leather sandbag now and i am going to try to fabricate the sill end piece in the wheel arch first.... that is going to be the hardest part getting the curve right.... hence the sandbag.....lol

I need one for tomorrow, so maybe making one tonight as nowhere can get me one till tuesday next week......

off to get a bag of sand in a moment.....lol

Thats pretty much what mine looked like ( my inners were worse than yours though, spending 2 weeks on my back welding was not fun, and i know how to weld so i do feel your pain mate.

 

your going about it the right way, making sure ALL the rusty bits are gone before commencing welding, ive watched local welding places bodge up so many cars because they just slapped a plate over the hole and pigeon-shit welding it on.

 

keep it up, once its done you will fell a massive sense of accomplishment :)

Thats pretty much what mine looked like ( my inners were worse than yours though, spending 2 weeks on my back welding was not fun, and i know how to weld so i do feel your pain mate.

 

your going about it the right way, making sure ALL the rusty bits are gone before commencing welding, ive watched local welding places bodge up so many cars because they just slapped a plate over the hole and pigeon-shit welding it on.

 

keep it up, once its done you will fell a massive sense of accomplishment :)

Thanks for the support....... I don't want to have to redo this again in a couple of years..... I want it to last as long as possible.....lol

Well here is my masterpiece to make the inner bottom part of the wheel arch and sill end piece......

I looked at a sand bag to make a shaped panel the old school way, forming and cutting one and welding up the cuts, Then I finally decided to make a mould to form the sheet around out of a wooden block.....

It may work........and then again more than likely won't......lol

But here it is......

 

And then I made the centre panel replacement section in lovely 3D.......lol

well had a go at the wheel arch piece and came up with this after about 20 minutes work.....

very nice job on the panel, but if you want really good lines you should buy a shrinker/stretcher.

Good work Leepu :)

Looking good to me Russ,