Well the measuring, template making and cutting out has begun...

This morning I have hit the rusty hole area with my trusty wire brush attached to the MAKITA drill....

I finally found some solid metal to fix to and painted everything with some messy Rustins rust converter, including right inside the sill where there was some surface rust hiding inside.

Templates cut out ready for transferring to some sheet steel...

I shall be fabricating the repair panels later today at my work... I need to use the bench vice and I left my sheet steel and tin snips there... lol

I will update the thread when they are cut out and folded properly later or tomorrow!

Thanks everyone for the support......

I’ve ordered the Panel from Luke and I’m making the repair panel for the chassis rail by hand....

Just made a template tonight and will cut out the sheet and shape tomorrow......

Just need to find my joggler tool now....

 

nice one Russ....:clover:

This is the inner sill patch rough cut before I punch the hole and flange it to match the OE piece that is missing...

Even though you could just patch it and nobody would see it... I would know it didn’t look right and wasn’t right..... OCD!!!...

I will post up when I have finished the piece later and the chassis rail patch...

Well I managed to get the hole cut out and the flange put in today. Next step is to clean the piece up and then paint it with etch weld primer....

I also cleaned up the front sill back to bare metal and found it was a Frankenstein job done before I bought the car. It has 3 patches welded in and is covered in dents that have been filtered over....

I am now contemplating replacing the entire sill all in one go....... or making a full length section to replace the damaged front piece and the 3 patches.... I will see how the weather and work goes over Christmas.... lol

Well I am now going to cut more out after finding more rust hiding in the inner sections....

Might as well cut it all out and replace all sill sections while i'm at it....

Going to pop down to machine mart tomorrow morning to get a spot weld cutter!

 

Weather permitting tomorrow is the plan..... after first taking loads of pictures, measurements and cardboard templates of everything I am about to cut off......

I was going to start today, but it is precipitating a lot today with a very strong wind, as well as cold enough to give me hyperthermia..... lol

Well today I was remembering the great help given to me when I welded up the other side of the Z a few years ago. Dave (redwine300) and Ross (Ruishy1) gave me so much help and advice on how to weld better than the spattery mess I was managing to do....

We lost Ross shortly after, but as some of you know we still have Dave and his diary of how welding and fabricating can be done at home with a lot of patience and adaptation.

In case you haven't seen this superb guide to welding, repair and fabrication of Z panels......

 

https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/thanks-everyone.15465/

 

It is helping me no end to see what I haven't cut off yet and what hides beneath the sill panel outer cover.....

It helps to see how they are put back together to work out how to tackle cutting it away without cocking it up.... lol

 

Hope this helps other forum members see what Dave managed to achieve with patience and hard work!

 

Cheers Dave for the pictures and write up.....

Edited December 16, 20186 yr by veilside01702

A few pics of the cutting out progress today...

I need to start fabricating the inner sill sections next....

So tomorrow is template making time...

I will update when I have something done...

 

I will be elongating the targa drain to clear the sill and try to avoid this happening again....

I also found there has been a leak from the clip hole for the plastic kick panel trim... so will need to seal that before I refit it....

Edited December 16, 20186 yr by veilside01702

Today I cut out and fabricated another repair panel with flanged holes....

It fitted a treat first time.... luck at last...

Tomorrow I will be painting it with weld through primer ready to tack in place

Once I have welded the inner repair patch in place....

Edited December 27, 20186 yr by veilside01702

Well I have now test fitted and finished all the panels.

All painted in weld through primer and ready to tack in place.

First is the chassis repair section, but need to remove the passenger seat and lift carpet out of the way first.

Next is the inner sill closer patch. Top small patch in the photo below.

Then the inner section patch with flanged holes, below.

Next is the outer section I got from Luke at the Z centre.

The final piece will have to be fabricated when I weld the outer section on to cover the last section of the sill...

Coming along Russ :thumbup1:

Stunning work Sir!!

Thanks Dave, it’s down to you that I am even attempting this Repair.... lol

Your mig welding thread has been invaluable with the pictures and info....

Picture of my test fitting.....

Edited December 28, 20186 yr by veilside01702

Well today I had an hour to get this far....

1) Tacked in inner repair patch...

2) cleaned up tack welds and stitched it in....

3) ground lower welds and have it all a coat of weld through primer....

Tomorrow is coat inner section with cold galvanised paint. Then weld in next panel on list.

Keep going till I run out of time, gas or daylight...

I have tomorrow to get as much done as possible before I am back to work on 2nd...

So far today I have cold galvanise sprayed the inner panels and this piece. Now for welding it in place!

Edited January 1, 20196 yr by veilside01702

I am not having a good day!!!!

New bottle of argon / co2 gas from Machine Mart started, ran out after 5 spot welds...... Machine Mart is shut today to take it back...... Grrrrr

Went to Halfrauds and grabbed the last one......

Get home, start again and the bloody wire ran out........ AAARRRRGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Now off to Toolstation who is open!!!!!

 

Wire was cheap enough and works.....

 

Well now another bottle of gas empty and it appears either my valve is leaking or i am eating through gas faster than i ever have before.....

only lasting about 20 minutes for 60 litre bottle???

 

Luckily I got the section finished, welds ground back and seam sealer applied. Tomorrow morning will be time to spray everything with some cold galvanising spray when the seam sealer cures fully.

I must say the Toolstation one goes on beautifully and is 99% zinc content. Shook it up, sat it in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes, shook again and it gave lovely coverage....

This is what it looks like tonight.....

Edited January 1, 20196 yr by veilside01702

Nice work Russ...… :thumbup:

Those small bottle of gas are a waste of time every mig I've had the regulator valve leaked you be better off getting the bigger bottle as they can be refilled an the regulator value adjust gas pressure

All I managed to do tonight was spray the cold galvanising on all the inner sill panels....

Stirling work my friend..

Well I went to test fit the outer sill repair panel I bought and it doesn't fit?

When i match it to the swage line the arch section has a 1cm gap at the bottom and touching at the top?

The bottom has a gap at the forward end and doesn't come close to touching the bottom seam where all the inner and outer panels meet, again about a 1cm gap at the front and touching at the rear...?

If i get the bottom seam to fit the swage line is 1cm lower at the front than the OE panel and the door swage line?

Also the door opening curve is wrong and it looks like I need to reshape it to match the cars door shape.....?

Am I missing something?

Has anyone else had an issue with one of these panels not being right?

Edited January 8, 20196 yr by veilside01702

Hi Russ, before you cut anything, would you post some pictures of the areas of concern.

I seem to remember something similar.

I'll have a look through my photo album.

Hi Russ, before you cut anything, would you post some pictures of the areas of concern.

I seem to remember something similar.

I'll have a look through my photo album.

 

Ooopppsss.... trimmed it up yesterday.... lol

I had to reshape the wheel arch curve as it was miles out and left a 1cm gap at the bottom.... and the curve for the door shut was the wrong curve so i had to reshape by making and trimming the panel with a dremmel....

This was after I reshaped the from edge and took off 5-8mm at the top of the curve and faded out about half way round... It originally stuck out enough to stop the door opening when clamped in place

I stripped all the paint off the top panel last night after this picture was taken and fiddled with curves and bending by eye, it fits nicely now with a bit of fettling.... lol

Edited January 10, 20196 yr by veilside01702

Well I have now purchased a Lead loading setup to try and make the repair look right without a load of filler.... Old School.... lol

I am hoping that it will come out well and allow me to get the finish I am after. I am hoping years of soldering may give me a chance of actually getting it right..... lol

Tomorrow I will be tackeling the closer panel in place and fabricating the small section in front of it.....

Few more weeks till it is fully welded in place..... No rushing, just getting it right and learning more as I go.... If I mess up, learn from it and start again....

Edited January 10, 20196 yr by veilside01702

Well I have now purchased a Lead loading setup to try and make the repair look right without a load of filler.... Old School.... lol

I am hoping that it will come out well and allow me to get the finish I am after. I am hoping years of soldering may give me a chance of actually getting it right..... lol

Tomorrow I will be tackeling the closer panel in place and fabricating the small section in front of it.....

Few more weeks till it is fully welded in place..... No rushing, just getting it right and learning more as I go.... If I mess up, learn from it and start again....

 

i watched one of the lead loading demos at the NEC last year and they make it look so easy, but the end results are so much better.

i can see why you want to go that way, especially for external facing panels. :thumbup: