Whilst changing cat and gear selector, I noticed the neatside front jacking point looked a little worse for wear (folded and a little rusty). Decided to investigate a have a clean up. Started poking around and was a bit shocked as to what I found.
The hole at the top is where an existing grommet was. Just a bit enlarged.
Not one to be beaten. I started cutting out the rot. It looked fairly good on the surface but rust had travelled under the sealant.
I cut out most of the rot and was left with this.
Had to by a complete sill but only used a small section around 12" long and 3" high as it's best to leave existing metal on the car. Also bought some angled repair panels and some thicker gauge to match what's on the car. Then I started putting the puzzle together.
Cut and welded metal for the underneath section trying to replicate original seams where possible.
Then welded in centre strengthening section. This was sprayed with zinc weld through primer to protect it from future rust. This was plug welded to the underneath section previously welded.
Front edge of the repair with wing removed. A new Genuine wing was bought as bottom was rusted through.
Then had to trim the outer sill repair panel so I could butt weld in place to make an almost invisible repair so as not to use any filler.
Result after grinding down welds. As you can see it's almost like original without the extra strengthening bulge underneath.
Front edge wing side closed up.
The repair was treated with phosphoric acid type rust remover and then painted with epoxy mastic and the seam sealed. More pics to follow.
