Side panel strengthening bar

[westyguesty]

Is the bar bonded in or welded ? If it came lose, could it cause the panel to bow out. I'm now thinking this might be the problem with mine, and as the panel doesn't have too much rust, would it be possible to attach the panel again ?

If i push the panel back in it stop roughly in the right place.

Cheers

[jimpainter]

The bar is spot welded on the ends, but the length across the panel is bonded.

[Plasticman]

And the bonding fails and lets the moisture build up that runs down from window,especialy on panalvban conversions, Up to you if you refit it but if you do then maybe refit a touch lower and bond to non rusty metal.
M

[CovKid]

Main thing is to avoid a repeat of the floor rot beneath. I had this decision to make and chose to leave a small gap between floor and side panel so that any moisture that does accumulate on the inside has a free passage via the inner sill. To that end I hammerited inside of inner sill and adjusted drain holes so they were more able to expel water. At the time I couldn't see a better solution. The other way is the one Metalmickey chose which was to cut and weld in a new floor edge and add additional drain holes. Someone else suggested lead flashing.

The all-in-one outer sill panel that you get (ie without floor seam line) actually seems a better idea than the original in my view and looks right visually.