Offside sill

[CovKid]

Ha - such luxuries. Mig welder and a 4" angle grinder is all I've got. Slow but steady I guess. No expert with a MIG but will certainly give it a go.

[AngeloEvs]

Gasless MIG wire is what I use for these repairs.... can't be arsed with the gas anymore......

[CovKid]

ChickenKoop ran me out today to pick up sill skin - goes right up to next crease line and loses seam between sill and panel altogether, as its taller. Out plan is to replace that first then create a piece for the floor with a flange edge that can be tacked to inside of sill. £38 (all in) for panel from Hadrians. Seems accurate which is a good start and they had it in stock. Will post pics as I we go. Better done now and finished with in my view.

[CovKid]

Started work cutting out the crap. Photo gives a good idea just how much damage leaks from side window can cause! Floor can be sliced back to clean steel and then a piece let in after sill is fitted. Will probably cut a little higher yet but at least I can see whats going on now. Rob (Chickenkoop) insisted I get stuck in today but woe oh woe have run out of cutting disks so off to pound shop for six more

[CovKid]

Heres the new sill. Its just a bent sheet without flanges and longer than the actual sill in case you need to go over one of the pillars I guess. Will do this job ok though and will be great to see back of that weak seam.

[AngeloEvs]

Will be spanky new again, I didn't know that panel was available. Prefer it witout a seam TBH as you can spot a section of right angle for the floor section to mate on and one less seam to go rusty. Looking at the pics it looks like the other side of the upright flange is Ok so should be easy to patch a new section in.

[CovKid]

Yeah i figured that. If I can get the panel up and welded in, that floor shouldn't be too big a deal really. Plenty of good metal there still (even if it looks a bit ragged) and like you say, no seam is a good result. The rest is nice and solid. Not sure how I'll attach ends (with there being no flange) but guess I could leave say half an inch of old panel, knock it back so its further in, and use that as a base to weld to - something like that. Not sure I can handle butt-welding.

Anyway, part was 91-13-002 | 1 | VOLKSWAGEN TRANSPORTER (08/79-1990) - SIDE SILL R/H - £33.30 + vat from Hadrian Panels (seem to have branches everywhere). Its a common profile for all on the RH side so sliced up would also do upright pillars. Should have some left over for such repairs if I need it.

[AngeloEvs]

Can you get hold of some 15mm right angle mild steel locally? If you could get hold of a 'joggler' (available at Machine Mart in Coventry) you could easily attach it to provide the flange. Pity you far away as you would be welcome to borrow mine. Best of luck........

[Cruz]

Looking good Covkid. Thankfully you have tackled it now unlike my vans previous owners who looked the other way while it rotted completely and destroyed the inner sill leaving me to bear the brunt

Are you going to lift the floor boards just to make sure the rust hasn't travelled past that edge piece?

[CovKid]

AngeloEVS, Just looked up the joggler and see what you mean now. Cleaned me out buying panel so deffo can'y get one of those although see why I need one. The 15mm angle iron is about same width of lower sill edge and I presume you mean grind of all thats left of panel on sides then weld the angle a panel thickness deeper to give me a firm line/base to fix ends to?

Oh and cheers Cruz - no, rust stops there thankfully. Inner sill perfect thankfully - still evidence of waxoyl in there - unbelievably

[jaylo264]

CovKid, I'm not sure you actually need to replace that rusted "floor" section, there should be plenty of structural integrity from the angled section at the floor edge proper .Could use some flashband as internal stiffening tho.
My thoughts, anyway.
jaylo

[CovKid]

flashband?

[AngeloEvs]

Jaylo has a point there. There is a crossmember under the floor so plenty of structural support. You could tack in some sheet upto the body panel and just apply a good sealantl. If you weld to the side panel the weld sections will will show up on the outside as high spots and need linishing, creating more bliddy work as if you haven't enough to do........

[CovKid]

Gotcha. That makes sense since no-one or nothing actually stands on that section. If anything its an extra strengthening rib for the outside panel. Way to go lads.

Actually now I've gone for it with the grinder, things are nowhere near as bad as they might be although if I'd left it, it would only get worse and worse and spread from one section to another. I've got a damn solid inner sill there, and a half decent panel to make the repair. My real worries are the joining from old to new on the actual panel side (ie top part of what I've cut out). One mistake and I'll turn it into a right pigs ear. The joining of the sills at the bottom is far more forgiving. Will go slow and careful.....

For the record (and anyone else viewing this job as a nightmare), I'm no welder but now the side is cut out, I have no choice but to make a half decent job of it. I cut higher (in case anyone wonders) because the new panel extends that high and the old one had two bad creases anyway.

[CovKid]

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/butt-weld.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - this good advice on butt welding you think?