Sills...pleasantly surprised!

[mattinhertford]

I'm currently debating some investment on the engine (probably fitting a second hand or reconsitioned one) but before i do I'm checking over the rest of the car to see if its worth ir, or if I'm flogging a dead horse. Couple of other parties are also going t check it over for me too and give me their opinion.

So in preparation for this i'm looking at body and chassis rust and i finally go around to taking off one of the sill covers this evening (other one comes off tomorrow) and i was pleasantly surprised to find what I think is very little rust. See below, just some surface rust from what I can see.

[frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

It has been patched in a couple of places but from looking as far into the sills as I can, and having a good look/knock around underneath then I don't think they're too bad. Anyone think differently from this?? (Just incase i'm missing anything!). I think a wire brush down, some rust killer, and some hammerite should stop it in its tracks (the cars never going t be concourse!).

Question....how do you check the quality of the side box section down by the bottom of the back seat...since its got no side holes down there to look into it has it?

Also, photo below is of the inside of the front chassis rail...again some surface rust, but doesn't look too bad. From underneath the rails look average, a small hole or two but a good knock and they generally seem solid. However, what is the black pipe section with black side bits to the left of the photo (sorry, photo wrong way up). Is that some sort of late addition chassis strengthening piece??

[frame][/frame]

Thanks all

[DAVIDMCCULLOUGH]

The sills dont look to bad and that part of the chassis leg looks excellent. The tube is the part were the eyebolt goes in and connects the suspension to the car, the strengthener is to add stiffness to that part of the chassis as it is under constant stress.

I would say a clean down and repaint and rust proof. I have recently used stuff called DYNAX 50 and think it is even better than waxoil.

[mattinhertford]

Thanks David, i have recently read about Dynax S50 so will probably use that down the chassi rails.

Have to see what the other sill is like tomorrow

[Mark Wilson]

Could be a lot worse, but don't relax too much just yet. Mine looked fairly similar when I bought it (in my carefree, innocent, ignorant days three years ago) but it soon proved that quite a lot of paint had been sprayed over rusty metal without protection. You are right to worry about the inaccessibility of the underseat box, but you can just about see everything through the top holes with small torches, mirrors and stiff wire probes. (I've just ordered a cheap USB borescope camera and will report later whether it proves to be of any use)

In my experience another area to worry about is just in front of bottom of the hinge pillar, where you can see a patch has been placed. There's a void here, between the flat inner wing (flitch) and the kidney panel, which traps moisture, often causing severe rusting of the bottom of the kidney panel, boxing plate, flitch and the sill sections. What I would suggest is that you cut out the hinge pillar patch and you should get a picture of what's happening in there with relatively little expense and disruption.

On the positive side going by the black paint on the eyebolt reinforcement tube the chassis leg appears to have been renewed relatively recently and should last if rustproofed. This implies that someone has done some fairly serious work on the car, so fingers crossed that they checked the inner wing void at the same time.

Good luck

Mark

[mattinhertford]

You're right Mark, I've taken off some of the welded patching and its rotten as can be beneath it....why do people even bother with the patch if they don't treat the rust beneath

Will rust treat it, then hammerite as a short/medium term fix until I can afford to get it cut out and welded.

[mattinhertford]

meant to attach the photo [frame][/frame]

[Chipper]

The sills dont look to bad and that part of the chassis leg looks excellent. The tube is the part were the eyebolt goes in and connects the suspension to the car.

I suspect it's actually the support for the clutch relay shaft for a left-hand drive car. The front suspension eyebolt is much further along the chassis rail, approx. 2 feet from the front of the car.