Thank you, but in all honesty I think if I had to do it again I would probably buy the new sill and cut the old one out. Means adding additional support to the middle of the car etc.
Sorry just seen this, some people will remove the ECU too. Others say the battery can act as a spike suppression unit. I don't give advice on this, only to place your earth clamp as close to your work piece as electrically possible. I.e if welding the boot don't place it on the exhaust as the current has to go all the way to the top of the car, make its way to the engine block then back down to the end of the exhaust. A lot of cars these days have a lot of sensitive control units and sensors. 'IF' the battery acting as a suppression unit I would prefer to replace that rather than an ECU. Get the clamp as close to the weld as possible and don't short the electrode on any other part - choice on the battery is yours aha
Perfection of nothing? I feel you. I got around the stipple problem by spraying the sills with Wurth plastic/neoprene underbody Schultz. It's what Porsche use, it's black, gives a factory look texture and the black sills look quite neat on a silver car given the bumpers have black plastic at the bottom. PLUS it hides all the sins of not sanding enough 😋
To be honest if I was doing it again I would buy a new sill for about £50-60. Cut out the old once it was supported and allow access to get in there properly. My parents thought was a bit to daunting for them to have witnessed. I could imagine it could be anywhere from £400 upwards to 8. No garage will say exactly because it's a bit like cutting into a apple with a worm hole. There's no telling until you open it up. In all fairness I should have cut out a bit more as I was welding on poor metal.
That sounds about right. I went to view a vw golf mk3 variant with just over 100k kms yesterday and the top portion of the sill was rusted through. I told him it could cost about 1k euros to fix and he about blew a fuse. Not to mention he never sent me a closeup photo of it like I requested before I drove 4 hours there, so makes me wonder what other rust is there but not seen. Too bad as it was a beautiful car. Your work looks great. Do you have a recommendation on a welder to start out with. I plan to do like you suggested and just but the panels and weld em…but kinda scared as Ive never welded before. Lol
I'm using a cheap sip welder, don't go gasless and get something that you can dial in. Check out the UK weld forum mig-welding.co.uk. Most of them have bad things to say about sip welders but I like mine. If I had unlimited money, tig all the way. Doesn't heat the metal up as much!
HI Mate cannot understand why you edge weld,, A Joggler is far eaiser and fits fllat with the panel,,,,,,,, LESS Heat ,LESS Welding,,,,LESS Filling,, LESS Work,,,..Just a comment form one guy to another..
Still needs a continuous weld all the way around and would still have to stagger the weld so it doesn't warp. Tbh I did buy a cheap eBay one, but couldn't really get to grips with it, after shaping the profile then using it, it tried to flatten the patch. Maybe if I had spent more time mastering it..........
Great job, you showed the highs and the lows involved. Like your honesty.
Thank you, but in all honesty I think if I had to do it again I would probably buy the new sill and cut the old one out. Means adding additional support to the middle of the car etc.
Bravo for mentioning Trev's blog!!! He is a master.
Great videos keep going you will hit 1k subscribers.
Cheers fella 🤙
Dunno if anyone's said already, but ALWAYS disconnect the battery before welding.
Sorry just seen this, some people will remove the ECU too. Others say the battery can act as a spike suppression unit. I don't give advice on this, only to place your earth clamp as close to your work piece as electrically possible. I.e if welding the boot don't place it on the exhaust as the current has to go all the way to the top of the car, make its way to the engine block then back down to the end of the exhaust. A lot of cars these days have a lot of sensitive control units and sensors. 'IF' the battery acting as a suppression unit I would prefer to replace that rather than an ECU. Get the clamp as close to the weld as possible and don't short the electrode on any other part - choice on the battery is yours aha
Perfection of nothing? I feel you.
I got around the stipple problem by spraying the sills with Wurth plastic/neoprene underbody Schultz. It's what Porsche use, it's black, gives a factory look texture and the black sills look quite neat on a silver car given the bumpers have black plastic at the bottom. PLUS it hides all the sins of not sanding enough 😋
What does a repair job like this cost? I have a similar rust to get rid of.
To be honest if I was doing it again I would buy a new sill for about £50-60. Cut out the old once it was supported and allow access to get in there properly. My parents thought was a bit to daunting for them to have witnessed. I could imagine it could be anywhere from £400 upwards to 8. No garage will say exactly because it's a bit like cutting into a apple with a worm hole. There's no telling until you open it up. In all fairness I should have cut out a bit more as I was welding on poor metal.
That sounds about right. I went to view a vw golf mk3 variant with just over 100k kms yesterday and the top portion of the sill was rusted through. I told him it could cost about 1k euros to fix and he about blew a fuse. Not to mention he never sent me a closeup photo of it like I requested before I drove 4 hours there, so makes me wonder what other rust is there but not seen. Too bad as it was a beautiful car.
Your work looks great. Do you have a recommendation on a welder to start out with. I plan to do like you suggested and just but the panels and weld em…but kinda scared as Ive never welded before. Lol
I'm using a cheap sip welder, don't go gasless and get something that you can dial in. Check out the UK weld forum mig-welding.co.uk. Most of them have bad things to say about sip welders but I like mine. If I had unlimited money, tig all the way. Doesn't heat the metal up as much!
HI Mate cannot understand why you edge weld,, A Joggler is far eaiser and fits fllat with the panel,,,,,,,, LESS Heat ,LESS Welding,,,,LESS Filling,, LESS Work,,,..Just a comment form one guy to another..
Still needs a continuous weld all the way around and would still have to stagger the weld so it doesn't warp. Tbh I did buy a cheap eBay one, but couldn't really get to grips with it, after shaping the profile then using it, it tried to flatten the patch. Maybe if I had spent more time mastering it..........