Another Epoxy Mastic session tonight to get the middle sill coated ready for the outer sill to go on tomorrow. I did the inside of the rear arches and a few other bits to justify getting the spray gear out.
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I’ve made a good start on the C pilar prep, starting with cutting the outer arch off; I need to repair the bottom of the sliding door seal channel and need to trial fit the new outer arch to make sure it fits properly.
The inner arch isn’t in too bad condition, with the majority of the lip looking to be usable, I’ll just need to repair the ends of it:
The rear corner however has an impressive amount of filler and fibreglass in it!
I spent a good few hours trimming the new outer arch to the correct size to get a really good fit (the channel needs more work though):
Lines up with the door pretty well:
And looks bang on to me:
I’ve started fabricating repairs for the inner part of the C pillar:
And the strengthening plate that covers the C pillar (the new one, template and old one):
I’m aiming to get the C pillar finished this week.
I finished the B pillar over the last couple of nights. Before I welded it in I wanted to check the fit of the front arch against it, so it needed to come off.
Cut:
Grind:
Done. The wheel tub is in ok condition so I’m just going to repair that when I get round to it.
The A pillar has seen better days though and will need some work when I get onto the front end:
With the outer B pillar clamped in place I tested the fit of the arch and outer sill, all looks good to me:
And all welded in. I just need to dress the plug welds at the bottom and it’s done:
Next up the C pillar on the N/S. Thus far I’ve chopped out the strengthening plate to get access to the back of the C pillar, I’ll fabricate a new strengthener tomorrow night and crack on with the rest of it:
I’ve been making a start on the nearside B pillar this week. I’d already removed the outer section and trimmed the repair for that to fit, so started by removing the rotten sections of inner B pillar and surrounding bulk-head (the inner B pillar was in relatively good nick so I just need to make up some small repair sections for that).
The rot extended all the way up to the wheel tubs:
With it all cut out it might look quite bare, but most of the inner is intact:
I’ve welded in repairs to the inner at the bottom, and now just need to make a long thin repair to the edge that meets the bulkhead as well as a section for the door seal:
I’ve been trial fitting the outer B pillar and outer sill as I go, the fit is looking good:
I also made up a strengthening piece for the rear of the middle sill to join it the cargo floor. It’s probably not needed but the other side is attached to the floor along its length so seemed like a good idea:
I’ve also finished stripping down the front end ready to start work on that in a few weeks hopefully:
Finished up the middle sill tonight. Warning, this video has extremely high levels of production value and features one profanity (the large bang mid way through was my rear arch repairs falling over).
Middle sill welded together and mostly ground down. Just need to plug weld to the inner sill and it’s done (I never want to do a middle sill repair again!).
Started the front end strip down while I slowly weld the middle sill in. A few bolts missing but mostly there!
I spent most of tonight making sure I was happy with the sliding door fit before I commit to welding it in. I found an old picture of the door and it’s never been a perfect fit, and probably never will, but I can live with that (the gap at the front is slightly larger than the rear gap).
I also ordered a C&C seal to test the fit with it in (it doesn’t particularly help that the bottom of the door still needs to be repaired but nevermind). This is how it currently looks.
Front edge:
Rear edge:
Bottom edge (the outer sill sits a little further back than I’d like so the transition from door to sill isn’t very smooth; I may try bringing the top edge of the sill out a bit but I can live with this):
Side profile:
I bought this thing to use, not to stare at door gaps so I think the above will do for us.
I’m beyond happy today. Max and I trial fitted the door to the middle sill today and it only bloody fits! I’ve been so worried about this bit so it’s great to see the door sitting reasonably well. Now just to weld the track in.
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- Inner sill in epoxy mastic.
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- Inner part of front arches in epoxy mastic.
I got the N/S inner sill, and rear of the middle sill in epoxy mastic last night as I won’t be able to paint these areas once they’re welded in. While I had the spray equipment out I gave the front arches a coat of it too as again I won’t be able to paint these areas once the two halves are welded together. This stuff goes on really nicely!
