Plus 2 Sill Replacement

[mikealdren]

Gerry's all stainless solution is obviously great but most of us have zinc/steel.

My experience with the standard setup on my first car and galvanised sills on the 2nd is that the worst corrosion of the screws is on the inside of the car (damp carpets?) where the screws pass through the sills. I suspect that moisture getting through the join and damp carpets are the main problem.

On my first car I used Waxoyl and mastic liberally on the replacement sills and galvanised bolts and they lasted extremely well. I also used mastic on the bumper bolts, again to good effect. Thirty years later, (the car has been off the road for most of that) everything cam apart very easily.

I have refitted the galvanised sills to car 2 as they were in good condition. I gave them a thorough coating of Dinitrol first. I think the key is really keeping the moisture out and I'll be applying a stonechip or mastic on the outside, especially over the lower join.

Mike

[bob_rich]

Thanks 4 that Gerry most interesting

From what I can see care is definitely needed in the selection of stainless steel fixings with mild/zinc plated steel components. In my car the sill members were corroded to absolutely nothing in places but all the bolts were still fairly intact they had to be drilled out because the nut had rusted on to the bolt such that screwdriver purchase could not undo them drilling the bolt heads made them easy to sheer off without damaging the fibre glass.

I have used a liberal amount of Waxoil on the new sill members so if they manage 20 years of summer only use should see me out!!

Of the commonly available stainless fasteners these seem to be sold as A2 and A4 grade. Looking on the web A4 looks to be a 316 equivalent that you describe as "marginal" in an earlier post --wonder what the marginal interpretation means? ( last 2 years or 10? -- suspect this is a how long is a piece of string question).

I think if I used stainless fixings in the sill member application I would use one with a hex head or the button head style that would use a hex wrench so there would be good purchase to get them out later if required. Drilling stainless is a real pain!

thanks for the info

cheers

Bob

[stugilmour]

Bob

Mine were done by the PO and looked good so left them alone. For later in your job, I paid particular attention to the wheel well sealing plates. Liberally coated with rattle can undercoat to keep moisture out of the rail plenum. The stuff I got kind of swelled with a thick application, which sealed the plate attachment points. Used caulking for the larger gaps. Spyder lists replacement closure plates if needed, or you can bash some up with galvanized sheet.

Used the same stuff to cover the rocker area. The jack pin tends to interfere a bit with the coating, so maybe check this area a bit during rail install.

HTH

[Peter +2]

I have finally managed to replace the drivers? side sill on my Plus. It?s not quite finished yet but at least we have some progress. I know that when I attack a job i like to see other owners experience so I have posted a few pics showing how I got along.

First of all I tried to remove the sill from the rear as this seems to be thee most popular approach

As I seem to have reached the picture limit, more to follow.

[Peter +2]

Plus 2 Sill Replacement - Part 2,

However I abandoned this approach as the sill would directly hit the inner wheel arch as you can see from the next picture.

I know it?s possible to pull out the sill body work so you can clear the rear wing but I was unhappy to put so much strain on the glass fibre. I therefore tried removal from the front as I already had the front suspension stripped.

Slighty off subject but with the wheel arch blanking plates removed the original Green body colour can clearly be seen.

More to follow.

[Peter +2]

Plus 2 Sill Replacement - Part 3

Removing the sill from the front of the car did not totally resolve the issue with the sill hitting the inner arches but due to the shape of the wing the conflict is much less and less prising of the body work is required for the sill to clear. Care still needs to be taken to ensure the paintwork is not damaged.

With the new sill in place and once it is all bolted up and closing plates refitted I can look forward to doing the other side once I have the car turned around!

Peter

[b-havers]

When fitting new sills to my +2S a few years back, I did it thru the rear wheelarch; http://www.haverstad.net/cars/elan/sill.htm. This worked very well for me.

[cal44]

I can't tell you guys how helpful the topic has been. Although my car is darn near rust free I do have those rotten pieces of mild steel in the sills. Colin...........brother, what were you thinking...........

The pictures are wonderful and some of the work you guys do is just as good as it gets.
Thanks all.

Mike

[Peter +2]

Mike,

Your comments are greatly appreciated.

Peter

[gerrym]

Given that the true cost is mostly labour, I can't understand why anyone would replace their sills with other than corrosion resistant alloy (stainless). Do SJ Sportscars still sell their excellent stainless sills?

Regards
Gerry

[b-havers]

I'm pretty sure my sills came from SJ Sportscars, yes. Though, it's been a few years, and my memory may play with me...

[Gordon Sauer]

My sill cover plates had calk from edge of plate to where it meets the body and it didn't work to keep out junk. Have gone with rubber seal like used along the door opening so the rubber butts up against the body to seal the opening. Gordon Sauer