+2S sill replacement

[b-havers]

Hi all,
here I am with more question to all of you oracles..

Found lot of rust on the garage floor, just under the rear part of the passengers door, the other day. Close inspection rewealed rusty sills, which should be replaced immediately

Having scanned the forum for relevant info, I found some interesting postings, but none of them explained how to change the sills with the body and suspeinsion in situ.

Could anyone out there, who has been thru this job, please send me an explanation on how to replace the sills? If possoible, could you also scan the workshop manual explaining this job (yes i know, I must get my dirty hands on the manual very soon...).

Does this job take long - and is it difficult?

I think I'll go for the Spyder kit, whick looks the better of the available parts.

[chrishewett]

Sill replacement is not difficult but is a bit long winded and messy.
Carpets and seats need to come out. All the bolts have to be removed along the bottom of the sill and the seatbelt anchors, usually an anglegrinder job. If you then prise the bodywork open the old sill will come out as a shower of rust. To fit the new sills the rear wheels must be removed along with the hubs, also the sill closing plates. The new sills are then slid in from the rear wheelarches. You will need a bit of help with this part.
When I did mine I also had to do a bit of fibreglass repair and strengthening.
I used Lotus galvanised sills from Hethel.
Good luck,
Chris

[JJDraper]

I can echo Chris's comments... When I got my +2, the sills were completely rotten. Being a coward, I got Spyder to do the replacment for me - about ?200 + the parts if memory serves correct. Some PO had filled the sill cavity with resin, leaving the rusty remnants of the seatbelt acnchors etc in place. It is quite frightening to think of the consequences of even a mild shunt, given the poor state of the seatbelt anchors... I keep a section of the resin as a reminder of bodges past!

Jeremy

[thor]

This looks like a very annoying discovery, didn't UKSportscars tell you it had a replacement Spyder chassis and sills too?

looks to me like a fairly big job after having a quick look in the manual...

[thor]

This looks like a very annoying discovery, didn't UKSportscars tell you it had a replacement Spyder chassis and sills too?

looks to me like a fairly big job after having a quick look in the manual...

[b-havers]

No,
they told me the car had a new galvanized chassis, and it does.
I've spent the weekend mainly under the car, cleaning the rear suspension.

I noticed that the rear wheelarch, the front lower part, had a gap towards the closing plate. When I removed the closing plate, the terrible discovery came clear.

But; I should have thought of it, because I picked out a small piece of rust from the jack-hole in the sill when inspecting the car in UK. The representative for UK Sportscar said this was 'normal' and I shouldn't worry. I should have known better... Guess I'l have to send him an email, telling him the discovery...

Anyhow; I've spent today fixing a huge crack in the fiberglass where the rear sill normally should have been... In this way, at least the rear part of the sill will have good fiberglass to mount with.

A big question though;
When removing the nuts from the remaining of the sill, and mounting the new one; how on earth do I get inside/under the rear seats? There are at least four bolts there...
Do I have to make a hole under the seat-padding?....


I'll put out some pictures from this weekend on my page www.haverstad.net/lotus/elan during the evening, right now I'm off for delivering the wheels for blasting...

[b-havers]

Pictures of my missing sill can be found at www.haverstad.net/lotus/elan/20060625.htm

[b-havers]

I'm trying to upload a picture of the sill - or missing so...


/Bjorn-Anders

[thor]

Shit. I don't mean to make things MORE difficult, and I might be wrong here, but I would have thought it's very very risky to support the body on blocks under the sills when they are non-existent? and even a bit risky anyway...

[JJDraper]

To replace the sill you do have to remove the rear seats, rear quarter panels and carpets.... And while you're at it I recommend replacing the upper seat belt mountings, judging by the state of the remaining metalwork!

I will try and attach a picture of the inside sill plates from a +2 being Zetec'd...

The two lower bright plates are the sill member internal plates. The upper one is the seatbely mounting points -check the inside of the rear wheel arches for the other side of them.

Jeremy

[JJDraper]

Oops, I'll try again....

[b-havers]

Yepp, seatbelt mountings seems not to good, either...

Guess I'll have to postpone the registration on Friday......
Parts will be ordered from Spydercars today, for immediate deliverance...

And Thor; I don't think suporting the car on blocks does thing worse than they are; my Europa spent 5 years on blocks...

[b-havers]

Well then, new galvanized sill members, and lower and upper seat belt anchorages, are now ordered from Spyder Cars

The sill members are been galvanized right now, and will not be ready for shipping until Friday. Until then I'll just have to unmount the closing panels, seats, carpets and sidewalls in the back seat.

And drive the Seven if the sun continues to shine at us

[chrishewett]

In case it is any help to anyone, P6 Rover jacking point bungs fit the jacking point holes and finish the job off nicely.
Chris

[b-havers]

Left side done.
The remains of the sill is out, and I have slowly started to rebuild the cracked fibreglass. Hopefully the new sills will arrive next week, so I can get the car back where it should be - on the road.

Though; removing the old sill wasn't too hard, as it was just about half the length of a new/complete sill. The big question is how to get the new sill back in....

See http://www.haverstad.net/lotus/elan/20060627.htm for pictures of the removed sill