Sill Removal for Inspection

[Chiefy]

I am gradually working my way round my rolling restoration which will include removal of all bolt on panels (wings, fenders, quarter panels, sills, bumpers) to have a look behind them to treat as necessary and re-fit. Have many people removed the sills and if so what does the chassis tend to be like underneath? I have found one article on sill removal so far on a similar aged car and the chassis looked solid requiring only a wire brush and anticorrosive treatment. Has anyone removed sills and found bad corrosion underneath. I am an older chap and have been used to things like MGB's, Stags etc which have invariably been disaster stories made much harder by welded panels. I'm not expecting significant problems - fingers x'd.

[Chiefy]

Apologies guys - I've just done a bit more thorough searching and found quite a bit on sill removal and what to expect. When I get round to it, if I find anything unusual I will post up, although it has been pretty well covered.

[Jonco]

Hi,

I have recently done mine and it is a straightforward methodical job. There was minor surface rust inside the sills and on the subframe - all easily treated. The surprise area was inside the wing panel which has to be removed as part of the sill removal. The problem was the sealant had hardened over the years and partially parted from the wing panel creating moisture trap but fortunately this was found just in time. I have tried to post pic but file size is too large - I'll do some cropping and pm it to you.

[OldskoolRS]

I did my drivers side over Easter this year. It was pretty good, with just a little silt build up behind and no obvious rust. I also took out the wheel arch liners, cleaned and then treated with Bilt Hamber UC which is clear. I think it gave a nice finish too. I intended to do the passenger side, but bad weather and the lack of rust/issues on the driver's side (and wanting to actually drive the car) meant I'll do it next spring. I cleaned off all the bolt heads that hold the sill cover on and as my car is Topaz blue I found that one of the hammerite metallic blue paints was close enough so I painted the bolt heads once the cover was refitted, to prevent any rust where the cover's metal was exposed by the bolt head. Only the MOT man might notice the slight colour difference.

The dribbles of brown are not rust, just the factory wax:


I sprayed the edges of the cover sill with a rattle can where some of the paint was chipped, not pretty, but it protects the metal.







Reminds me that I must clean and paint my calipers too in the spring.

[Chiefy]

Thanks guys - hopefully I won't come across any disasters - think I will just crack on with it.

[TitanTim]

Its a worthwhile job before winter and muddy lanes, I just injected lots of dinitrol on a warm sunny day and watched it run out the sills onto the drive

Tim.

[Z3cade]

Luckily the Z3s were built well and don't tend to suffer from bad rust problems..
The main place that rust can start is the sills.. like you say it's only minor.. But treated now will help prevent problems in the future..

Here's a sill removal guide I did last winter on the M

http://zroadster.org/forum/viewtopic.ph ... val#p25361

[swamper]

still need to do mine....thanks for the reminder

[simiewimie]

I just started the refurbishment of my wing mirror bases today. One down and one to go... obviously.
Anyway, I noticed rust at the front of the drivers side sill and was wondering if I need to remove the sill, or if I can mask and paper it off to repair in place and blend the paint down towards the back of the sill?

I've attached a photo of the first refurbed base, because I'm quite proud of my first spray job achievement!
All thanks to guides on here, it has to be said.

[Jonco]

Look at Z3cade's link above - it is a very good procedure which I followed for my inspection and repairs. You need to take the wheel arch liners out to get at the void behind them. Bit fiddly but not difficult to do.