18 replies to this topic

[h9hpj]

Hi all, I am about to remove outer sills and ideally I would like to wheel car out of garage, start removing the outer sill, push car back in garage and repeat until finished over several weekends. I can only do small bursts of time. 
Is this ok? Or will the body flex and distort without outer sill? Car obviously still on its wheels. 
 

[sonikk4]

Nope it won’t flex. As long as the door step and inner sill is intact, floors etc them not an issue.

[Ethel]

Agreed, but you won't really know what you need to do until the sill's off.

[h9hpj]

As I am finding out   Have sliced the length to find the back is ok ish but the front from the jacking point forwards is a lovely crusty

shade of red.
Tomorrow’s job is to look at taking the sill completely off. 
any tips for the part that joins to the floor pan under the car?

[sonscar]

Buy a new inner sill to first flute of the floor and a new outer sill,weld in and job jobbed.Steve..

[sonikk4]

Buy a new inner sill to first flute of the floor and a new outer sill,weld in and job jobbed.Steve..

 

I agree with the panel part but this is not a five minute job and will need the companion bin out to do the job properly. 

 

The M Machine panel is very good and you can also buy it with the outer sill atached as well.

[h9hpj]

UPDATE 
After starting to remove oversills, as expected there were surprises. Looking at the inner sill, front is crumbling, the rear is ok but the middle has a plate which doesn’t seem to look that good. 
Advice and Thoughts? 
Fix sections on inner sill then weld in outer sill?
Replace whole inner outer sill with M-Machine assembly (I read somewhere they are good)?

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[sonikk4]

I’m afraid that inner sill is toast and it’s not worth patching.

It’s time to bite the bullet and get the aforementioned inner sill to first flute and either buy it separate or get the one with the outer sill attached

[sonikk4]

Without trying to sound like the harbringer of doom here but some other things to consider here as well.

 

Now i have previously mentioned removing the companion bin. This is to gain access to the companion closeout where the inner sill is attached to. Now as part of the inner sill replacement you need to gain access to the heelboard as the inner sill attaches there as well. Also there is the heelboard subframe mounting bracket. This is also welded to the inner sill.

 

All fairly straight forward and if you need to see pictures of all of this then see below

 

 

 

 

 

[sonikk4]

Please bear in mind i had the quarter panels off anyway as they were being replaced along with every external panel bar the roof.

[h9hpj]

Thank you Sonikk4. 
Sound advice and now I need to research the job thoroughly before I go any further. I appreciate the photos too.

Next job is to make a solid brace I think and make a shopping list and plan the job carefully. 

[sonikk4]

So for your shopping list you can choice between the following from M Machine

 

http://preview.m-mac...i catalogue.pdf

 

14.33.01.28 Sill to First Groove Assembly, Complete, RH, 6 Flute Sill £98.00 £117.60

 

Or

 

14.33.01.18 Inner & Outer Sill Assembly, Complete, RH, 6 Flute Sill £85.00 £102.00

 

The one thing you need to do is have a good look at the floor where the oversill was welded too. If its pitted i'm not sure whether the inner outer sill combo goes around far enough.

 

Something else to check with the oversill off is the state of the doorstep espeically on the underside. They rust from indie out so any rust there at all, bin them off and fit new ones. Personally i also retain the original jacking point, add more weld where it mounts and i use mine. If you are not going concourse i would bin off the external slinging points as well. Stops people from using them as jacking points and bending the floors.

 

Something else to bear in mind with M Machine is DO NOT email them. Call them. Doreen is a font of information and very helpful.

 

The door step i mentioned is another bone of contention. Magnum ones are very poor pressings although i have not looked at any new pressings of late. You cannot buy Heritage without having the A and B pillar as well, so expensive to buy. M machine were at one point going to do their own Door Step pressings but i dont know if they have.

 

I have made my own but also before i moved used a local metal fab shop owned by a mini fanatic to press me some. 

[h9hpj]

Thank you so much again. I have just been scanning through your fantastic photos on Project Paddy and if I’m right did you do the work with the car on stands. I dont really want to take engine out and stuff. 
I’ll try not to ask too many questions along the way. It was always going to be a slow rebuild. 

[sonikk4]

Thank you so much again. I have just been scanning through your fantastic photos on Project Paddy and if I’m right did you do the work with the car on stands. I dont really want to take engine out and stuff. 
I’ll try not to ask too many questions along the way. It was always going to be a slow rebuild. 

 

When i first bought the car i replaced the oversills with the car on axle stands, however when i did the full resto it was then on a spit. there is nothing to stop you from doing this job on axle stands but i would recommend the tallest you can afford and make sure the car is as level as possible and of course suitably braced.

[Cooperman]

I have used the 'Inner & Outer Sill Assembly' from M-Machine on a couple of cars and they are superb. They save hours of work and are 'as-original'.

I usually just turn the body on it side and it is then very easy to do the job.