SendMail TO(BritCars) Subj(Rusted MG Sills?) File(JUN26942.oma)
BlackTiger Mailer - Msg Created 06-26-1994 .. 15:45:21
Well the dreaded PO has bitten me HARD.
Some of you may remember the saga of the "Free" MGB that I got.
Well it was mostly worthless but I got another one for $100 that
"looked" to be in fair shape. Actually it looks pretty good.
One fender is very slighlty bent and the rocer panels and fender
bottoms are rested out (natually) but the rest of the car looks great
(oh there is no top).
When I started to rip off the SH*%Y bondo job on the rocker panels though
I found that some A** H*$# stuffed them full of news paper and screen
to back up the bondo. Well guess what wet newspapaer does to the sill!
I can tell (from the newspaper) that this was done in 1981 in North Carolina.
Interesing cause at the time the car was only 6 years old, and the rocker
panels were already rusted away?!
Anyway, the sills are rusted clean through to the pasenger campartment.
The only thing that was there was the rubber floor mat and when
that was removed you can see from inside to outside under the door.
ARGH!!!!!
Now I know many of you will say to look for another car but I dont' see
that as an option. This car is in really good shape otherwise and I am
not going to give up on it cause of this.
Structually these sills must not be as important as I have been led to
belive sice the door still work and it has been driven up until recently.
If they were that important the car would have broken in the middle by now.
The way I see it I have several options and I would like the nets input
on any or all of them.
1. Buy all the parts form someplace (Moss lists them all) and have a
good unibody shop diasemble the whole thing and replace the parts
Problem $$$$$$$$$. The parts list for nearly $400 and the labor at the
shop would be astronomical!
2. Have a body shop weld in some metal bracing to hold the structure then
just do some cosmetic repair over it so it looks right.
3. Weld in a piece of pipe, or angle iron inside the sill then build
a sheetmetal box over it for looks.
4. Build some sort of frame under the car, again building sheemetal cosmetics
to pretty up the sills under the door.
5. Do something else. ANY IDEAS!?!
What I am looking for is the least cost approach. I don't much care what it
looks like. I don't mind doing the work myself but I don't have welding
equipment. I can do some sheet metal work so I may wind up making the necearry
bits myself and just paying someone to weld it together. The way I am leaning
is to just put some sort of I beam or something under the car for structure
and then do cosmetic work on the sills. Then I will buy the repair panels
for the rockers, and fenders. My problem with this approace is how would
I attach the new "frame" to the car. Should it be brought up and attached
to the fire wall and rear bulk head somehow???
Any body out there had any experiance with this???
Also, what about the crossmember that extends from the tranmission
tunnel out to the sill. (that bit where the jack support is welded)
Moss lists that as "jack support, repair section". Was that only
for the jack support (in wich case I could do without it) or should
I replace it and weld it into whatever I am doing to repair the sills?
One option might be to put in a flat plate on top of the floor pan,
welded to the trans tunnel and the new sill repair then bolt thru
whats left of that member to the plate.
HELP!
Louis Poche' - POCHE@music.loyno.edu
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