Welding outer sills.. without replacing the inner?

[Htotheunit]

Hello,

I'm undertaking a few repairs on my van (I say a few, I think it will end up as a bottom 6" replacement all the way round) and I have a question regarding the driver side sills.

I have to replace the outer (I think they removed the original and replaced it with filler years ago along) however the inner sill looks pretty solid and may not need replacing.

From what I understand the outer is spot welded onto the lip at the bottom of the side panel, would it be a case of cutting a small section of my floor out to access the top of the sills in order to spot weld it all toghether?

I have seen the pre welded panels and the 'fake' sill panels however I'd prefer not to cut my side panel as it does seem to be in pretty good condition.

Cheers!

 

[Webbaldo]

I changed both outers on mine without doing the inners (inners were fine, outers rotten weirdly)

I just ran the grinder with 1mm blade along the length of the sill, leaving about 5mm before the join to the bottom lip of the inner sill and the top join to the big side panel.

Then just used a gritflap disc on the grinder to remove the rest of the sill, leaving a nice clean surface to weld to.

Plug welding/spot welding the bottom lip is easy, the top one if you have no access inside, just tack weld along the top seam right into the gap between the 2 panels and grind flush. A fresh seam sealing of the join will hide the tacks. (Something like tiger seal, not the grey cheap crap that cracks you get from local autofactors)

Here's mine before tidyup. Ill admit, mines not the best but Ive seen plenty done this way far better than mine.

Don't forget to treat the inner panel first, some paint might burn off with welding but still worth it!

Then pump a gallon of dinitrol ML in the access holes

I had other bits of welding that required more attention :shock: :lol: :lol:

 

[Htotheunit]

I changed both outers on mine without doing the inners (inners were fine, outers rotten weirdly)

Thank you for that! It's my first attempt at a resto, I have a few friends teaching me how to weld/making sure I'm all set up OK, just need a few pointers as to how the bloody thing is put together! :lol:

 

[Webbaldo]

Its a good idea to practice a bit using scrap metal from the panels you cut off. They will be similar in shape and thickness so a good place to learn to weld, and free metal.

 

[Htotheunit]

Its a good idea to practice a bit using scrap metal from the panels you cut off. They will be similar in shape and thickness so a good place to learn to weld, and free metal.

I accidentally brought a lower side panel with the fake sill pressed in, I'm probably still going to use the metal for patching up little areas as I come across them, but as its quite a large panel I'm going to practice on there first