AT LAST! Hairys Resto!!

Ok, the story so far… Well, didn't seem to make much progress at the weekend but then I did spend a bit too much time sticking bunches of grapes to steel! ops:

After a while, things were looking a little better!

Turned my attentions to the Golf, having made the error of not taking the front wing off before tackling the sill ops:  I set about removal. Space was so tight I had to cut a part of the wing out to get to the bolts. I had planned to look at refurbing the wing instead of using my pattern parts but after taking the arch trim off soon knocked that idea on the head! (Tad rusty!)

Inner wing looks spot on! Hard to see in the pick but there's so much waxoyl and seem sealer it looks like all it will need is a good clean up here (wish the rest of the car had this much protection
 :cry: )

However, the down side was whilst the bolts came out so easy, took ages to cut the seam sealer away to get at them!

I forgot to take pics of the inner sill again - will do this weekend when I finish cutting the rest of the sill off and hope to start welding new metal in. Picked up chassis leg repair today - not the best quality looking panel - seem to recall someone stating same before? Do I take it the chassis mounting bolts are welded to the floor and not this panel?

Anyway, enough of my waffle, hope I can make some good progress this weekend and have this side of the car looking a little different :wink:
Cheers
Andy
PS - Got told by Hadrian supplier today they dont do inner osr wings. Any ideas where I can get from?

Is that chassis leg strong? it looks thin and flimsy.

yeah the bolts are welded to a thick L shaped plate that that panel goes over when the old one is cut off

Most of the strength of a modern car is gained from the design and shape of panels, not their thickness. Panels which are thin and flimsy on their own, make a strong structure once welded together.

Nice one Andy, glad to hear you've got well stuck in there at last

Have you decided to do the repairs with the car the right way up or are you going to flip it?

lhasa - yep, it's as thin as any other of the repair panels, but like Paul says I'm hoping it will be strong enough once I've stuck it to the car with bunches of grapes, or maybe even welds!

Ross - no room to flip I'm afraid!

Yes, it's surprising how strong a tack is. I cut out the front floor pan section out of a Scirocco mk2 and welded it in my car, at first I tacked it just to hold the panel in place then seem welded it all round. When I tacked the panel in place I tried out the strength with a hammer, and its surprising just how strong a tack is.

Good work - remember trying to get my wings off - had to slice through the sealer with a stanley knife - the bolts came out and the wing was still on as strong as ever....

Hairy- I know your busy working away like a beaver, but I always checked when possible for good weld penetration on the reverse of the panel your welding. Good penetration equals a strong job....carry on.

lhasa said

Hairy- I know your busy working away like a beaver, but I always checked when possible for good weld penetration on the reverse of the panel your welding. Good penetration equals a strong job….carry on.

Haven't got further than welding scrap plate yet - but will keep an eye out as some of my practice welds didn't have good penetration.

Thanks for the advice :wink:

My god progress is slooooow!  Had a few hours on it today but can't believe how much harder it is to get the os sill off given the previous owner kindly welded the new one over the old one :evil:

Taking it slow so I don't cut away too much… Bottom of b-post is a bit of a mess….

…but apart from a few localised areas the sill looked ok so I can't understand why they didn't just patch the old one?! :dontknow:

One question, the flange at the bottom of the inner sill which the bottom of the outer sill attaches to, does this have like a lip on it or is it flat? Mines a bit of a mess and it's hard to tell!

One of these days I may actually get the new one on

3 panels join at the bottom - floor, inner sill, outer sill. The floor has a small horizontal lip, around 5mm.

Rome wasn't built in a day 'n all that   Progress is progress, keep up the good work!

Thanks for the info Paul - so does the lip stick out towards the outside of the car and the inner and outer sills rest on it?

Glen - you're right - at least I'm going forwards!

so does the lip stick out towards the outside of the car and the inner and outer sills rest on it

They don't actually sit on the horizontal lip if that's what you mean? They are attached to the floor flange a couple of mm above the horizontal lip. Not sure if VW originally spot welded the three togther in one go or if the inner sill is spot welded to the floor flange and the outer sill to the inner. Unless you've got a spot wleder, the best method is to plug weld inner to the floor then outer to the inner.

Cheers

Good to see you're getting stuck into it Andy. Keep the pics coming. As EW says progress is progress.  Went into my local Hadrian store today and asked about the os inner wing. 91-22-532 ?29.00 they can get it by Thursday. They can also supply 91-22-538 fuel filler ?12.50 and 91-22-396 neck ?25.00. If you want me to go along and order any of this let me know.

Hi Watson - is that defo the inner REAR wing? (not the front?)

I've got my local agent to check twice and they say not available, but then once before they said it was!

Cheers
Andy

Sure its a rear. check it yourself on the Hadrian site. 91-22-532 says osr 74 to 8/83 Golf Jetta. They only have plastic inners at the front I think.

Just looked, they show the left one - ending part number 533 but not the right. How am I missing this?!

PM'd you Andy.