AT LAST! Hairys Resto!!

Fuel filler looks a good repair. As for the distorted panel, mine had done exactly the same thing. If the car is eventually going to a bodyshop, a good bodyshop will sort it no probs! The guy who did my car shrunk the panel and got it back out, when I went to see it being prepped he pointed out that he only had to use a thin skim of filler 

Looking good on the fuel filler repair Andy. I think you'd be hard pushed no to get a bit of distortion on a repair like that as there is so much flex in that area, it's all about being able to fix it which is where the bodyshop steps in.

Keep it up mate, you're making good progress.

jellybelly said

what every you do andy don't stop, last time you stopped it took 2 years to start again

LOL - I'm not letting up now!  

Cheers Jim, Andy

I have wondered if ever doing this repair again of an octagonal shape to the repair panel would help reduce distortion?

In any case, I'm pleased with it and if there is any 'fettling' needed which I can't do then will leave that to the bodyshop.

Hopefully can finish this tomorrow and move on to the sill

Filler neck panel finished  



Even got the welds ground down a little - but not finished yet



Didn't have too much time on it tonight so didn't start on the sill panel as planned. Will get on to that tomorrow or Friday - will have to look at my jacking points too

Nice Job Andy, you must be proud of that!!

Thanks Andy. I am just a tad chuffed - it's funny how I used to scared off doing stuff like this and now it's just a few evenings work  

There's still a reason I'm leaving my sunroof area/roof repair until last though!  

I'm just kicking myself I put up with the rubbish SIP MIG for so long, glad to see the back of it but I need to re-do the NS chassis leg because of it  

It'll be worth it though mate, for peace of mind that it's been done properly at least. You'll be a pro by the time you sort that out!

I'll certainly be more confident in welding by the end of it if nothing else!  

I'd love to do another one when I have a bigger garage just so I know how much easier it is with a spit  

So it was on with the OS sill today, once I eventually dragged myself in to the garage!

I fitted the sill loosely with the door offered up just to check gap under the door was ok;



Then spent a very long time fettling, cutting and joggling edges to get it all to fit ok. No pics of that yet but I'm happy with it. I cleaned up the inner sill too plus gave all bare metal a coat of Kur-rust just to be safe. The lower lip on the inner sill that the outer sill flange sits on is a bit of a mess, however, after a lot of contemplation today I've decided I'll tidy it later. I just have no space to do anything of justice to it so will wait until the car is on four wheels again so I can jack the whole side of the car up properly and hopefully do a good job of it.

It's for cosmetic purposes only, the inner sill is intact and strong, I'll just be making a strip of metal with very small return edge to weld at the lower edge of the outer sill - it will makes sense when I do it!

I also spent time welding up the holes on the top of the inner sill where a previous owner had decided to nail the carpet down!!  



7 holes in total to fill

I then copied Andy ( Melteddrummer  ) in how to make up some jacking points for the inner sill - in theory at least, not quality! I had no box section but found some thick angle iron at work. I cut some fillets for the sides and welded them up. I'm so short of space with no bench/vice to fab or weld at I was wedged between the car and garage wall trying to weld on the floor, so it wasn't very steady or looking very tidy but it seems solid so shouldn't fall apart at least!  





I still need to cut back the edge of the fillets as they're a little oversize, then will weld to plates on the inner sills tomorrow and hopefully get on with the sill itself.

Jacking points look good mate. Weld the jacking points to a thinner plate (maybe 1.5mm thick) if you have one, before you weld to the inner sill just in case you have issues welding the different thicknesses, better to have the issues off the car than on it

Yeah I'd planned to after seeing your pics on your thread  

Carpet nailed with a nail gun? Or nails just hammered in? Either way, not good  

Jacking points look bomb proof, defiantly strong enough  

Nope just hammered, no finesse or anything!  

Yep jacking points are pretty sturdy, but will have to see if the attaching to the car method is just as bomb proof!  

My carpets were nailed in too, not sure if this is done at VW?

When I restored the GTI the carpet had a few small pin-tacks holding the carpet to the inner sill. Think they are factory fitted, but would have only left a tiny @2mm holes?

Oh fair enough - yes they were small pins, not great big nails, but assumed P/O had done it - I don't think there are any on the passenger side, will have to check

Well I cracked on again this morning. Was in the garage a bit more promptly than yesterday but don't seem to have made much progress, too much faffing I think!!  

I did have a revelation though, this has been sat at the front of my car forever, staring me in the face and I'd never thought to use it before!  



So I managed to make some room for it which meant welding the jacking point I made yesterday to the back plate was much easier, happy days    I used two plates together to back it with and have tacked the edges just to stop them coming apart whilst welding. It's not pretty, but still solid;



Further investigation this morning revealed that the rear jacking point is in fact present still!   Here's a pic of the plate I welded to the inner sill box section about 6 years ago ( )



The jacking point is present behind the sheet, I guess I just need to put a small piece in between the outside of this and the inside of the outer sill panel to stop it getting crushed.

Right, late lunch almost finished, best crack on  

jimmy nail fitted my carpets too then lol
Bert

You'll be able to jack the titanic up with that jacking point, same as mine

Melteddrummer said

You'll be able to jack the titanic up with that jacking point, same as mine

I reckon!  

Well it ended up quite a productive day and the work bench has earned it's keep already today  

So a lot of final fettling was needed this afternoon. First off, the lower flange was not straight so had to put a straight line across the bottom and cut the excess off;



Cleaned the inside of the sill panel, keyed it up with a scotch pad and cleaned it;



…then zinc primed the inside of the sill panel;



I tacked the jacking point on to the inner sill;



…and forget to weld it   Will do that during the week. After some fairly careful measuring I worked out that I needed just a thick-ish plate to sit between the back of the outer sill panel and the inner sill adjacent to what's left of the original jacking point at the rear. Fortunately an off-cut from yesterday's work was the perfect size!



Again, the welds aren't pretty as welding upside down but they did penetrate well so this is going nowhere   Looking at my welding from 6 years ago, not too tidy but it's still all intact so can't be too bad! lol

Then zinc primed the inner sill;




So that's it, all done - just need to finish welding the front jacking point to the inner sill and mend a split in the inner panel and the sill is ready to go on. Hopefully I can get all of that done during this week, leaving next weekend free to move on to the next job - boot floor and OS chassis leg, then that's this side of the car well and truly finished - well, from the A-pillar back