Sill and floor pan repair

Basically going to try and do the bodywork work on my Mk1 myself having never welded before, well i welded the rollover jig so after some advice please. I want to learn to do it myself and will practice on spare panels etc before attacking the car.

How are the different layers arranged in the below photo. I can see the floor pan and sill are spot welded together but which part has the lip? Both have lips that run 90degrees to the actual panel, but the original on the car has a lip that runs parallel to the floor?





In the photo below i have marked where i think i need to cut the rot out and then i can see what lies beneath and hopefully see how the different panels join together! I just don't want to cut out too much and then have to weld more back in, easier to cut more out!!

The floor pan has a 90* drop with a lip that covers the rest as you can see in the last pic, the iiner sill goes dow the that level straight, and the outer goes down to it and drops 90*

looking at the pic your going to be doing inner sill work though im afraid

as for welding its quite simple, low amps, clean metal, gap desired and tack,tack,tack. I leave a 2mm gap all around myself but you could go to 1mm. cleaner it is, easier it will be lad

Thanks for the info, i'll get cutting and see what i find.

What's the best order to fit new panels as i need to do the sills, rear arches, rear beam mounts and the rear panel (on both sides!) I was thinking do the front floor panels and sills and then the rear beam mounts as i'll know a little more then. Next roll the car back to normal and fit the rear arches and finally once it's all done the rear panel, sound about right?  I can learn on the sills etc before tackling the important rear beam mounts and then the rear panel will hopefully be not too bad as it's visible!

 The previous paint job wasn't the best of quality!!!



Some pictures of the car at present, think i'll be having fun with the welder!

Yeah do the floor and sills to work yout technique a bit, then id do mounts and arches lad.

Great thanks  

Keep us updated, do you have build thread? I have just stared poking around the rear axel mount on mine which will need work, no where near as bad as yours, I think I'm going to have a go myself too, but never done anything like this before.

I'll keep you posted, there is a build thread but i haven't updated it for a while. Doing some work on the car so there's something to show.

 VR6 campaign

Out of interest, what is the bolt here for?

Possibly something for the fuel system. Don't think mine has one (gti) if yours is non gti could be swirl pot or something.

Brad. said

The floor pan has a 90* drop with a lip that covers the rest as you can see in the last pic, the iiner sill goes dow the that level straight, and the outer goes down to it and drops 90*

looking at the pic your going to be doing inner sill work though im afraid

Having had a play with the tin snips i can now see what you meant, i think my mock CAD drawing below shows how they all overlap, is it correct?




The repair floor panel i have doesn't have the lip shown in the next picture, what do other people do when repairing this area, or have i got a really cheap nasty panel??

I think both mine are flat with a few drainage holes/bends in the metal along the edge of the floor panel. I have the orginal sills and floor as Its never been welded but it is a cabriolet.
Not really had a good look as its dark outside and the car is my daily so it's on the drive.

Correct! And yeah they have drainage slots, my floor section came with a lip already one but was more difficult to fit in my opinion like that. 

Had a go at cleaning the outer sills up to see what lurked beneath the paint.

Results were definitely better than i expected, but now i need some advice as to where to cut? Is it better to cut along a flat surface or along a panel corner? I'm assuming it's better to cut along the flat surface so that when you dress the welds it's far easier. I know i should keep as much original metal as possible so

On the picture where should i cut the rust out to, or should i cut the whole sill out up to the door shut on top of the sill when the car is sat properly? I'm thinking just above the line B as it will be eaiser to cut the repair panel not on the curved part of the sill. Probably totally wrong!!  



Further along the sill looks really good, as i did think i would just replace the whole sill as the back arch looks as bad as the front part of the sill.

cut off as little as possible

If go for C of B personally. 

What've i done!!!  

How is the innersill looking, is it mostly outer sill work, does rear axel mount need work?

The inner sill is pretty good, will need some work at the back end. The axle mount at the rear will need a bit of work, the other side is a total write off and that area will need some serious work, that's why I left it until second seeing as I've welded once and that was to make the bumper mounts for the wooden roll over jig! Lol

How you getting on with this? What did you use to get a nice straight cut along the sill?

Been making some repair panels from some sheet metal but going slowly as never done anything like this before.

I just used a cutting disc on a angle grinder to cut the bits out nothing else. Will post some progress once there's something to show.

How's the progress with the sill repairs going?

I have some damage on the lower sill where some amateurs placed the hydraulic jack to lift the car. Thus crushing the sill/lip

Not as major as yours but want to fix it before it gets any worse.  

Keep up the good work