Can I Make My Own Sill?

[ashley peddle 3]

was wondering if i can do this... basically i dont really care how it looks (as its not really a 'pretty' 205 anyways)

 

mine have rusted (rusted through in some places) nothing structural - its all on the panel itself (leaky window syndrome )

 

what i was thinking was if i cut all the rust away that i could get an aluminium plate made up, rivet it and then weld it into place? i know you can buy new sills but im wondering if this is another option?

[Pug_101 0]

If you can weld aluminium to steel I would be welll impressed. You can use stainless though.

B&Q sell smallish sheets of metal.

Nothing wrong in what your doing, but as you say will look a bit pants.

[MartinM 0]

...get an aluminium plate made up, rivet it and then weld it into place?

 

Good plan, but you can't weld aluminium to steel

 

Cut the bad stuff out, make a repair panel (steel) and get that welded in would be the only viable option ....

 

EDIT: I don't think you can weld stainless steel to mild steel either, but I've only got the equivalent of a cycling proficiency test in welding...

Edited July 25, 2006 by MartinM

[ashley peddle 3]

ok so im not up on my welding (i have a mate that welds so when i said 'i' would weld it i meant id get him to do it for me )

 

i would be able to spray it so that you cant really notice it... the other option is to just rivet it but i dunno if that would be strong enough as it has quite hars suspension and they may rattle free

[d-9 0]

whereabouts is the rust mate? the sills are structural....

[ashley peddle 3]

its in the usual place... you cant see it though because i *may* have used filler to hide it (rust is starting to show through again though )

[d-9 0]

Quick! more filler

[ashley peddle 3]

i cant i ran out last time i done them

[notamondayfan 44]

do it properly and replace the whole thing. they dont cost a lot. ull regret not doing it if u jus patch it.

[sherly 0]

I got quoted about £30 for a genuine replacement sill - from a Peugeot dealer - which I thought was quite reasonable.

[Baz 421]

Ash do you mean the actual sill itself? as Doug said they are structual, from what i remember its more the lower rear quarter thats gone isn't it, above the sill? That would be the usual spot, just before the wheels or door shut.

[M3Evo 0]

Just because I'm a nerd: It is possible to weld aluminium to steel if you use the right technique. However, friction welding's not really practical on a cill so that's a completely useless bit trivia

 

Personally think if you can live with the "well used" look, it's not such a bad idea to patch the holes with steel. Can't imagine why you'd bother using stainless TBH.

 

Cills are a pain in the arse to replace in my fairly limited experience. You need to support the door aperture to make sure it doesn't move when the old cill's off and to make it look right with the door back on, you need to trial fit the cill and door about a million times. <yawn!>

[steve@cornwall 100]

Isn't any "holed" corrosion within 30cm of a "structural mounting point"- door catch / rear seatbelt mount, required to have a seam welded repair? Had a failure on a cf van with a chassis more suited to a tank because of corrosion of the inner wheel arch.- all structural items were bolted to the chassis but this rust was unfortunately within this 30cm arc.

Edited July 25, 2006 by steve@cornwall

[inferno 1]

As mentioned, welding sills are a pain in the ass! but i was taught to weld on heavy materials and on the workbench. i did weld up an escort van this weekend though, my first sill! the wing had to come off to get it on, and the old sill that was riddled with rot had to be removed first.

 

if your not worried how it looks just cut the rot out and patch it up, seam sealer and underseal will make it look good even after the pidgeons have attacked it!

 

if you plan on keeping the car for any lenth of time, it would be worth getting a body shop to sort it out. i payed 300 for my astravans sills to be replaced after it had sat three years indergoing heavy mods! they made a pukka job and even resprayed the skirts and fitted them better than they was to start with!

 

body shops deal with cars and rust all day long, so it would be a peice of cake to them.

Edited July 25, 2006 by inferno

[cybernck 400 1 Cars]

iirc, b1ack_mi16 had successfully repaired his sills in the past, so he may be the person to ask .

[jochem 0]

I've replaced a sill recently. It is much easier to do it you just buy a new sill from peugeot for around 50euro.

Unfortunately my wing was also completely rotten through on the bottom. Bloody sideskirts.......

[d-9 0]

Cills are a pain in the arse to replace in my fairly limited experience. You need to support the door aperture to make sure it doesn't move when the old cill's off and to make it look right with the door back on, you need to trial fit the cill and door about a million times. <yawn!>

 

Would you be talking about your GT6 by any chance?

[mrswampy 0]

sills aint hat hard to do, ive doen afew on various rovers and a sierra, getting it all lines up right in the first place is the hard part.

 

ash what you got to remember is in if its with in 30cm of a seatbelt anchor and other various items of the car it needs to be seam welded, so riveting it on wont work.

of course that is if its a road car, if its a track car and thus has no mot then you can fix it how you like and just hope it passes scrutineering

[M3Evo 0]

Would you be talking about your GT6 by any chance?

 

yeah, they were rotten as hell when I bought it (although it still passed and MOT ) so I did them then, but didn't rust proof them very well so I'm doing them again as part of the resto on the bodywork.