Repairing inner/outer sills

[beyondbedlam]

Hi all, i am in desperate need of help, i am currently attempting my first major restoration of a 68b coupe and am currently at a stand still. The sills need replacing inside and out and although i have the panels ready to go on, i really do not have a clue how to go about taking the old ones of and working out where to fit the new ones. If anyone out there can assist i would be eternally grateful, pictures or videos would be a great help, i have searched you tube but failed. My email is [e-mail]

many thanks

[71coupe]

Hi,
I'm going to be doing the same to my car soon. Basically you will need to drill out spot welds top and bottom. once the chrome trim is off the top flange of the sill(s) will be visible

You will need to give the outer sill a good wire brushing/grinding to locate the spot welds. They will be covered by paint/rust filler etc.

If the old panels are to be scrapped, a thin bladed chisel can be used to carefully 'pry' them apart between the welds. If the going gets tough that's where you're spot welds are! The welds will be more visible anyway as the panel(s) distort as you chisel along.

ISTR that the floor, inner, spacer and outer sills all meet at the top flange. They may even share the same spot welds in places.

Hope this helps.

[Phil Nottingham]

Seemed to have missed this post way back - loads on search and pics too

[projectrover]

Guy, I have the same problem, I have decided to do both sides but cant find any help on utube etc. Did you have any luck. Phil said do a search I see., so am going to give that a go. Have either of you done the job yet?
Regards,
Tony.

[petervdvelde]

Tony,

I replaced the inner and outer sills on both sides and i noticed you already found my thread. Some work was already described by other P5 owners. It is not an easy job as the outer sills are shaped complex. I can give you some advices.
Take lots of measurements in all directions before you remove the old sills. Distance from top of the sills to the roof line on a number of places. Measure distance how far the sills are away from the floors on a number of positions. Make sure you have a good set of doors which are fitted and aligned properly and don't remove these during the repair. Finalize the repair on 1 side before you remove the other.
The replacement sill from Wadhams are not bad but there were a few issues which i altered. The outer sills don't have an ingress where the A, C and D post are connected. I made those ingresses but this was a time consuming and difficult job. I believe many don't do that but then you sills can only be fitted lower.

I don't know how bad the sills are but you could consider to patch repair these if these are not too bad.

Peter

[barryr]

I used JRW outers and ended up cutting out the top section in places to butt into the original car due to the issues Peter described. I was lucky in that my inners were fine and middles needed only one or two patches. I found both sides were quite different to do. Patience , clamps, jacks and determination will get you there.

The one thing I have learned (after several years trying) is not to panic - these cars are just bits of folded metal. In the absolute worst case if you work methodically without chopping too much out at a time and get stuck - there will be someone who can fix it or who can advise you on how.

Case in point, I welded a half replacement a-post in too high but carried on without noticing. Although the hinges lined up ok, there was no way the door check strap would ever work again. It was hard to accept the problem but once I did I simply cut it off and started again! That post is straight now and I realise I had other problems to solve being worn hinge pins and probably a non original door. It's not finished but it's better each time!

Best of luck!

[projectrover]

Gents,

Thanks for your advise which I will take into consideration. I have postponed ordering all the sills, until I do some further investigation work to see the extent of the damage. New springs are on the cards before the sills I think. Thank again for your input.
Regards Tony.