I seem to recall that they were made in 2mm but I think they could make them thicker if you wanted, they seem to specialise in making a lot of stuff for old Landrovers so are used to working with thick steel! I measured the thickness of the existing chassis rails (a non rotten bit) using a set of callipers and had it made the same.

 

Thanks again Homer. I think your work is very impressive. It has given me hope, as my bodywork is at least as bad as yours, and is probably borderline viable. There seems to be rot everywhere, including the windscreen surround, which will be tricky to sort out. The front wings are pretty bad, and the way you dealt with yours has given me some ideas

 

Do you have any pictures, it would be great to see that there is at least someone as crazy as me!

Have you done much welding before? They are fairly simple cars to restore despite what people say, its just that there is a lot of it compared to something like a mini or MGB. I've always found with any restoration its best to set yourself a goal/and work towards that rather than looking at the end, something like replace the sills then repair the front wing etc. so you have stages to work to. Even with mine now if I actually sat down and thought about how much work it needs I would get depressed, my current aim is to repair the O/S rear wheel arch.

Anything can be restored (well almost) and I'm hoping to prove this with mine as it was well past being worth saving but I just thought it looked a bit sad and needed a chance :-)

 

I will put some pictures on as soon as I get the chance. I still have doubts about whether I can do this so have broken it down into bite sized chunks. I have set myself the task of first replacing the inner sills and the necessary floor sections, to try and restore some rigidity, before tackling the chassis legs, starting on the nearside first. I have set the nearside inner sill and floor as a sort of test, to see whether I can do them to a good standard and then decide whether I should continue. The nearside floor has rotted adjacent to the inner sill and replacement panels are not available so a strip maybe 5 inches wide needs to be fabricated , a bead roller is needed, unless I can make the "corrugated" shape by hand. I have welded 25mm box section from A post to C post each side and then in a X section across the car, to maintain rigidity before removing the sills. I did an engineering apprenticeship many, many years ago, but am now re learning how to mig weld

 

How rotten is the floor to sill joint? You can buy the front floor pan section with the ribs in it and you could either cut one of these up to make a repair for the floor (and weld the sections together).

On the S-Type I did many years ago I fabricated a section from a piece of sheet steel and to make the edge work you can just cut slots in it to make it bend propertly or weld a lip on whichever you prefer. You could also make a former out of wood and hammer around it or make two halfs and clamp it in the vice. There are lots of things you can do and the best thing is to have a go and see what works for you.

Are you changing the whole inner sill? If so then you need to remove the outer as well.

It amazed me with mine that once the inner and outer sills were replaced I could put the car on an axle stand at the rear of the sill and remvoe the central chassis piece without it bending, this was on a bare shell though, I wouldn't try it with the engine, suspension, interior in etc.

If you need to buy sheet steel I have been using these guys and it seems good stuff and its the a good price.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mild-Stee...72.m2749.l2649

Also thin cut discs for the angle grinder (1mm) and flap discs for grinding are invaluable.

 

Hi lornemalvo
I may take the rails out of my mk2 and replace them,
the car will be just down road from you s****hope way

 

I found yet more rust, this time it was visible through the hole in the rear wheelarch.

The only way to get to this to do a proper repair was to cut a hole in the rear wing

 

Man !
With the amount of rust in this car it makes me wonder if there was something wrong with the steel, like too much tin in it or something.

Or maybe in belonged to Aquaman and he parked it in the ocean.

 

Its a bit odd as a lot of the car is really solid but some of it, especially lower down is dreadful, I do wonder if it was parked on grass. Having said I also had to do a similar repair to above on the 3.8, it seems that there is a piece of felt at this point between this piece and the outer wing which causes this corrosion (although the outer wing is rust free and solid (apart from the massivle hole I have just cut in it!

I will need to put something back here and i'm wondering about closed cell expanding foam.

 

A little bit more done, repair to rear seat back by wheel arch and start of repair to B/C post.

 

I've been trying to get a bit more done over Christmas and have finished the base of the b/c post and moved to the other side of the car to do the bonnet mount and inner of the front wheelarch.

 

I'vve done a little bit more but don't have all the photos, under the wing is now finished apart from the baffle panel which i'm saving up for. I've repaired the bottom of the A post to sill (no pictures yet) and have started on the side light pod.

Its keeping me out of mischief but we move house in the next few months and after that I won't have a very big garage and a load of house type tasks to do (decorating, garden etc.) so it might be while before I get back on this. I'm going to try and do as much as I can before we move.

 

I've been doing a bit more work on the car as I wanted to break the back of the welding before we move house, i've done as much as I planned to now so i'm putting it back on its wheels getting it ready to move.

Its likely to be a while before I update the thread again so here goes with the progress since last time.



D post repair

N/S inner wheel arch repair

N/S inner arch repair inside boot

Side rail repair in boot (above fuel pump).

Hole cut in N/S rear wing to repair area underneath properly (the piece removed has now been welded back in.

N/S B/C post cutout

N/S B/C post repaired.

I have now managed to burn out my angle grinder which has stopped play as well. I've ordered new brushes which should fix it so its ready to go when I get a chance again.

 

I've PM'd you Homer, Cheers.