I bought a 97 MK1 as a project please can you advise me on best way to treat rust at the rear of the sills?
The main sills look solid and the back and under the rear part of the sills seems OK, but some one has had a go poorly at filling and painting the rear face of these sections.
Would it be OK if I cleaned it all up and did the same job properly, and would this be MOT able?
Yep, its MOTable. Whether its ok or not to fill it, is another matter. I suspect once you have a go doing “the same job properly”, which of what you thought was solid would disappear. The sill is rotting from the inside out. The best way is to get the rot cut out and new metal welded on. The gold standard, copper bottomed, belts-n-braces repair which some have done is complete rear wing replacement. But for most people, patch panels welded in is the route to go. But, in general, when it comes to the sill (the outer), everything from the seam under the door to the wheel arch is chopped out. This is what happens when a garage welds a patch, and then dresses the repair. It looked fine to start with, then 18 months later, it all went a bit tragic, very quickly, after a cold snap. Spot the original repair.
Original rust damage; literally, just a small hole. Everything else looked fine:
Wheel arch lip; seen much worse out there. The damage was due to a tyre blow-out.
The repair after about 12 months:
In retrospect, the small area of paint that had flaked off was pretty ominous. After the sill repair, copious amounts of waxoyl wax were sprayed into the sill cavity.
After 18 months from the original repair, one cold morning, I noticed cracks in the paint. I kind of knew what had happened, but I had a poke. The horror:
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If you look carefully, you can see what looks like a straight edge, and the original paint.
And, now you can see the welded patch; the line of ground down spots:
And peeling back the patch, you can see the now paper thin original metal, and probably where the original hole was:
Amongst the detritus that fell out were numerous balls of hardened, flakey waxoyl. So much for that stuff.
These repairs were done as part of a general body refurbishment; a complete respray, and the repairer had come highly recommended. He explained his approach to the repair, which was exactly in line with the same repairs espoused by other repairers. Unfortunately, I didn’t insist on a photographic record. Lesson learned. But the repairer, to be fair, very quickly put right the work, this time with a photographic record.
I don’t believe it is possible to do the job (filling a hole) with filler; its just a more carefully done bodge. If the sill really is sound, its possible that a welded repair to the end can be done very cheaply.
Note,in the bodged repair. I would have imagined that the person who did the welding flatted back the old paint, down to bare metal, dinked it in a bit with a hammer, then welded the patch on top, dressing with filler. Check how much the metal has rusted under the filler; filler is porous.
WOW seems once the rust gets a hold there ant no stopping Thanks for your help and advice.it will have to decide how much I wont to spend, or maybe It’s more economical to do a cosmetic job and sell it on and get a rust free project, have read that the imports are better if after an old 5 rust wise.
The car above is a 1996 import, imported in 2000. Most were imported between 1997 and 2002, so expect in many of them, rust is beginning to take hold. The older cars seem to be more resistant to rusting than later Mk1s. If you genuinely rust free (not just what the owner thinks, through rose tinted specs), either start scrutinising registration plates through the DVLA website (you can determine when the car was first GB registered, ie import date, the more recent, the better), or pay through the nose for a Mk1 freshly imported; imports from Japan, off the boat, with taxes paid, are £2500 and up. There is a tendancy for more recent imported Mk1s to be hiding accident damage; a few years ago, the importers were reporting that it was getting harder to find decent Mk1s in Japan (and since then, the supply problems haven’t helped; Eunos Roadsters are now flocking to Canada), plus some of the Japanese auction houses started changing the grading system, so that suddenly, Grade 4 cars weren’t as good as they once were.
I really can’t condone hiding the rust, and selling it on to an unsuspecting MX5 owner. If you think the repair is beyond your budget, just leave it as it is, and price the car accordingly.
Depending on your long term plans for the car, a decent repair will pay for itself, in the value of the car. Decent sill repairs, including paint, are £200-400 a side. For complete wing replacement, I have seen prices of £2500 for both wings, fitting, and half car repaint, quoted.
Cheers for the info and advice, do I have to replace the whole of the sills or just the rear parts that are effected?
Thanks for your help and advice, do I have replace all the sills or just the rear parts that is effected ? I have seen repair kits on eBay £40 or is this a waste of money?
You mean this?
Looks rubbish; bare steel that someone has cobbled together from some welded bits, not a pressing. You are better off with the repair panels, or the sill part that Autolinkuk sells:
http://www.autolinkmx5.com/repair-section-rear-of-sill-mx-5-mk1-lh-5900-p.asp
These are electroprimed pressings.
If the rust is limited, a good coachworks will fab up the part from scratch.
Thanks for tip and link seems the best option.
Hi Mellon man. You’re profile doesn’t say where you’re located! It may be helpful to add that, then people may recommend someone near to you.
Here’s a link to a comprehensive repair done on a MK2 which had similar problems. Full photo record included.
Hope this helps. http://www.mx5oc.co.uk/forum/forums/p/22372/149835.aspx#149835
It also looks like the wheel arches have been bodged by the looks of it also?
This might be of interest for you to read, the end post is the body shop that put here right, using a Autolink repair rear panel
…
http://www.mazdamenders.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=1073&p=9324#p9324
M-m
Right, what ever
I have posted a thread which will be of a lot of interest for the OP to read, lets concentrate on the OP, not points on a chalk board please.
M-m
Much of this will depend on the long term view. When I was 20 keeping a car 1 year was quite a long time. So a good repair then would have been a seam welded patch like that eBay pic, smoothed with filler and painted. It would pass the MOT and last a year or 2. We lived from w/e to w/e then let alone looking a year ahead so that would have been fine for me then (so long as I’d known what I was getting and being charged for). Contemplating the perfect repair of new rear wings really is for the purist or the keen diyer who wants to keep the car for an indefinite period. Tailor the repair to suit your own realistic aims.
You are sure making the old grey matter work on this lazy Sunday
I’ll have to set my self a budget and see what can be done, I am not going to rush as something else may pack up on a old girl like this as shes done 125000 and MOT is not due till April.
Still need to sort these rear sills out got a bit of money together now
Have had a quote from BLENDINI MOTORSPORT (who maintain the racing MX5’s)
£250 to cut out rear part of sill replace with ones of a scraped MX5 (inspected sills look and sound solid and rust free)
fit and paint (recommended not to spray whole of back wings as never can get a perfect colour match on a old car)
Wondering other members have had work done by them?
Also is it a reasonable price?
Have seen new rear Sills on Auto link and on eBay for £35 each would I be better off with these?
Any help or advice and guidance would be much appreciated
Personally I wouldn’t use sills from a scrapped MX5! For starters they will probably be almost as bad as the ones you are cutting off and you just don’t know what abuse the scrapped car has had!
I will be having the same repair done to my own '92 Eunos within the next couple of months and will be using Dandy Cars for the job, £300-400 per side approx but at least I know it’ll be done properly.
This is a repair we specialise in at The MX5 Restorer, our repairs have been well documented over the years and include the following