I’m working my way through the jobs that need doing on my car. I managed to get the sump bolt off, so I could give her an oil change, along with leads, plugs and air filter. Next I need to sort out the sills. On the mx5parts web site, outer sills are only listed for the MK2. Were the sills on the MK1 not seperate to the bodywork above or does mx5parts just not stock this part?
My sills are starting to rust relatively badly at the back, where the drain holes are and I wondered what the best course of action was.
Thanks very much!
I look forward to the day that my knowledge is good enough to be able to answer similar questions to these!
I have not done it yet but have a small rust spot on mine so it’s coming. My impression was that outer sill is not structural and its simple enough to shape your own patch. However the structural inner sill looks a complicated shape.
I took mine to a local bodyshop as they’d do a MUCH better job than I could have ever done. Seem to remember the cost being about £400 for the two sides. But that was done properly and re-painting of the areas and a nice shot of Waxoil at the same time.
Might be worth calling some bodyshop places near you for a quote ?
Thats about what I was expecting. Might have to wait until the next student loan installment. I can’t wait to qualify, being poor is a bugger especially when you have so many things you want to get done to your car!!
I found the parts online eventually, it would cost about £200 a side for the parts new (inner sill, outer sill and sill strengthener), so £400 seems good to me! Did they use new parts or weld up what was there?
Hi Andrew … they cut away the rusty parts and put new metal in it’s place. So not a whole replacement part, but as good as. It looks perfect and should hopefully see the car through a few more years to come.
I’ve got the same problem. The bottom of the rear wing just in front of the doors is rotting on my '97 Mk1. I’ve taken it to my local bodyshop and they’ve advised me to get replacement lower sections. They will then cut out the rot and replace with new metal. I see that MX5 parts do a lower rear wing section at £100 a side. Does anyone know if I can just purchase the lower sill area from anywhere.
Just had mine done by my local garage, failed the MOT for rust, not too expensive a job to rectify, 5 hours labour if I remember and they did a good job cutting out the rot…
I filled it and resprayed myself to save the pennies…sadly whoever had resprayed the car before I had it didn’t use Mazda Classic Red, unless Halfords Mazda Classic Red is different to Mazda Mazda Classic Red!!!
