just bought a old transit camper, bodywork advice :(

[newbie29]

Hi All

Need some advice, just bought a Transit camper, love the look and bags of character.

Im cleaning up the body work in preparation for this summer, the bottom sills have 2 plates welded to it, they wrap down to the bottom of the sill, its quite ugly looking.
I was thinking about cutting off the top parts which are in the line of sight, and repairing using fibre glass.
My question...is this part of the sill structural to the body?....ive got a fresh mot, failing Mot wont bother me much, i will pay someone to get professionally fixed next year should the van fail.
Thanks For Time Guys

[sunbeam alpine]

Wow - bodgetastic repair!

I would advise you to leave it as it is and enjoy the van over the summer months, then look at it in the winter when you probably won't be using it anyway (although a visible ugly repair would irk me too).

Removing it now MAY reveal more problems, as someone who bodges like that may have covered up more serious issues, and it could end up with you not being able to use the van over the summer.

Can't advise you on the MOT point, as I'm in Belgium. I can say that over here they would fail a fibreglass/body filler repair if they found it, although if it was perfectly finished and painted, they probably wouldn't notice it.

[steveo3002]

needs welding properly , cut it all off and weld on new panels

[cptsideways]

That is a structural area, it wont cost much to have that repaired neatly, cut out & put in new flush fit. It's a couple of hours work to do it nicely.