Sill Repair in the Bristol Area
Discussion
If they will do it properly for £650 both sides I'm very impressed.
Especially as you will almost certainly need welding on the floors and possibly even in to the rear bulkhead area. The inner panels will be rotten as well and even if a skin is put over the outside and the inner left alone it isn't a proper repair, then of course there is the prepping and painting which is not a quick job.
Of course if the sills are gone the rear arches may well be on their way too.
This job is done properly by removing all the bad metal as far back as needed, it isn't the same on every car which is why it's impossible to quote before cutting in to it, the rear arches may as well be done at the same time as a repair panel exists for sills and arches. It should involve cutting out the inner panels as required and replacing them before replacing the cosmetic outer panels.
I would be suspicious that £650 will at worse be dig out the rot and fill with filler and at best splat a couple of plates over the holes and pretty the area up.
Especially as you will almost certainly need welding on the floors and possibly even in to the rear bulkhead area. The inner panels will be rotten as well and even if a skin is put over the outside and the inner left alone it isn't a proper repair, then of course there is the prepping and painting which is not a quick job.
Of course if the sills are gone the rear arches may well be on their way too.
This job is done properly by removing all the bad metal as far back as needed, it isn't the same on every car which is why it's impossible to quote before cutting in to it, the rear arches may as well be done at the same time as a repair panel exists for sills and arches. It should involve cutting out the inner panels as required and replacing them before replacing the cosmetic outer panels.
I would be suspicious that £650 will at worse be dig out the rot and fill with filler and at best splat a couple of plates over the holes and pretty the area up.
wildoliver said:
If they will do it properly for £650 both sides I'm very impressed.
Especially as you will almost certainly need welding on the floors and possibly even in to the rear bulkhead area. The inner panels will be rotten as well and even if a skin is put over the outside and the inner left alone it isn't a proper repair, then of course there is the prepping and painting which is not a quick job.
Of course if the sills are gone the rear arches may well be on their way too.
This job is done properly by removing all the bad metal as far back as needed, it isn't the same on every car which is why it's impossible to quote before cutting in to it, the rear arches may as well be done at the same time as a repair panel exists for sills and arches. It should involve cutting out the inner panels as required and replacing them before replacing the cosmetic outer panels.
I would be suspicious that £650 will at worse be dig out the rot and fill with filler and at best splat a couple of plates over the holes and pretty the area up.
Thanks for the advice- useful info there.Especially as you will almost certainly need welding on the floors and possibly even in to the rear bulkhead area. The inner panels will be rotten as well and even if a skin is put over the outside and the inner left alone it isn't a proper repair, then of course there is the prepping and painting which is not a quick job.
Of course if the sills are gone the rear arches may well be on their way too.
This job is done properly by removing all the bad metal as far back as needed, it isn't the same on every car which is why it's impossible to quote before cutting in to it, the rear arches may as well be done at the same time as a repair panel exists for sills and arches. It should involve cutting out the inner panels as required and replacing them before replacing the cosmetic outer panels.
I would be suspicious that £650 will at worse be dig out the rot and fill with filler and at best splat a couple of plates over the holes and pretty the area up.
I had a relatively long chat with the bloke that was doing the work. He said that he has done literally hundreds of mx5s in his time and is something of a mazda specialist. The garage area was full of old classic cars being refurbed and they do a lot of crash repair for large industry names- the place looked very busy. I suggested getting replacement sill panels from ebay but he said he wasnt happy with the quality and they fabricate them themselves. this all gave me the confidence boost i needed to accept his quote. He talked me through what they were going to do- cut back all rot and repair with new steel on inner and outer sills and sort out the paintwork etc.
To put it into context: the previous quote i got to "get it throught the mot" from a backstreet welder was &150-&200 (admitedly 1 side and no paint)so the quote i got was a hike on that. I'm not being delusional, Its never going to be a concourse winner, and i will be happy with a job that is good enough so that it doesnt stand out as a bad repair and will last a few more years.
I'll get some pics up when its done assuming I'm happy with it.
Pete
Thought I would post an update on this.
SGH who originally quoted to do the work and who stated that it wouldnt be more than £650 when i showed him the car spent half an hour or so nockig the sills apart (and revealing the extent of the rust) and declared that they wouldnt be able to do the work for less than £1k- no thanks was my reply. The state of the sills really was bad when you got rid of the old repairs and filler.
I decided it might be the right time to split the car for parts but i thought i would take it back to the original garage who quoted me £150 per side for a rough repair to get it through the MOT and see what he had to say about it. Seeing the extent, it wasnt something that he would be want to do, but a retired freind of his might be interested as a project. After meeting up and agreeing a price (650) this chap spent a week on and off on the car at his own home making up panels and doing the repairs and painting. the results are absolutely brilliant. You cant tell its been repaired, really does look as good as new.
I know its not much help to others in Bristol looking for repairs as it was a bit of a one off but thought i would share.
SGH who originally quoted to do the work and who stated that it wouldnt be more than £650 when i showed him the car spent half an hour or so nockig the sills apart (and revealing the extent of the rust) and declared that they wouldnt be able to do the work for less than £1k- no thanks was my reply. The state of the sills really was bad when you got rid of the old repairs and filler.
I decided it might be the right time to split the car for parts but i thought i would take it back to the original garage who quoted me £150 per side for a rough repair to get it through the MOT and see what he had to say about it. Seeing the extent, it wasnt something that he would be want to do, but a retired freind of his might be interested as a project. After meeting up and agreeing a price (650) this chap spent a week on and off on the car at his own home making up panels and doing the repairs and painting. the results are absolutely brilliant. You cant tell its been repaired, really does look as good as new.
I know its not much help to others in Bristol looking for repairs as it was a bit of a one off but thought i would share.
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