My 827 Coupé Sill Repair

[Rover827]

The drivers side sill on my Coupé has suffered quite as bad case of rust, and I really want to repair it, the best I can.

Rover 800's are getting pretty rare now, m,ainly due to the sCRAPage scheme, and Rover being a defunct company. Most people that have a problem with their car tend to get rid of them. My car is the 2 door Coupé, and being the 2.7 manual version, pretty rare, as it is thought only 82 were ever built as a special order, as the auto is pretty good.

Anyway: Here are the pix of the scale of the problem in hand.

I am toying with the idea of making the sill out of stainless steel, as I have a supplier near me that does normal and stainless, and there is a local company who can put the curve in for me. You cant get the sills any more.

I do have a question:
Is it reasonably sensible and feasable to make the sill(s) out of stainless?
I ave had a look around the forum re painting stainless, so know it is 'possible'
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Edit:

Here is the car

Comments and Critisisms welcome

 

[tux]

Sterling?

Sorry, I can't offer anything constructive on using stainless as I am not knowledgable enough, though I'm sure someone will be along shortly.
As for the repair, I guess its a case of cutting away the rot to sound metal and fabricating sections to weld back in. Laborious, but unavoidable I reckon.

Why not start a thread in "Projects" and keep us all up to date with your progress? Don't forget your camera!

Oh, and welcome to the forums!

 

[Grrrmachine]

Galvanised might be the way to go, no idea about stainless. And I know what you mean about the rarity of these 800's; I saw one over here a few months back, in LHD, no less:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_o3TklBOxC5Y/S8h5NczzBVI/AAAAAAAAATE/YYUr5Dj0TWA/s1600/Rover827rl.JPG

Not a Coupe, but still, that 2.7 engine...

 

[pedrobedro]

Stainless to mild is not a good idea, it causes an electrolytic reaction and the mild will be eaten away by galvanic corrosion much quicker than you would expect.

 

[Paul.]

I wouldn't recommend welding stainless steel to mild steel in a structural component, dissimilar metals are prone to galvanic corrosion so any mating faces will likely corrode faster than just using mild steel. also choosing a correct filler material is important, any weld metal you put in will have areas which are a mixture of the filler and the two parent materials, an effect known as pick up and dilution, the usual recommended filler material for stainless to mild would be a 309L which is over alloyed to try and compensate for this, its usually used in heavier fabrication though not vehicle bodies.

you may also have problems with differing expansion and contraction rates leading to cracking or weld failure,

I would just stick to using steel panels and properly treat them, plenty of car restorers on here to advise you on the best way to do that.

 

[Rover827]

Thanks for the info re Stainless. I hadn't known that. I knew painting it could be an issue. The exterior sill's on my car aren't actually structural in any way, as on the Honda Legend version of the car, the outer sill's are plastic!

I shall go and have a research session on galvanised. All I know so far is you must wear a breating mask....


Oh, Tux, thought I was in the Projects section...

 

[gavuk]

rover 800 sills not sure if these are any good for your car?....should be available through your local motor factors....good luck

 

[tux]

Oh, Tux, thought I was in the Projects section...

Just making sure you were paying attention!

 

[Rover827]

Those Hadrian sills are a new production run, after several members of www.rover800.info got together to create enough interest to justify them re-maiking them.

Unfortunately, Saloon profile is completely different.

 

[gavuk]

Thats a shame ,I repaired some sills on a dorchester limo(granada)...whilst the sills were a lot shorter the profile was exactly the same ....used the new sill for patches ,

 

[jackjosh]

Completely agree with the galvanic corrosion problem that stainless would create, your new sills would last forever but the rest of the car would become a sacrificial anode!! Try using zintec as it has a zinc coating but make sure you clean it off where you are going to weld, you can then spray the weld with a zinc coating again.
Hope this helps

 

[Rover827]

Thanks very much. Normal, or 'possibly' Galvanised it is then.

 

[jaykay]

have you tried avenue panels at rushden????

 

[Rover827]

No, I'll give them a try.

Another thought is making a profile drawing posting up here, and seeing if anyone knows a similar profile.

 

[Chickenjohn]

Stainless to mild is not a good idea, it causes an electrolytic reaction and the mild will be eaten away by galvanic corrosion much quicker than you would expect.

+1

Stainless steel is a bad idea for the reason above, as is using stainless steel nuts and bolts in a mild steel car. Makes the mild steel rust a LOT more than it would have otherwise. Pluss, stainless steel is harder to shape.

 

[jackjosh]

Chickenjohn, I see you are a Porsche 944 fan, I have recently bought one, so am buying a welder in preparation for some running restoration work. Do you have any experience on these. my sills are good but it will need a bit of work for it's MOT.

 

[MG David]

I would look into the extent of the diff between the 4door/5door sill and the coupe sill. They will be the same length at least as the coupe ran on the same wheel base as the saloon/fastback.

 

[Sphinx]

I can't offer any advice on the repair but I will say I've always fancies a Vittesse coupe in that shape. A bit hard to come by though, and if I'm honest there are other cars I like more...still a classy shape though