Project #2...Nissan Figaro

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Managed to get a bit more done on the inner sill. All seemed to go quite well...I joggled the horizontal joint at the top and welded it from both sides then did just a few spots at the bottom. The joggle is on the inside of the sill so it'll be hidden once the repairs are complete...this made the welding a little easier for me as a joggle joint is more forgiving in terms of getting the repair patch made plus there isn't a lot of room to easily run an angle grinder along to gap a butt weld. I'm not really looking forward to putting the reinforcement back on the outside of the inner sill as it needs to be aligned carefully so that the outer sill end can fit back on. The sill end is curved so that's going to be fun for another day plus the reinforcement slopes upwards to the sill end....gulp!

I put some etch primer on the floor as it may be a while until I get to work on the car....the welds have been flatted to take the tops off but I haven't ground them flush....this area will be covered in sound proofing anyway so better to leave the welds a little proud and avoid thinning the metal.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Bit more progress today...was quite difficult to get this done....then the welding wire ran out...grrrr. I had a spare roll of 0.6mm but just couldn't find the 0.6mm tips anywhere...and the welder definitely wasn't happy with the 0.8mm tips when I tried it so I had to call time on the welding...still got most of it in though.

First step was to make a card template...I needed to replicate the bit in my hand that I cut out.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

I used a block of wood to align the bottom of the reinforcer with the existing reinforcer further along the sill.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

The sill closer is an odd shape so I double checked it would still fit. This closing piece needs to go on after the outer sill is replaced...bit of an odd design but for now I just need to make sure it will fit....it will need quite a bit of work....or I may have to make a new one which should be interesting.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Mostly welded in...ran out of wire unfortunately. I'm going to leave this part anyway and come back to it when I'm ready to put the outer sill on...I don't want to weld it all up and then have to cut bits out to make adjustments. The sill reinforcer is made of thicker steel....as this is a jacking area I will probably extend the material from the reinforcer to the edge on the left and the bottom of the sill flange so it's nice and solid.

Still needs a bit of trimming and tidying of course but I'm going to leave it like this and come back to it once I have the rest of the sill up to this stage. I've staggered the joints so I'll be able to join in the next floor piece and then the inner sill and then the reinforcer separately as I go along.

 

[jpmillermatic]

looks like you are going about this very methodically and planning ahead to avoid nasty surprises. the welding and panels look nice...a very complicated area!

JP

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Cheers JP....yea I think there is so much rot through so many layers of the sill that I have to go quite carefully. I was very worried about losing track of where things need to go so figured slow and steady would be the better approach and just lap the different repair panels together as I go along. It's very annoying but all the rust/rot is just in about a inch of the sill panels and the floor area. As I have the interior out I figured I'd better just do it all....the car is going to someone who is a great friend so I will probably be the one fixing any issues with it in future I think!

There is going to be quite a bit more fun to be had in the rear part of the sill...from what I can see it looks pretty angry back there!

I'm taking lots of pics as I go along...let me know if it's too many...personally I like seeing all the pics on other projects so figured I'd return the favour.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Here is my thinking so far on the sill drainage....I can see some evidence of Nissan drainage channels but lets face it...their approach simply has not worked!

My plan is to allow for drainage from the area inside the sill reinforcer via drainage holes drilled underneath along the length of the sill. This water will then exit the outer sill via some shaped drainage channels. Its an initial idea...the sketch is looking upwards from underneath. I can't see any use in having drainage from the floor area out of the car....this is far more likely to just let water in I think. The inner sills will be filled with cavity wax to offer some protection...I may also paint the reinforcer before I put the outer sill back on.

The other idea I had was to drain the inner reinforcement area to the rear using channels and then to just add some channels at the front too for the outer sill.

Anyone with any experience of what works and what doesn't work please feel free to wade in.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Managed to cut this out before the grinder battery went flat....then the charger went pop...definitely one of those weeks! So now I have no welding wire and no charger...I think the universe is trying to tell me something!

Well that's a nice patch isn't it...they didn't even bother to cut the rust out before sticking the patch on. To be fair nobody wants to pay for things to be done properly anymore...when someone says they are patching you car up they are literally doing just that I guess!

 

[jpmillermatic]

my understanding so far is that wherever metal is joined, rust will occur. the more layers, the more rust. I have seen guys put thicker metal in place of 2 layers of thinner stuff....simplifying the designs. On my truck, I did cheat here and there, trimming inner layers to keep them from coming in contact with the outer sill...(I understand the downside of this, as it does affect local strength....but I tried to reinforce where I could....the truck is also a full frame vehicle...not relying on a uni-body alone for all its strength)

If you can get back there once a year to add cavity wax to key areas, and you do say you will have access...I would go that route. be sure to leave yourself some access holes with plugs now for peace of mind.....

if the drainage holes at the bottom of the sill are thin, getting a zip tie to poke through the cavity wax layer from the outside will allow the water to come out....


lookin good!

JP

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Cheers JP...seems we are of the same mind on this one. Once restored the car will be living in a garage anyway so unlikely to see much rain. I'm going to design the drainage so that it protects the main structure of the inner sills and floors by draining the inner box section...these areas are far more difficult to repair. Outer sills are easy to change...I have a plan to wax once a year but also to make some removable inserts into the drain holes so they are kept clear while I do the waxing - the outers will also get some drainage channels too of course. At the front the roof originally drained into the sill (big big mistake...the inner reinforcer is actually full of road mud....probably came from the roof drain!)...I'm going to route the roof drain to a dedicated outlet so it leaves the car completely...seems more sensible.

Agree on the steel thickness...I'm using much thicker steel on the sill internal reinforcement...the outer repair sill is actually a single piece....the original sill outer actually was spot welded to the inner sill reinforcer. To my mind the fewer joins under the sill the better so going to go with a single piece outer.

 

[gaz_moose]

My (Nissan) track car has a sunroof that drains down into the sills, which resulted in eventually rotting them out. what I did was to weld some tubes into the sills that poke out the bottom and then attach the tubes to these. that way the rain water can go straight out the tube and not deposit dirt into your sills.

I think sometimes you have to consider how old the car is and think the original design lasted XyZ amount of years so if I just replace the rusty bits for fresh metal then it should last the same amount of years.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Cheers Gaz...I was thinking something similar. I might see if I can attach the tube on the inside and then attach the hose with a champ before I weld the outer sill in place. In my mind draining roofs into sills is just asking for trouble but I guess it kind of lasted for 26 years....although I don't know when it was imported into the uk so not sure how many of our winters it has been through. Very little in the way of rust prevention in there originally so reckon just adding some descent wax when it came off the boat from Japan might have made a huge difference I think!

 

[Cris B]

Bear in mind that condensation can play an equal part in rust formation to rain, if you live in a humid area then even if the car is garaged the sills can be exposed to moisture that is in the air...

Discussed in this thread: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=654370

 

[jpmillermatic]

I can attest to what Cris B is saying without reading the thread he attached. When I was doing the sills on the truck, and had them exposed, the truck never left the garage...but moisture at that level off the ground is present. all surfaces under the truck showed signs of it....(of course there were a great deal of new parts, fresh metal, and newly painted surfaces as well as parts of opened up inner and outer sills!)

Jp

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Hi Cris,JP...yea I had 2 sheets of steel in my garage...the first was zinctech which has a zinc coating and the second just plain steel. The garage is concrete with a metal roof...the second sheet didn't do very well. I'll post a pic when I'm back in the UK...out working this week so no progress on figgy!

I only use zinctech now for repairs...you do have to sand off the coating before welding just locally...that's the grey colour you see in the pics. I will still use other protection but at least the bulk of the new steel has something already.

 

[rtbcomp]

... Came back to insert the handle and the thing had flipped upwards because it's spring loaded...bit of a stupid design. ...

I suspect it's spring loaded to counterbalance the weight of the handle when you're jacking the car. Reduces the effort on the upstroke. The biggest hazard due to a handle left in a trolley jack is tripping over the damn thing, but if the spring can raise the handle as well then it's more visible and less of a hazard.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

I suspect you are spot on....the jack has a double handle...it's a bit of a beast and I struggle to carry it...usually end up rolling it around...I remove half the handle as usually half is more than enough anyway. It's one big advantage is that it had a very high arm....which came in very useful when the ram on my hydraulic ramps failed in the up position with the car in the air.

Due to the jacks weight it's not advisable to try to lift it from the handle...especially with your head just above the handle! Ask me how I figured that one out....that was also the moment I worked out that finger tight on the handle screw wouldn't prevent the handle coming out....especially if a large load was applied...for example the weight of the jack!

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Back from my travels so managed a bit more on the Figgy today. Basically just cutting out the next section of inner sill/floor and sticking in some new metal. This is with the floor and inner sill patched in....next job was to get that reinforcer back in too.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

I lined up the next section of the reinforcer with the remaining sill to make sure all is still in the right place. The original reinforcer had a hole cut in it....the edges aren't rolled so pretty sure this is just for access rather than a stiffener. I've decided to just go straight across with the repair...

...the sill flange will get cleaned up once I'm finished...no point doing it now as I might as well do it when I weld in the outer sill.