Box section sills!

bud413 · Gate Opener Joined: 25 May 2010 Odometer: 6

Hi all,

im new to the forum. I have just bought a Samurai 413 for what seems a bargain price of £200, i think its a bargain as everything seems to work!!

The sills have some rust on them and i was looking into replacing them with box section. Is this easy enough to do? Am i right in thinking the size i would need is 80x80mm and about 3 or 4mm thick?

Also the inner arch on the drivers side has been patched badly in the past, can you buy replacement inner arches? Its not essential but wouldnt mind getting it sorted.

Thanks, Bud.

loosebruce704 · Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 9:37 pm Post subject:

hello and welcome

ive got box section sills on my vitara which are 80x80x4 and they are fine nice and sturdy and dont have to worry about them

there are several guides on here of people doing it

bud413 · Gate Opener Joined: 25 May 2010 Odometer: 6

Thanks for the reply. It does seem a good idea as i guess you'd only need to do it once in the life of the vehicle. Did you do yours yourself?

Bud.

mudmenace · Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 9:46 pm Post subject:

hi and welcome to difflock yer box section sill are fairly easy just depends on your welding skill heres some imfo for it out of the stickys section http://forum.difflock.com/viewtopic.php?t=17848

bud413 · Gate Opener Joined: 25 May 2010 Odometer: 6

Thanks for that, looks helpful. My welding isn't really up to much but have a couple of friends that are welders. As long as its easy enough to cut the old sills out i'll do that and get one of my friends to weld the new ones in. Had a guy look at them today and he reckoned it would take a couple of days? It doesn't look that involved to me?

muddymesser · Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 10:03 pm Post subject:

your in for a shock Laughing

bud413 · Gate Opener Joined: 25 May 2010 Odometer: 6

Is it harder than it looks then?

muddymesser · Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 10:18 pm Post subject:

well you need to chop the old sills off straight on the outsides then chop the insides off

then clean the body work up perfect around all the area to be welded

then weld em on then do end caps and then paint

straight forward/shouldnt be too hard but it takes time Wink

scut44 · Guest

Welcome to the forum.
No the sills arnt that hard, if thats all thats required.
Thats only likely if the rest of the rust has been dealt with before.

Once you start pocking around you might as well find the extent of the rust & do everything all at once.
When you start removing plastic you will quickly find out how the arches and wings are.

Pay special attention to seat belt points & body mounts.
You will get enough help here with pics of the work required etc.

Hopefully someone has passed onto you for £200 a zook that only needs sills.
good luck.
george

loosebruce704 · Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 10:24 pm Post subject:

i didnt do mine myself got my local garage to do them took him basically a whole day to do admittedly he never done anything like it before has done another set since after my mate saw mine lol.
where abouts are you located?

bud413 · Gate Opener Joined: 25 May 2010 Odometer: 6

Thanks for all the replies. I have a friend who is pretty experienced when it comes to welding cars so think i'll give him a call and see if he can help. I'm hoping there aren't any nasty surprises, generally it looks pretty good. The sills only have one hole in each side about the size if a 10p piece, just thought id box them as it seems more of a long term fix? I dont want to be patching them again in a couple of years. I'm located in Kent, not too far from Maidstone.

Thanks, Bud.

mudmenace · Posted: Wed May 26, 2010 10:23 am Post subject:

are quite local then i go up maidstone greenlaning quite alot a few of my mates live there all got zukis ill send you a message next time im up that way laning

Philpy · Posted: Wed May 26, 2010 5:18 pm Post subject:

If you can weld its a piece of **** I used 90x90mm box, so have a 10mm step, but I quite like it like that!

davegillingham · Posted: Wed May 26, 2010 5:40 pm Post subject:

Rip all the carpet up...if it has any, other nasty that i found where :

All arches- search 'virtual lift' on here, thats wat i did, worked a treat for arch tin worm
sills (as youve said)
Back like floor pan, in corners, along back door
bottom of doors,
the like dip just behind front seats, where it goes up to the back floor pan.
Foot Wells

I know people will add to this list
Very Happy

If being £200 is too good to be true, no offence but it probably is Sad

Dave

bud413 · Gate Opener Joined: 25 May 2010 Odometer: 6

To be honest ive had the carpet up and there appears to be very little in the way of rust. the only bits i can see are the sills and the drivers front arch. all the other arches look brand new, ive pulled all the plastic trim off and there is barely a spec of rust on 3 out of 4 of the arches. It looks to have been waxoiled regularly. I wonder if someone had started to sort the rust out and given up cos it looks to be mostly done, which is nice. It could possibly do with a new rear bumper as thats starting to rust but generally it seems ok.