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[terry paget]

We progress. We have welder, friend who can weld, and spare cills, courtesy of TB. Wire brushing around holes, it don't look too bad.

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

That needs cutting out or the rust will continue to spread.

[terry paget]

I shall need some car body steel sheet to practise welding on; what is it, and where might I buy it? Nick suggeste I get the supplier to chop it into 6" squares if possible.

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

I bought some of ebay last year. If my memory serves 50cm x 50cm (2mm thickness ) was around £15.
But don't forget, cut that rusty stuff out completely before starting work on the car. 

[Nick W]

I shall need some car body steel sheet to practise welding on; what is it, and where might I buy it? Nick suggeste I get the supplier to chop it into 6" squares if possible.

You're going to want steel sheet about 0.8mm thick for your repairs. I buy it from the local panel supplier, which is expensive, but I don't want lots of it getting in the way. They also sell lengths already folded, which can save a lot of fabrication effort and time.


I suggest 6" squares of the thickness you're going to use to practice on because they're easily managed, and give you plenty of edges to weld together. Buying a dozen  or so already sheared to size saves you time and effort that's better spent with the welder.

[Nick W]

I bought some of ebay last year. If my memory serves 50cm x 50cm (2mm thickness ) was around £15.
But don't forget, cut that rusty stuff out completely before starting work on the car. 

cutting it all out before you've planned the repair and made some templates for the patches is asking for trouble

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

Ok, but you know what I'm getting at. Point being, don't leave it where it is and just weld over it. 
I'm wondering about the thickness of metal I bought now. It could have been 1mm rather than 2. Cant remember tbh. 

[ajsphead]

This

www.frost.co.uk/catalogsearch/result/?q=sheet%20steel

is where I get my sheet steel from. Terry has 6 Omegas, he's going to need it.

[aaronjb]

Frost are reliable (not that I've bought sheet materials off them - plenty of other things, though) 

I've used these folks for sheet material - https://www.themetalstore.co.uk/products/0-8mm-thick-mild-steel-sheet

[neil74]

Unfortunately I've got this to do on both of my sills and the front chassis legs and inside the nearside rear arch.  is it really worth the bother though???.

[terry paget]

Unfortunately I've got this to do on both of my sills and the front chassis legs and inside the nearside rear arch.  is it really worth the bother though???.

Omegas still represent cheap luxury motoring if you can maintain them yourself. When I bought my first Omega it was 4 years old and maintenance was easy, just servicing and minor repairs. Ten years later, rust and body repairs dominate. Repairs are possible, but unless I can do them myself, and enjoy doing them, the cars will have to go.

[terry paget]

My thanks to all for most helpful advice. Measuring the thickness of the metal in the cills I have borrowed from TB, 0.8mm, I ordered some 0.8mm mild steel sheet from The Metal Store on Sunday, cut to 6" squares, only to be advised today that the money did not transfer so I must ring in the morning.

[Nick W]

My thanks to all for most helpful advice. Measuring the thickness of the metal in the cills I have borrowed from TB, 0.8mm, I ordered some 0.8mm mild steel sheet from The Metal Store on Sunday, cut to 6" squares, only to be advised today that the money did not transfer so I must ring in the morning.

Terry, the squares are for practice NOT repairs


Doing a decent job of inner sills will probably need long, but narrow repair panels. It's always better to do large panels rather than the patchwork quilt approach. Which is why I would rather replace an entire sill than cut repairs out of one.

[terry paget]

My thanks to all for most helpful advice. Measuring the thickness of the metal in the cills I have borrowed from TB, 0.8mm, I ordered some 0.8mm mild steel sheet from The Metal Store on Sunday, cut to 6" squares, only to be advised today that the money did not transfer so I must ring in the morning.

My MOT garage just patched the rear end of the cill. To be fair, the rest of the cill was not bad. Did they patch over the old cill, or cut out and replace, I wonder?



Terry, the squares are for practice NOT repairs


Doing a decent job of inner sills will probably need long, but narrow repair panels. It's always better to do large panels rather than the patchwork quilt approach. Which is why I would rather replace an entire sill than cut repairs out of one.

[omega2018]

shame you couldn't have a pic before the weld grinding and the paint. looks like the weld was nice and fat though if a bit wobbly.

If you just want a car to see you out it will be fine even if they didn't remove all the old plate, in fact probably stronger that way.  If you want the car to be around as a classic car you should liberally spray some rust treatment inside especially around the old plate. But then you'll need to do the other side and lots of other places.