Second half of May 2020
To get more done during single paint session I started prepping my side sills so I could prime the insides.
These are some repro side sills made by Klokkerholm. It’s a pity to use repro sills on the car but the right side OEM sill is NLA. Furthermore, OEM sills don’t run full length and you’d have to buy the front and rear column as well. So these will have to do.
I could’ve just drilled some drain holes which could probably even work better as they wouldn’t get clogged as easily but I wanted to replicate the OEM look. So I made these drain holes into the sills. I just have to remember to clean them every once in a while in the future.
Front section of the sills had a few spots where metal was folded on itself.
To avoid moisture getting trapped in there I made small cuts and welded them up.
Then started to remove the primer on the inside. By sanding it down.
After I had wasted about one and a half hours on sanding a friend came by and asked why didn’t I just use some solvent. It took like ten to twenty minutes to get them clean using solvent. Tip: use a scouring pad dipped in solvent (instead of towel) to remove primer and prep the metal in one go.
So, (don’t quote me on the following) what I learned was that OEM parts come with some really nice quality e-coating on top of them. You do not want to remove it as it’s probably superior to anything you can put on the panel yourself, just roughen it up a little for better adhesion of the next layers. On the other hand, most repro panels come with some really crappy primer on them and you do not want it under your paint. Simple test is to use some solvent and wipe the panel with it. If some of the primer ends up on your towel then it’s not the e-coat.
I had also removed the lifting supports from the old sills. They got sandblasted and then later spot welded to the new sills at my friends workshop (no pictures).
Outer jack points were too far gone so I cut new ones out of some random brackets I got from a hardware store.
I was going to use Standox nonstop 2K primer (U7580). As this is not meant to be used on bare metal I put down a thin layer of my weld through primer. By the way, this red weld through primer (also by Standox) you see me using everywhere is awesome stuff. It’s sticks really well to the metal for a 1K primer. And what’s best, it’s available in spray cans which makes it perfect for someone like me who needs to cover a small detail every once in a while.
And then one of my friends who once was an automotive painter put some of that 2K primer on the panels and on the rear section of the car. He was going to show me some tips on using the paint gun but ended up doing everything himself.
I intended to use 3M 2K panel adhesive to glue the rear valance in the corners instead of plug welding it. This would fill the gap between panels completely so no moisture gets entrapped. So I had to wait until my friend could borrow the glue gun from work.
Then I discovered this crack in my new floor panel.
So welded it shut
Put back one of the fuel tank brackets
And the front seat beam on the passenger side
Began to cut off the driver side sill so I could do the floors on this side while I still remembered how everything went together. This side had even more rust.
Made this to fix up the front section of inner sill.
A rusty spot on front column got fixed
And welded in the inner sill repair
Some sandwich rust here
And some more
And just like that I ended up here
Best course of action would be to sandblast it. So I ordered myself a 75L (20 gal) sandblaster. Those have become quite affordable and it will get its fair share of use during this and any future projects.