MK1 Sill Rust

[rfn]

I'm looking at a Mk1 over the weekend which looks to be in good condition overall.

There is a small amount of rust coming through on the sills (both sides) right next to the rear wheel.

Obviously I'm aware this is a weakpoint on the UK cars, but wondered how much I should generally budget for a full repair in the future?

Thanks in advance.

[MX-5 Lazza]

Personally, unless it's very cheap I wouldn't touch it. There are plenty of solid cars around.

[Quick silver]

MX-5 Lazza said:

Personally, unless it's very cheap I wouldn't touch it. There are plenty of solid cars around.

Agreed......there tends to be a whole lot more corrosion underneath.

[bluetone]

Had mine cut out, new panel sections fabricated/welded/painted for £200.

[Quick silver]

bluetone said:

Had mine cut out, new panel sections fabricated/welded/painted for £200.

WTF?......where did you get that done?

[A2Z]

I see that you are in Staffordshire. I went to Paul Sheards' place in Congleton and had mine done. Excellent job, look just out of the factory. £400 for both sides.(they were a bit worse than what I can see in your photo)

Edited by A2Z on Wednesday 19th August 20:45

[rfn]

A2Z said:

I see that you are in Staffordshire. I went to Paul Sheards' place in Congleton and had mine done. Excellent job, look just out of the factory. £400 for both sides.

I know Paul actually, he bought my Mk2.5 off me a couple of months back - seemed like a great guy. £400 doesn't seem too unreasonable, but is a lot compared to the value of the car.

[MX-5 Lazza]

Well I (PlanetMX5 Motorsports) bought a 93 1.6 for £750 which doesn't have a spot of rust. It had trim "issues" but these could easily be fixed cheaply and with no risk of them returning.

To be honest though, that doesn't look like serious rust, more like just surface rust that could possibly be treated rather than chopped & welded unless it's worse than it looks in the picture.

[bluetone]

Quick silver said:

bluetone said:

Had mine cut out, new panel sections fabricated/welded/painted for £200.

WTF?......where did you get that done?

Motorama near Swindon; a bit out of the way but a top bloke with an immaculate workshop (he had a bare-metal restoration on the go when I saw him).

Before:

(Shameful it got this bad but as a daily driver through the winter, the rot spread fast).

After:

Colour-match not 100% but it's not noticeable given where the panels are on the car. He got the anti-chip finish spot-on as well

[TwistingMyMelon]

Hi Bluetone

DO you work over by Swindon Automobiles?

I have an MX5 same (bar colour)as one I saw parked up their in the staff bit. Mine had rusted exactly as bad as yours in the pic on here, cost me £300 to have it all cut out and resprayed, did a nice enough job, it was horrendous before! Now the other side is rusting as bad as the OPS pic!!

Cheers James

[bluetone]

TwistingMyMelon said:

Hi Bluetone

DO you work over by Swindon Automobiles?

I have an MX5 same (bar colour)as one I saw parked up their in the staff bit. Mine had rusted exactly as bad as yours in the pic on here, cost me £300 to have it all cut out and resprayed, did a nice enough job, it was horrendous before! Now the other side is rusting as bad as the OPS pic!!

Cheers James

Hi James,

I work on the other side of town; Windmill Hill.

Rgds,
bt

[skinny]

OP that's nothing, light bit of surface. you could poke your fingers through mine

[bluetone]

skinny said:

OP that's nothing, light bit of surface. you could poke your fingers through mine

That's kind-of how mine got bad v. quickly: Mr MOT man had a good old poke through the paint-bubbles to check the rust hadn't affected the (structural) box-sections of the sills/confirm was just the outer panel. After he'd introduced these holes the perforations spread real quick.

[WarrenG]

If the rust is only surface, which you will only find out with a wire brush to remove all flakes, then you can remove down to bare metal, apply a rust conversion chemical and then buid up with rust preventing paints, I've just done a bit of 'prevention' on mine with black hammerite, which isn't too bad! Will track it's progress and do a better job later if it gets worse, looked worse than OP's pic though - bubbles had happened

[Quick silver]

bluetone said:

Mr MOT man had a good old poke through the paint-bubbles to check the rust hadn't affected the (structural) box-sections of the sills/confirm was just the outer panel. After he'd introduced these holes the perforations spread real quick.

MOT Stations - Dentists.....they're all the same

[lord summerisle]

rfn said:

A2Z said:

I see that you are in Staffordshire. I went to Paul Sheards' place in Congleton and had mine done. Excellent job, look just out of the factory. £400 for both sides.

I know Paul actually, he bought my Mk2.5 off me a couple of months back - seemed like a great guy. £400 doesn't seem too unreasonable, but is a lot compared to the value of the car.

i went direct to the bloke that does the work for Paul, (unbeknownst to me, i got Andy's number via the MX5 owners club) He is very very good, and has done loads of them over the last 5 years.

I cant give an exact cost of repairing my sills as i had some extra work done at the same time, plus i was also having the rear wing repaired under the insurance after a motorway shunt - but £400-500 was about right for my contribution (which included new brake calipers and lines)

[2skiddy]

I have a mk1 track day car with similar rust issues for sale in the classifieds. Someone asked how much it would cost so you have answered the question. I think I`ll reduce the asking price as I want to make space in the garage.
Cheers.