How much for a pair of sills?

How much for a pair of sills?

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Discussion

heebeegeetee

Original Poster:

28,960 posts

255 months

Monday 22nd August 2011
quotequote all
Morning all,

A friend has an '87 Mini that one way or another has had a lot of money spent on it over the years, and on the whole looks very smart. However the outer sills are now showing signs of rust again and he has been told that whoever replaced them last time did not use heritage panels and he should have them changed asap to prevent the rust spreading further.

What is the likely cost to do so? We can see that some rust has just begun to creep into the footwells, and possibly just above the seam line of the sills, but the car has had pretty well all panels replaced previously and so we are hoping that the rust has not gone too far beyond the outer sill panels themselves.

How many man hours are likely to go into removing the panels, cleaning up and addressing a small amount of other rust, and then re-tacking a new set of panels on (before flooding with waxoyl of course)?

Grateful for any help guys, thanks.

Cooperman

4,428 posts

257 months

Monday 22nd August 2011
quotequote all
Just fitting a new pair of outer sill is not a long job. In fact the painting and finishing can take almost as long. Maybe 2 hours per side.
However, in almost evey Mini I've ever worked on, if the outers have gone there will be additional remedial rust-curing needed on adjacent panels and that's where the costs can escalate. You won't know until you cut and grind the outers off I'm afraid.
Oh, the joys of Mini owning!

heebeegeetee

Original Poster:

28,960 posts

255 months

Monday 22nd August 2011
quotequote all
Hi, thanks for that.

Two hours per side though, cutting off and stitching on?

Cooperman

4,428 posts

257 months

Monday 22nd August 2011
quotequote all
That's assuming the person doing it hs a proper spot-welder. If you have to use a MIG-welder it takes a bit longer as you have to drill loads and loads of holes, then MIG each one separately, then angle-grind all those welds back.

cpas

1,661 posts

247 months

Saturday 27th August 2011
quotequote all
http://www.bmh-ltd.com/miniparts.htm#

and

http://www.bmh-ltd.com/p63u.asp

£29.51 per side for parts.

As with any classic car, it's worth buying a £150 MIG welder and doing this yourself then you can attend to any other issues you find, and will have a secure knowledge of exactly the condition of everything underneath the car.

heebeegeetee

Original Poster:

28,960 posts

255 months

Saturday 27th August 2011
quotequote all
cpas said:
http://www.bmh-ltd.com/miniparts.htm#

and

http://www.bmh-ltd.com/p63u.asp

£29.51 per side for parts.

As with any classic car, it's worth buying a £150 MIG welder and doing this yourself then you can attend to any other issues you find, and will have a secure knowledge of exactly the condition of everything underneath the car.
Thanks for that. My pal has got his local garage doing the job as we speak. There is more repairs needing doing under the sill on the offside, which appears to be taking some time. I guess this is where the main cost is incurred, and i was just trying to see if I could get an idea of what the average Mini sill job costs. smile