Re: [stag] Re: A-post nightmare

Hello
I am sorry to say this car is in a very bad state.
I would say the rain gutter at the side of the windscreen has been
leaking due to shrinkage of the sealant.
Water has been coming inside the hollow section and running down
inside the A post into the carpets.
The carpets must have been wet for several years.
The car is going to need substantial repairs to the inner sill, floor
pans, jacking point and A post.
I would suggest welding a brace across the door aperture before
cutting any more to retain the integrity of the structure.
I would say this is a job for someone who has worked on Stag inner
sills before.

It is rare for so much rust damage at the front end. they usually rot
out at the rear end which is an easier repair.

When I undertook a survey amongst 7 professional repairers about
repairing or replacing complete inner sills, only 50% of the
professionals out there were happy to replace complete sills. The
other 50% would prefer to repair them as they wanted to remove as
little of the good metal as possible.

The replacement inner sills on the market today are made in metric
steel and it is very slightly thinner than original Imperial steel so
skills in terms of assessment. welding and repair design are paramount.

At the risk of being branded a complete party pooper, I would say this
car needs to be very good elsewhere to be worth repairing as it is
looking very expensive from what I can see.

PeterH

So, it's that good then - just a simple repair A bit of steel plate held in with filler and mastic (that's what the last owner did!)

Thank you for you opinion, I do value it (this is my first stag, I don't get much time or money to work on it, so I want to plan the next steps carefully.) I've had it about 4 years, got the mechanicals sorted and thought the rust patches on the body were (relatively) minor.

I agree, it must have been a water leak in that area, the only good part is that the rest of the sill is sound! So we are only dealing with the area immediately in the area of the A post and to the jacking point. Whilst the outer rear of that wing is sound, I think I may well remove it to give me visibility and access into that area.

When I've done that I'll post more pictures and see where I go from there. I was hoping that I could graft on a section of new sill at the front. In the past I have replaced the rear cross members on two landrovers, that was much more welding and as I tow a 3.5T trailer (with the LR, not the stag) , it needed to be good as well!

I am a model engineer as a hobby and build 7.25" steam engines, so I have some engineering know how and have a pretty well equipped workshop. This doesn't put me off, but I don't think I've got a good enough grip on what I need to do yet!

Cheers

Peter