Spitfire 1500 Rust Advice

[Hicks]

Hi all,

 

Work finally continues after the monstrosity that was winter.. 

 

I got stuck towards the end of last year as I came across some rather nasty looking rust in the side skirts of the inside of the car (forgive me for not knowing the correct name for the area).

 

I am assuming that over the years water has got into the body cavity via where the roof frame attaches to the inside - water has then run down inside the body cavity, and this has resulted in rust at the bottom of this area, behind the strengthening plates welded to the insides.

 

I of course didn't discover this until I took all the carpeting etc out to check if any work needing doing on the floor pan - which has allowed it to get a lot worse than would happen elsewhere, when I can see it and immediately deal with it.

 

Has anyone seen this before? How did you deal with it? It's obviously in a tricky place to get to..

 

Photos attached..

 

Any help and/or advice hugely appreciated.

 

I hope everyone is getting out and enjoying the spring sun!

 

James

[wimpus]

Only thing to do is remove the outer panel lower part and have a look.

For the outer and inner part (thats rotten on yours) they sell repair panels.

 

Ive done it on mine over the new year holiday.

[Colin Lindsay]

5 hours ago, Hicks said:

 

Has anyone seen this before? How did you deal with it? It's obviously in a tricky place to get to..

As you say not easy to get to; poke the outer sill in that area and see how bad that is. The inner part looks fine so if a screwdriver or hammer doesn't go right through the metal when you test it, kill the existing rust with Jenolite and either pour primer down into it, (which will come out over the sills so mask off round the drain holes) or else just pour Dynatrol / Waxoyl in to stop it getting any worse. If it's not so bad to be an MOT failure it'll soldier on for years.

[Hicks]

1 hour ago, Colin Lindsay said:

As you say not easy to get to; poke the outer sill in that area and see how bad that is. The inner part looks fine so if a screwdriver or hammer doesn't go right through the metal when you test it, kill the existing rust with Jenolite and either pour primer down into it, (which will come out over the sills so mask off round the drain holes) or else just pour Dynatrol / Waxoyl in to stop it getting any worse. If it's not so bad to be an MOT failure it'll soldier on for years.

Hi Colin - Thanks for your reply :).

It passed an MOT just before I got it back to start working on it (thinking I only had a bit of rust management to do and I'd have it back on the road.. win some, lose some..) - When you say the inner section looks ok, do you mean the extra sort of 'girder' that's welded to the body? The rust wouldn't have been seen during an MOT test though - it was behind all the inner trim etc..?

 

If I poke something through the holes to where the rust is it does crumble away quite easily, but the actual outside of the car seems fairly solid? There is a seam/ joint between the outer sill and the back arch which looks like its previously had some filler in and has re-cracked - needs a clean up and re seal, but the metal seems ok?

 

When you say to poke the outside, do you mean to poke through from the inside, or the actual outside of the body?

 

Thanks for your help!

 

James

 

[Hicks]

3 hours ago, wimpus said:

Only thing to do is remove the outer panel lower part and have a look.

For the outer and inner part (thats rotten on yours) they sell repair panels.

 

Ive done it on mine over the new year holiday.

Thanks for your reply! I think I understand what you mean - Is the curve I can see in the top right of your photo the curve at the back of the door frame?

 

What is that panel called?

 

Thanks!!

 

James

[Colin Lindsay]

22 minutes ago, Hicks said:

If I poke something through the holes to where the rust is it does crumble away quite easily, but the actual outside of the car seems fairly solid? There is a seam/ joint between the outer sill and the back arch which looks like its previously had some filler in and has re-cracked - needs a clean up and re seal, but the metal seems ok?

The actual body area here is in three parts; inner sill, strengthener, and outer sill. I was thinking that if rust has not gone right through to the outer sill, the panel below the door that you can see from outside, then it should be okay, but on rethinking it could be a new sill replaced over extensive rust. The more I thought about it, the more I realised it's an easy coverup for extensive rot, and the strengthener is exactly as it says, the support for the largely cosmetic sills. It could look okay from outside but be rotten in behind. Your inner sill looks fine but that rust looks to be the strengthener in between both panels; you may be able to see what it's like using a mirror and light through the holes in the inner sill but to be honest you might need to remove the outer panel, as Wimpus says, to see what it's really like in behind. 

[Hicks]

1 hour ago, Colin Lindsay said:

The actual body area here is in three parts; inner sill, strengthener, and outer sill. I was thinking that if rust has not gone right through to the outer sill, the panel below the door that you can see from outside, then it should be okay, but on rethinking it could be a new sill replaced over extensive rust. The more I thought about it, the more I realised it's an easy coverup for extensive rot, and the strengthener is exactly as it says, the support for the largely cosmetic sills. It could look okay from outside but be rotten in behind. Your inner sill looks fine but that rust looks to be the strengthener in between both panels; you may be able to see what it's like using a mirror and light through the holes in the inner sill but to be honest you might need to remove the outer panel, as Wimpus says, to see what it's really like in behind. 

Ah! Ok - Got you - Thanks for your reply again :).

 

OK I will try and get my head in and around that area tomorrow with a torch and see if I can get a better understanding of what I'm dealing with - Now I know the layout it'll make a lot more sense!

 

Thanks!

 

James