RR classic outer sills

[Lenny]

Hello all,

91' Range Rover Classic - outer sills corroded.

Is there anyone here who has had this repair done and can give me an estimate of labour costs? I'm aware the repair pieces are £25 each.

Also is this a definate MOT failure?

Thanks.

[Lenny]

OK.

How about the number of hours to complete the job?

Thanks.

[SteveRK]

If the corrosion is within a specified distance (cant remember exactly but 300mm sounds familiar) of a 'load bearing member' such as a body mount then its technically an MOT fail.

as for the cost its all about degrees of corrosion and where - rot at the base of the B pillar is time consuming unless a repair panel is available, holes along the base or sides should not present too much of a problem - most garages will wan't serious money to do a proper job as they know from experience that once they start ripping into a Range Rover they will likely find more areas requiring attention. Its often better to find a friend of a friend who's handy with a mig welder.

[Lenny]

Thanks for your reply.

Offside b pillar base has gone completely(can get my fingers up into cavity) but strangely the opoosite b pillar is mint - which is perculiar. Sills have gone quite badly with large holes along the base merging into the sides. Probably started life where pop-rivet holes were drilled.

I wonder whether I could get a b pillar base made-up?

Also there is rust at the A pillars though I have taken carpets, trims out and found nothing else rotting on the floor side of things.

[Giles tout terrain]

between £250 and £350 a side

[ThreeSheds]

I hate to be a damper, but in my opinion it's not the outer-sills that are likely to be the problem since they are relatively easy to replace - it's that they are usually an indicator of rot elsewhere.

Before you decide whether it is worth doing the job you should have a REAL GOOD poke around:

• The floor - check everything within 8" of a lower corner - footwells, boot area, everything.
  
• The bottoms of the pillars and the rear seat-belt mountings.
  
• The front inner wings - check all around the whole inner wing, particularly around the headlight-boxes and where it joins the footwell.
  
• The rear cross-member.
  
• The fuel tank mountings.
  
• The body mountings - check all 10 of them. Some of them are a real bitch to replace/rebuild.
  

I really hope that it's brilliant elsewhere and that all you need it the outer-sills, in which case I would have guessed about £300 per side (I was quoted £450 per side for whole sill replacement a couple of years ago).

Fingers crossed! (OW! That's gonna hurt come winter )

[SteveRK]

As Three Sheds Says - Range Rovers tend to follow a patern - that being if the sills are rotten then check the rear floor areas where they join along the sides, rear corssmembers (there are 3) and front inner wings around the bulkhead body mounts area especially.

[bobtail4x4]

as said its mainly time, not skill you are paying for,

I know there is a bit of skill in welding, but with a bit of practice its not too hard,

I did the cills on my Range Rover the other year, it took me a full weekend, I guess with breaks etc about 10 hours total, so if the garage charge £30+ per hour??

for that sort of money you could buy a Mig or Im sure someone on here will offer to do the work, if you gave a location?

[Lenny]

Thanks for your replies guys.

The job would have to be done with the proper repair panels as opposed to patches as i'm looking to keep the vehicle long term, i'm also very conservative of retaining its original 91' appearance. I do know of a garage owner who could do this but would stray if the project cost rocketed past speculations posted on here. I'm based in south leicestershire.

Your concerns for the remaining areas of the body are valid - I have spent some time beneath since ownership testing and the only other areas are the rear member, small hole about exhaust which i cleaned and plugged with waxoyl in 2007. Also front wheel arches starting to go.

Can anyone elaborate on the bulkhead - where should I be looking again?

[bobtail4x4]

Look in the footwells and up the top of the side panels.

[Lenny]

A photo of the area.

The A pillar has also gone behind.

[Highway_Star]

I did both sides of mine over the last couple of years, inner and outer sills. Have done some work on a few others for mates too.

It's never just the sills!

A, B and C pillars go. Easy enough to repair, just time. Body mounts to the inner sills can be a complete pain in the rear as of course the bolts are rusted solid. One side I persuaded them out by a combination of drilling, heat and big hammer. One on the drivers side was not having any of it, I wound up cutting off the mount and turning a new boss which I welded onto the outrigger.

Floor in the front footwells, as well as the footwell itself, while you're in there you might as well sort out the inevitable front wheelarch.

Then there's the back end, the rear inner wheelarch is a standard tin worm trap, and it's particularly important as one end of the seat belt mounts to it. The outer wheelarch also loves to dissolve. Been there done that.

Then we have the boot floor and it's supports, rear body crossmember, fuel tank mounts.

[Lenny]

Here are some images of the inner sills which i have checked and look fine but wonder if there may be any expert eyes out there. Rear arch is sound.

[Dengie Boy]

Pics so far dont look too bad, mine was far worse but I have a welder

As you stated you wish too keep this rangie then you either pay someone a fair bit to weld her up, or buy a welder and learn to weld for less than half the price.

Can anyone elaborate on the bulkhead - where should I be looking again?

Look on the bulkhead either side by the exhaust manifolds and you will see two body mounts

pic below is of near side bulkhead to chassis

[Lenny]

Thanks,

Are there any mobile welders on here that would be prepared to do this work?

Based south of Leicester, not far off junction 21.