(T) Removing rust and repairing door sill

Hi guys - I am currently repairing the door sill on the driver side of my mk1 uno, as it had a build up of rust and I decided that I ought to do something about it. Anyway, I took the rubber off from around the door, and have now sanded off the rust,removing all the loose bits. As a result I now have a hole in the sill - which is not a problem as I have rust treated the remaining bits of rust and will be filling the hole tomorrow. Job done!
Anyways, I noticed that when I looked inside the hole, I can see a kind of gunky brown stuff - I managed to confirm this when I put my finger through the big hole (the cut one that is!) that is behind the carpet on the inside of the door.
I was just wondering what this gunky stuff is - should it even be in there? I'm just a little concerned, cos at first I thought it was due to water making its way inside - which of course would lead to more rust and hence be quite disastrous!
So does anyone know what this gunk is, whether it should be there, and if it is ok to leave it in there? Am I right in thinking that it might just be like the underbody seal and so it is all ok?

Thanks for the help - I hope this post makes sense! Anyway, tomorrow I shall be able to fill the rust hole and hopefully all will be well within a few days!

Cheers,

Marko

Any Pictures?

Might be grease

If its not rusty colour its not old rust.

If it's a thin layer of waxy brown stuff, then it'll be the waxoil-type coating that the insides of the box sections are covered with. My old Uno had the same stuff in the sills, as does my Punto. (One day I'll achieve my dream of actually buying a Fiat with rot-free sills...)
It's for protection against rust, and when you weld the sills up it tends to catch fire so before you start welding make sure you've got an extinguisher or a hosepipe to hand!

Ah ha - sounds like this might be the case! Can anyone else confirm this? If it is, then I have nothing to worry about - which is nice, since this was pretty much the only rust on my little Uno - even the wheel arches are pukka!

Marko

Right here we go peeps - an update on my progress!

I have managed to get rid of all my rust, and repair and fill the hole. It hasn't been sprayed yet (that's for tomorrow) but it certainly looks a lot better already.

Anyway, I decided to take pics as I went along, and so you can see the work I've done so far by looking at my Guide to Rust on my website:

http://www.foylesystems.com/index.php?view=Rustremoval

Take a look peeps, and let me know what you think!

Cheers,

Marko

It's a great guide - thanks.

I think I might need to make some effort and treat the bits of rust on my car.

Thank you - glad you found it useful!
Weather depending, I shall finish the job tomorrow and spray it - so more pictures will follow!

Great web site, too.

Guys - just to let you know that the job is all finished, and the pics on my site have been updated - so if you want to see the final results, see the pics at:

http://www.foylesystems.com/index.php?view=Rustremoval

I hope you agree that it certainly looks an awful lot better now!!!

Brings back many happy memories doing the same on my mk1 uno, only it was the door bottoms and not the sills on mine. I can remember how horrifying it was when i had cut all the rust out and there was a huge hole in the side of the car! Filling it in and painting is fun though!

Marko,

That's a nice job you did on your Uno's sill! However, it is worth pointing out that technically, repairing the sill with filler is an MOT failure in the UK. The reason being is that the sill is a 'structural member', meaning that it is integral for the strength of the body shell. To repair it to the correct strength a metal plate would have to be welded in, and THEN you could use filler to smooth the surface.

If you had taken your car for an MOT with the hole showing it would have failed, but seeing as it is a small hole and you did such a good job then I wouldn't worry too much.

Just bear in mind that if the MOT tester gets his magnet out to check for filler then your car might fail!

Chas

Hi All,

During my Uno’s T-Cut I spotted fresh rust in the same place – under the weather shield’s join.




Someone has had a go at the rust a couple of items before, but didn’t bother removing necessary trim before hand. Loads of over spray and they missed the worst bits.

I also found plenty or rusty paintwork under the sill falling off.


Do I Pay someone to weld a plate in or do I look at buying a welder

Hmm is it worth fixing the sill or should I blast it with fibreglass, under seal / red Hamerite and wait for one to come up on e-bay: confused:

Regards All

Get yourself a welder! The MIG is possibly the most useful thing I've ever bought (well, ok, got for xmas ), especially owning a Fiat and an old Ford. Not that hard to pick up the knack either. SiP ones come with a dead handy book all about how to do it.

That waxoil stuff in the sills is a right t*at for setting on fire when you're welding the sills though...

I fully agree, a lot of the strength in a car shell is through the sills, and you covering up the hole will just hide the lack of strength.

If it was me i would remove the filler and get it welded up, in the event of an accident the car will fold around the weakest point ie that hole on the sill and by the looks of it thats on the drivers side of the car. So the car will fold up around you