New 944 owner signing in.

[Guest]

I had a good look at the drivers sill tonight, don't think its as bad as I thought. The inner sill is fine, I had a look under the carpets and its all solid. the underside where the inner and outer sills meet is still solid and drain holes intact. The bottom of the outer sill seems a little weak in one or two areas but I don't think its an mot failure.

I need a foolproof method of killing the rust on the inner sills. Do I fill the sills with motor oil to soak the area and then treat with a wax protector (as suggested above)? Also, is there a product that will turn the rust into a solid?

 

[zcacogp]

Flipatron (you must have a better name!)

OK, good.

As far as treatment and prevention goes, I used Waxoyl (thineed slightly with motor oil to make it get into gaps better) in the sills of my S2, and others have used Dinitrol.

Having said that, if I was going to do it again (and the advice seems to be to do it every 18 months or so), I'd be using Bilt Hamber's Dynax S50 (here: http://www.bilthamber.com/dynaxs50.html ). I have used BH stuff before, and really really rate it, and tests on the S50 suggest that it is several orders of magnitude better than Waxoyl or Dinitrol.

The gloomy challenge to your post is that while the cills may not be weak enough to fail an MOT, they are an integral part of the structure of the car, and if they are weak it will affect both the handling of the car and the protection it will afford you in the event of a crash. (I had an old Ford Fiesta once which looked fine, passed an MOT with an advisory on the cills, and whose handling was transformed when I finally had them welded up. I would have hated to crash in that car pre-welding, knowing what I know now.)


Oli.

 

[Guest]

I fear you may be right. I've located a restoration specialist just down the road from me so I'll be getting a quote for the work.

I think the car is worth the effort as its in VGC (apart from the sills) and the low initial purchase price leaves me with some money to work with.

I've a figure of £2000 total in my head so that leaves me £1400 for bodywork and mechanicals.

The to do list so far is as follows: -

Passenger rear sill
Drivers lower outer sill
Front spoiler small repair
New tyres
Small oil leak (its been stood for 2 years)
Service
Cut and polish bodywork

There are some small jobs to do which include a slow passengers window, noisey drivers wing mirror and a small wear in the drivers seat.

Can't quite believe how good the car is after 21 years. Talk about german build quality!

 

[zcacogp]

OK. Is the specialist familiar with 944's? Others on here will be able to tell you if there are any peculiarities about the way the bodywork works ....

Of that list, nothing looks too scary. People on here seem to replace whole sills, rather than patching them but if the area of rust is small then a patch may be possible (I'd have thought - although I am no expert.)

Spoiler - what's up with it? A replacement part may be an easy find. Front end parts for lux's are much cheaper and easier to come by than the same part for a turbo/S2 (which have different shaped bumpers and front wings.)

Tyres - mytyres.co.uk is your friend. Or camskill. Or event mobile tyres.

Oil leak - where? If it is small, you may be better off leaving it and seeing if it closes with time ...

Service and bodywork are certainly DIY jobs. Electric windows on 944's are always painfully slow (particularly compared with modern cars), wing mirror motors are noisy most of the time and drivers' seats wear ....

21 years old and well built - you are surprised? Any idea how much your car would have cost the first owner when he drove it off the forecourt?


Oli.