Rust, glorious rust! Advice needed.

[Justin85]

Right then,

When I bought my '89 944S2 I knew that there was a small rust bubble on the offside sill where the plastic trim joins to the sill itself.

This hasn't really bothered me as the car was by far the best mechanically of those I was looking at and was quite cheap, (although I'm beginning to learn that there's no such thing as a cheap Porsche).

However, the bubble has now burst and I'm left with a nasty hole;

Sorry for the poor picture.

The rest of the sill is okay, if not fantatsic, and the rust is fairly limited to around the hole you see and where the sill joins the plastic extension.

I can't afford to spend loads on bodywork at the moment, so what options for repair do I have?
I assume a proper job would be new sills (at big cost?) but could a good bodyshop carry out an effective local repair?

I can't drive around in car with holes in the bodywork that aren't supposed to be there!

Thanks,

Justin.

 

[944cabby]

It could be cut out - mine was - both sides at around 500quid but well worth it.
If it's left then it could knacker your sills and be more expensive
There was a recent thread about rust on sills a week or so back.

 

[Justin85]

I'll take it to my local bodyshop who are pretty good guys and friends of the family so used to sort out all my minor indescretions when I was a young tearaway.

If they did cut out the rust how would they repair it? Can they weld small patches of steel in and fill over the top?

Justin.

 

[sawood12]

They would (should) remove the affected metal and make up a metal patch to fit inside the hole which is then welded. It is then polished out and prep'ed for paint. The trick is to firstly remove all of the affected metal as if it isn't all removed corrosion will continue to spread under the paint. The latest generation of acid etch primers and undercoats are very good these days and as long as all the effected corroded metal is removed the repair should last.

 

[John Maddox]

This happened to my Turbo in exactly the same place. As the other guys say you must get them to cut out as much rust as possible before repair.Then consider doing something similar to what I did :-

You will, for sure, have rust generally in the sills and this must be slowed down by spraying in one of the rust inhibitors such as Dinitrol 3165 (I think from memory). Access can be obtained by carefully removing the air vent in the door shut which gives access backwards and by lifting the carpet to the sill in the front footwell and removing the plastic bungs to gain access. These must be replaced again after to stop leaks.The sill is a double box section so it is difficult to spray effectively.

I made up an applicator using a piece of flexible hose blocked at one end with holes made in it down it's length and pumped inhibitor in so it sprayed throughout sills.

You might as well use the similar air vent in the doors to check inside and spray as necessary. Also it is worth checking out the bottoms of the front wings as although plastic liners are used the muck gets in behind and eats out the Zinc coating. Get a hose in and spray out the mud and thoroughly check for rot. Then spray the area with inhibitor if reasonable.

This may seem extreme but once rust bubbles through you need to take action fast. You can do all this on a Sunday for less than £50 and it will slow the tinworm down so you can enjoy your car for a longish time before extensive repairs necessary.

Sorry for the long post.

 

[Alpine]

ORIGINAL: John Maddox

...............Access can be obtained by carefully removing the air vent in the door shut which gives access backwards and by .................

John

I have tried removing these plastic air vents in the past to look behind, but I couldn't manage to do it. Could you tell me how I remove them ?

 

[sawood12]

Mine came out really easy. At the top there is a type of lever moulded into the part which you push down and pivot the vent out. From what I could see through the hole looked nice and clean and dry and I sprayed with waxoil. I was going to invest in a waxoil hand pump which has a hose with a spray nozzle at the end that distributes the waxoil in a wide fanning spray that I was going to feed down the length of the sill and spray as I retract the hose to ensure the whole of the inside of the sill has a good coating of waxoil.

 

[Keggers]

There is a little plastic tab at the top that pokes up behind the metal and grips it on to the frame. You can reach it with your finger and pull it down and then the whole thing just pulls off.

Hope that makes sense!

 

[Guest]

My offside rear wheel arch has been previously repaired in exactly the same place, but it looks like with filler as it is starting to bubble up again under the clear stoneguard stuff.
I know it will need a proper metal repair.
The sills themselves seem very sound.

BUT.. when poking around the inner wheel arch where there is a rubber grommet my finger went straight through and made a nice hole - see photo.
Anyone else come across this? I am hoping this can be repaired or am I being optimistic?

Also inside this hole I found two wires, one yellow and one brown, with female spade connectors, just dangling about. Anyone know what they are and should they be connected to anything?
All advice gratefully received!

Thanks
Steve

 

[sawood12]

I know that there is a drain hole to allow water in the sills to escape that exits around that area but that hole looks much bigger. You could try removing the door vents, peering down the hole and shine a torch up the hole and look for light. It could be that there is a big hole with a rubber bung with a smaller hole that makes up the drain.

 

[John Maddox]

Agree with the other guys about vent removal - just be careful not to break the locating tabs when removing.

Incidently, because the vents have a tendency to rattle some people have superglued them in !! Hope yours isn't one of them.

 

[Fen]

There are a series of small oval holes all the way along the sill bottom. The problem is that they are behind the plastic trim (on the Turbo/S2 anyway, does the Lux have that trim?) and it is therefore easy for crud to gather and block them. As well as letting liquid water run out I imagine they help with airflow to keep the air in there from going damp and stangnant. When they are blocked by wet (salty?) muck then it's very bad for the metalwork, and it is likely they get left like that for years.

 

[dlknight]

Hi Justin,

Unfortunately, I would suggest getting this done properly otherwise you may find that your car will fail its next MOT if the rot is bad in the sill area.

Here is an old thread with details of a similar problem I faced with my car :

http://www.porscheclubgbforum.com/tm.asp?m=143432&mpage=2&key=sill%2Crepair&#143875

Rust hasn't come back since I had this done, although I've added a few stone chips to the pictures shown

Cheers

Dave K.

 

[Alpine]

ORIGINAL: John Maddox

You will, for sure, have rust generally in the sills and this must be slowed down by spraying in one of the rust inhibitors such as Dinitrol 3165 (I think from memory).
............................
You can do all this on a Sunday for less than £50 and it will slow the tinworm down so you can enjoy your car for a longish time before extensive repairs necessary.

John

Once the weather improves I shall be doing this to my car - is Dinitrol the best product to use? Is it better than the Waxoil (Hammerite) products you can get from Halfords?

 

[John Maddox]

Phil

I've used Waxoil quite a bit but a few years ago Dinatrol 3125 (correct number - looked at tin!!) won an in depth test by Practical Classics Mag. and I think it holds back existing rust really well. Larger Halfords stock it and you can buy large tins from Frost at :-

http://www.frost.co.uk/productList.asp?catID=63

Well worth a look

Regards

John