Welding ahead....

[Jim Haseltine]

This afternoon when I took the car off the stands I'd been using whilst hunting the source of knock from the front brakes, I noticed something I thought didn't look quite right so investigated instead of washing off the mess that was made by a biblical downpour overnight.
On the right side of the car the wing and front cap of the side trim are pretty near flush, like this:

but on the left side they aren't

putting my head under the car I found the left jacking point like this

whilst the right looks as I'd expect


At first sight it looks to me like the left front jacking point (or sill) has started to collapse.

[Jim Haseltine]

Oh marvellous. With the jack pad and side skirt removed, what should be one of the pad locating holes is a lot larger than it should be


There are also 4 broken spot welds and a couple of cracks in what remains of the metal.


Last but not least, it appears that the jack reinforcement bracket has been pushed upwards and has pressed a dome into the top surface of the sill.

[IanH755]

Ouch! I suppose with the advancing age of these cars, things like this are going to become far more reported by owners.

[Jim Haseltine]

I pulled the right hand jack pad out too yesterday and thought I'd hit on the cause - the top side of the pad was full of dry mud. The metal on the driver's side wasn't in such a state though.
Today I cut out the rotted part of the left sill and a about a pound of soil and other debris dropped out. Using some bolts and a spreader plate I've managed to draw down the jacking point strengthening bracket to pretty near the correct position as far as I can tell by eye and a straight edge. Also spent most of this afternoon fabricating patches for the piece I cut out.

[Jim Haseltine]

Now the car is on stands with the oil pump off and I'm waiting for parts I thought I'd make a start on the driver's sill. Removed the side skirt to discover that unlike the solid back end of the passenger side sill, there's nothing much from the back of the rear jacking pad to the wheel arch. Luckily, where it's gone it's pretty much a flat panel so shouldn't be a major task to fix.
I'd recommend that when you have some time to spare (like about a day) you take off the underbody panels and take a look around. I think I've got 5 litres of WaxOil somewhere in the garage - if not I'll invest in something like Lanoguard.

[ATinOf]

Very interesting Jim, I have one of my bottom door trims not quite sitting right, annoys me every time I wash the gal, but unlike yours mine is on the door side; of course now you have me thinking but as far as I know the doors themselves are aluminium. Be Interested to see your fixed photo