quality of repro repair panels - your experience/opinion

[bilbo]

right then folks, i have come across 2 places in the uk selling outer sill repair panels. one is half the price of the other. both are advertised as 'quality repros'. are some twice as good as the others in terms of fit, quality of steel, etc?

who would you recommend i purchase these parts from and why?

cheers, billy

[Editor]

They are sometimes different lengths as some also cover the area behind the rear wing which also rots out. That saves a bit of work making a repair panel for that area too.

Sometimes one make actually fits!

At other times it's just a matter of who has more 'nerve' in charging over the odds. Give us the names and we may be able to give an opinion.

[bilbo]

thanks dave, this is no way intended as a 'who's better/worse' question, rather what's better/worse. my understanding is that both repair panels are 'full length' - a to b pillar - but neither run right back to the end of the inner rear wing. if you know somewhere that sells such a panel, please let me know as the n/s side inner sill and wing of my car is totally shot, and having something to weld to would be good and save some of the hassle.

i'll be posting up some more pics of the extent of the rot in my resto thread after this weekends efforts so you can see what my problem is - nowhere to weld to without some pretty drastic surgery

think of the 2 main uk suppliers of t3 parts, and that's the answer. if you want me to be more explicit, i'd prefer to say via pm.

by the way, any chance you or someone else could give me an accurate measurement from the back edge of inner sill to inner sill, with floor the pan off, the part of the inner sill that allows the body to sit on the pan (hope i'm mkaing sense)? the n/s is non-existant and i'm pretty sure the outer sill has warped outward slightly. my approx. measure is 50.5" at the front from under vent to vent, and 51" at the back from under heater pipe to pipe.

also, would you advise getting the inner sill and heater channel out and replaced first, then the outer sill, or chop the whole lot out. if choping the whole lot out, to brace or not to brace?

cheers, billy

[Editor]

I've not done such major surgery on mine. I'll have to look at the body repair manual and copy to you, but I'm a bit short on time to do it at the mo. in fact life is pretty busy for the next 3 weeks now. Someone else has the body manual I think.

You might be able to measure across the floorpan bolt to bolt (underside probably better) or actually make a distance gauge with M6 bolts (would they fit inside the M8 threads?) on a rod so you can align the new inner sills when you make them.

I suspect then they are the same but someone marks them up more.

[bucket]

hi billy i used a t3d outer sill on one side of mine and a other make on the other which came with the car..
i have to say that the t3d one was a much better fit and wish i had used 2 ,dont get me wrong it wasnt perfect and i had to squash it down to make i parrelel but this is probly were they are stacked on each other for storage, all so fairly heavaly galvonised...
as for the channels etc , i did mine one side at time lifted body a few inches to repair the floor then cut out the bottom of channel and replaced , then bolted it down and cut out the outer , this is a tried and tested way to do beetles as at know point is the door shut un suported .
hope this helps
jon

[purplepeter]

The ultimate answer as you know,is to keep your eyes open for a pair of German panels-They do still appear from time to time!
Avoid the panels from Hadrian & Hastings-they bear little or no resemblance to a type 3 sill
Which leaves you with T3D or Rhod Grubb or Status.
The full panel is available from ispwest,but they only have one side,& arent planning to re-stock-speak to KK if you want to go down that route

Have you tried a "wanted" on VZI?

[bilbo]

Avoid the panels from Hadrian & Hastings-they bear little or no resemblance to a type 3 sill

yep, i have a pair of hadrian sill repair panels. they're about 3" too short, 1" too deep, and the curve is miles out

[bilbo]

Dave, thanks for the offer of copying the body repair book. whenever you can find the time, that would be great if you could let me have the title and/or isdn number that would be good too. going to need all the tips, info and advise possible to save this car.

Jon, cheers for the tip, so just treat it like a beetle then. do you still have the body off your pan? if you could measure inner sill to inner sill for me that would be great - from the inner vertical edges, hope i'm making sense. there is nothing left of the bottom half of my n/s inner sill, a measurement to guide me would really help.

i've totally stripped the floorpan now and it's in my shed ready to start welding this weekend i won't be cracking on as planned as the swan neck that arrived today is for the wrong side so i've got to return it. hay-ho, there's plenty more to be getting on with

[Editor]

I'm not promising to copy the whole book - it's a few hundred pages ISTR. It may be possible to get your dimensions for you. You might find something on TheSamba.com in the meantime.

[bilbo]

no worries dave, the measurments would be good. is it a book just for type 3s or an aircooled resto book? if you could give me the name of it, that would help me searching for it.

thank, billy

[Editor]

It's the factory manual - Part 2. Blue ring binder like the others, about 3" thick. Not often found.