Fourtrak sill repairs north east

[THE GRIFF 8]

I have decided to keep my fourtrak instead of changing it for something else so am going to have to through a bit of money at it.

First thing is the outer sill on the drivers side, the back quarter of the outer sill is rusting. Can this be cut out and a new piece of sill put in, is there a way of patching it up or will the full sill have to be replaced.

What am I looking at paying for someone to sort it out?

Would a rotten outer sill be a mot failure as I aren't sure if it is cosmetic or structural?

[neil82 1,080]

as far as an mot goes, it really depends on how far it is from what they call a `proscribed area` these are generally seat belt mounts and suspension mounts altho with the daihatsu having a separate chassis this can be a bit confused, welding repairs are allowed as long as they can be regarded as up to `original strength`, mainly means that if a patch is in the middle of a panel it has to be seam welded and if to an original spot welded seam spot or plug welding is allowed, just need a tester who is clued up on what the pass standard is, a car can be a shed and still pass a puker test, thing you need to think about is would you be happy with your wife/kids be safe in something that scraped through a test under the minimum standards required, me i would seam weld a patch or if the sill was seriously rotten would replace it as a full skin, all this depends on how good the rest of the body is, have seem some seriously rotten daihatsu`s over the years and you have to think `how much welding next year`

Edited June 29, 2012 by neil82

[THE GRIFF 8]

The rest of the car is sound that's why I have decided to keep it and do a bit work to it to get the car right.

It 'past' a mot in January, with a 'few things needing doing' so to speak, getting it mot'd isn't a problem but like you say there is a differance between passing a mot and the car being right, that's why I want a bit of work doing to it.

I really do like the car although it guzzles juice as do all 4x4's, and I can't really think of anything else to replace it with that would be as good for what I want and be any cheaper on fuel so I hope to keep it another couple of years. With this in mind I want a decent job doing and not have to be redoing it again in a year.

If I can get the rust sorted on the sill and a few other things done then she should be good for a year or two yet.