Hi all, I’m currently restoring my bay and the inner sill needs some work on the long panel side. I’ve got a replacement inner and outer sill, however has anyone replay the outer sill before? If so, does anyone have photo/advice on the best way to weld on the new outer sill? Looking at my original one it’s welded onto the long panel from the inside! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The inner sill is spot welded to the floor and the top hats which go across the bus. Dependant on the age of your bus, it may have middle sills on both or just the sliding door side and you want to try and retain the original if possible. Look inside the van and you will see either 1 or 2 rows of lots of spotwelds, drill out the row which is nearest the centre to get the old sill out. Then plug weld the new panel in place (unless you have a spot welder) For the outer sills, on the non sliding door side, use a repair panel which is welded to the main panel and the replaced inner sill. Be careful not to put too much heat into the main panel as it will distort with heat- lots of small welds with large gaps which you gradually fill in On the sliding door side, it's welded to the middle and inner sill and the bottom of the sliding door track by cutting a series of notches and then grinding flat. The best advice I can give is to get a copy of the Haynes Volkwagen Bay Transporter Restoration Manual by Fletcher Gillett- It's fantastic, has lots of pictures and clearly shows how to replace and repair a bus
Thanks, have ordered the manual! Have started to drill out the spot welds on the floor. It’s more about the outer sill. I know I can weld to the inner sill, might have to do some small welds onto the long panel from the outside! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I used a JK sill repair panel that has a 'pretend' joint (a crease) but actually goes up into the side panel. You can then cut out a bit of the main outer panel and do a conventional weld. Looks good.
