5 GT Turbo Another Red Renault 5 GT Turbo On It's Way Back To The Road

[Leigh5t]

Got a few more hours in on the inner sill/floor.






With the rot cut off the inner sill, there were two areas pf the floor lip that needed more attention.



I started with this front-most section


Template


Patch made




I'm still battling with the balance between lack of penetration and burning holes.



Now the other section







I then made up the front section of the inner sill. I've left a bit on the bottom and front to trim off once it's welded up.






Below you can start to see my plan. I replaced the rear section, I'm now replacing the front section, then I'll do the centre section. That way I've never fully removed the sill, so the position and integrity of everything is retained. Also, by doing it this way, I always have a reference to work with. This may or may not be the right thing to do but it made sense in my head!




Considering it's only ever an hour or so here and there, I'm fairly happy with the pace it's moving along at. Hopefully I'll get that front section finished this week.
Cheers guys.

 

[Turbell]

Lovely.
chip, chip, chip.

Then it's done.

 

[Leigh5t]

Lovely.
chip, chip, chip.

Then it's done.

I reckon there might be one two more chips than that!

Cheers mate.

 

[Duncan Grier]

Great work and good to see still progressing and old rot replaced with nice shiney new metal

If you have the plan and makes sense usually goes well

Are you planning on drilling some holes in the new inner sill section to plug weld?

Just my preference so take it with a pich of salt I prefer to leave a mm gap when butt welding, not everyone likes them but find the below a useful edition and cheap

 

[Leigh5t]

@Duncan Grier yes mate. I’m going to drill the holes in the floor flange and weld through to the inner flange from the back side.

The good old gap/no gap debate. I did look at those clamps but they looked like a lot of faffing. They’re cheap enough so I might give them a go. Although I think I prefer welding without the gap…at least at the minute anyway . I’m not sure. I have to go with whatever I/my welder decide to do on any given day

 

[Duncan Grier]

If it's true and stuck together well all good either way , assumed you would be drilling holes but here to overthink it with you also

Maybe technique favours gap / no gap. Have done no gap but I get on better with

 

[Leigh5t]

If it's true and stuck together well all good either way , assumed you would be drilling holes but here to overthink it with you also

Maybe technique favours gap / no gap. Have done no gap but I get on better with

Appreciate it mate, thanks for asking.

I’ll have a play around with the gap situation. I’m still fiddling with the settings on the fly too. Like anything, it seems you can get away with a wide range of settings and techniques but knowing what is going to work right in any given situation and then knowing how to tweak things is where the experience is needed. All in all, as you say, if it’s stuck solid and looks ok, I’ll be happy.

 

[DaveL485]

Although I think I prefer welding without the gap

Same. Get it as close as possible.

 

[Leigh5t]

1 week update

I got some weld-through on the patch



Drilled the plug weld holes and primed the floor flange.




Patch welded on.




As you can see, a fairly nasty warp developed


I gave it a bit of a seeing to with the hammer and dolly and got the majority of it out.



Welds dressed back




I test fit the jacking point and doesn't look like it'll need much persuasion.




I want to get the inner sill finished before moving on, so I marked out and cut the final, centre section.

A tip for anyone interested, it turns out that an offcut of carpet is a perfect base for cutting larger sheets like this. It's nice and stable, It holds it off the floor enough to allow the slitting disc to go right through and, other than melting a bit, it's not flammable.



Clamped in place ready to mark around





I took the opportunity to mark round the cut outs. I think these are where the rivets go in the side skirt. And maybe the indent is to drain moisture from the sill? There should be one further up but I don't have the position for that. I'll hopefully be able to figure that out at some point.



After a fair old fight, I managed to cut out the centre section. A bit more rot revealed but nothing major.






I cleaned the flange up a bit to see what the damage is. I think I'll get away with just one section.



I offered up the new section and it's looking good.



And that's where I'm at. Happy with progress again this week.

Cheers for taking a look!

 

[Leigh5t]

Slunk off to the garage for another couple of hours tonight









That’s the floor flange pretty much finished. Just got to dress those welds on the underside, drill the plug weld holes and give it a coat of weld through. Im almost ready to get that last bit of the inner sill on.

 

[Turbell]

You've got the bug.

Very satisfying doing this , my favourite bit of a project, always feels right getting rid of the grot.

 

[Leigh5t]

You've got the bug.

Very satisfying doing this , my favourite bit of a project, always feels right getting rid of the grot.

I agree, very satisfying indeed. It also turns out I quite like the smell of 1980s Renault seam sealer. Although, It’s waaaay more flammable than I think it should be

 

[Leigh5t]

It's been a couple of weeks since an update so here goes.

Continuing on with the inner sill

Drilled the plug weld holes for the overlap on the left hand side, and for the seat rails.


Drilled the floor flange plug weld holes


Cut outs for the skirt rivets


A coat of weld-through on the back face. I still need to do the indent for what I think is the sill drain. Plus I'm sure there's more skirt rivet cut outs to do, but I don't have a position for those at the minute. I'll have to get the side skirt out of the loft to use as a reference..


Clamped in place and the fit looks good from the inside.


Taking my time to get the alignment right and to spread the heat out. I'm worried it's going to buckle like the front section did.


It's a shame I didn't look at this photo at this point because if i did i would have noticed the chassis bungs were still in place...right where it is about to get hot!








On to prepping for the front jacking point.

A coat of hydrate


Offered the jacking point up again and marked out for the plug welds.



Plug weld holes drilled


I managed to keep the panel pretty straight.

 

[Leigh5t]

I then got a bit distracted and started tackling the rear corner. I'm not sure why this happened. Probably procrastination. I suspect I knew I was getting closer to tackling the outer sill...



Aldi honey hoops box doing it's job.



Laddo popped his head in the garage so I took the opportunity.








That opened up a view of the back side of some more fun.



So, I'll tackle that bit too shall I.






That revealed more fun


That turned out to not be as bad as it initially looked.


The filler neck aperture...not so good! No idea how I will sort that. I think it might have to be a new or donor panel.


Weld through again








Back on to the rear corner

 

[Adey]

 

[Leigh5t]

I'm not going to be able to get in the garage for about a week now so I thought I aught to at least make a start on prepping the outer sill...





No going back now!

That's not the final cut, I just cut the door return off so I could offer it up. I can't decide if to position the join above or below the swage line. I'm favouring below at the minute.



Most of the fit is great but the rearmost edge looks a mile out?



And that's where I'm at.
All in all, I'm happy with the fit. There's still loads of work to do before it can be welded in place but getting it offered up like that feels like a meaty step in the right direction.

 

[Turbell]

I leave the sill bungs off to let them breath, hence there's some here if you need replacement.
Cracking on good and proper !

 

[Leigh5t]

I leave the sill bungs off to let them breath, hence there's some here if you need replacement.
Cracking on good and proper !

It’s still a bung. Just a slightly sad looking bung.
Might have to take you up on that mate because it’ll bug me if I don’t replace it.
Yeah, I feel like I’m making progress. Still a long road ahead but as long as I’m moving forward, I’m happy to keep getting my hand mucky. Cheers.

 

[Leigh5t]

It's been about 6 weeks since I last posted and I'm happy to say it is COMPLETE..........ly a bit further along than it was 6 weeks ago.
We had a break to Center Parcs and I enjoyed it so much it broke my momentum. Hence the lack of updates.
Nevertheless, I've been chipping away here and there since and I am happy with the progress.


I cut the sill down some more. At this point I was having second thoughts about not replacing the whole sill. Too late now though so I will trundle on.



Trimmed the excess from the rear inner sill.



Then I thought I'd pissed around long enough and made the final cut


Indent in the inner sill.


Fairly happy with the fit.

 

[Leigh5t]

Before I could weld the sill on I needed to repair the rear inner arch/well.












I may have welded the first one wrong-handed and inadvertently made one for the other side...again