MX5Ireland

Picked up my first MX5 over Christmas, a 1992 1.6 in brilliant black. Absolutely love it but there’s a small bit of paint bubbling on the drivers rear sill so I decided to get inside and have a look.

Here’s a video of what I found on the drivers side and passengers side sills from the inside..
https://youtu.be/4Iw2t6l-XoY

I’m not sure if that’s the inner or outer sill I can see.. If it is the inner is it bad?
Funds wouldn’t allow for both sills on each side to be repaired by a bodyshop for a few months so my question is could I spray them with some rust converter and would they hold out till I can afford to fix them??

I took a few pictures when I did mine, didn’t have a bore scope though so I took a chance and started the work without knowing where it would end, thankfully the main sills were ok.
You really don’t know what it’s like till you start cutting it open.
There’s lots of bits on eBay, such as sill repair sections and quarter panels which would save a lot of time. If you can, do the repairs yourself then you know it’s done properly.
You might need to check the floor as well, especially about where your right heel would rest, same on passenger side.
It’s said that the value of the mk1 is increasing every year so it might be worth spending a small amount on rust repair

viewtopic.php?f=39&t=8385

Doesn't look too bad. I'd spray some dynax S20 in there and hold out till you have the funds to investigate further. Mine had great big holes and it was jus the outer panels that were bad.

What Ray said. passenger size looks like its got 4 years in it, maybe 1 or 2 in the driver's side until you HAVE to change the sill.

My passenger side sill was bad enough... poked lots of holes in the bottom of it



Had an ebay sill welded in and all was good

Pops wrote:I took a few pictures when I did mine, didn’t have a bore scope though so I took a chance and started the work without knowing where it would end, thankfully the main sills were ok.
You really don’t know what it’s like till you start cutting it open.
There’s lots of bits on eBay, such as sill repair sections and quarter panels which would save a lot of time. If you can, do the repairs yourself then you know it’s done properly.
You might need to check the floor as well, especially about where your right heel would rest, same on passenger side.
It’s said that the value of the mk1 is increasing every year so it might be worth spending a small amount on rust repair

viewtopic.php?f=39&t=8385

I actually just used my phone to look inside the sills

Read through your post there, fair play on tackling the whole thing yourself it looks lovely! Any recent pictures of the car?
And did you have any experience welding or painting before this project?

I don't think I'd be able to take it on myself, might just wait and get a professional job on it..

Real Rayzor wrote:Doesn't look too bad. I'd spray some dynax S20 in there and hold out till you have the funds to investigate further. Mine had great big holes and it was jus the outer panels that were bad.

Will look into that stuff, thanks!

Dylang wrote:

Pops wrote:I took a few pictures when I did mine, didn’t have a bore scope though so I took a chance and started the work without knowing where it would end, thankfully the main sills were ok.
You really don’t know what it’s like till you start cutting it open.
There’s lots of bits on eBay, such as sill repair sections and quarter panels which would save a lot of time. If you can, do the repairs yourself then you know it’s done properly.
You might need to check the floor as well, especially about where your right heel would rest, same on passenger side.
It’s said that the value of the mk1 is increasing every year so it might be worth spending a small amount on rust repair

viewtopic.php?f=39&t=8385

I actually just used my phone to look inside the sills

Read through your post there, fair play on tackling the whole thing yourself it looks lovely! Any recent pictures of the car?
And did you have any experience welding or painting before this project?

I don't think I'd be able to take it on myself, might just wait and get a professional job on it..

Ya, have some experience in the mechanics and bodywork but out of it about 30 years now ,but I’d no experience on mig welding at all.
As has been mentioned, your inner sills aren’t as bad so if you can get some treatment sprayed into them you should be ok for a good while yet, when you pick at the visible rust on the outside, don’t go too heavy on it and pick away the least amount as possible.
If you don’t have a compressor there are aerosol cans of cavity wax available which should help to slow the spread of rust, don’t forget to clear the drains for the softop while you’re at it
http://polishnparts.ie/dinitrol-3125hs- ... aw-nozzle/