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GLPoomobile

How To Strengthen Your Shell

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GLPoomobile

Does anyone remember me speaking about how one of my rear wings had split away from the sill?

 

Well, yesterday I got around to stripping out the interior so I finally got to survey the situation from the inside.

 

Basically what I found was that the only thing holding the panel to the inner sill and inner arch was a length of white silicone sealant running along the length of the sill, and up the arch all the way to the top and across :) To be fair, there was a couple of small patches of body filler too, but they had cracked.

 

Someone on here mentioned that the only time they have heard of the panel coming away to this extent was when it had been badly repaired after an accident. I'd say they were probably right. I'm glad I didn't pursue getting it re-welded as I reckon it would have taken a few hours just to clean all the crap off the inside to make a clean area to weld.

 

I have to say I am impressed by the galvanising on the Ph2s though. There was no significant rust inside the passenger side, and the drivers side - which had a hole in the front of the panel - also had virtually no rust, and I know it had been getting a lot of water in there. Can't speak for the inside of the sill though :D

 

Anyway, I have some pictures of the crappy state of my shell if anyone is interested. Just need to copy the files off my phone.

 

Oh, and another thing.

 

The guy I bought it off was going to Mi it and use it as a track car. I have no idea if he knew the extent of the damage, or even if it was him that carried out this bodge, but I don't think the shell would have stood up to much track abuse :D

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jonah

I think they are all like that TBH... the panel came away from the arch on my last car and I repaired it with seam sealer to stop water getting in, never had any problems with it despite thrashing the car senseless on a regular basis (and I can safely say that rallying is tougher on the shell than a track). I'm pretty sure they are not welded together as standard.

 

As for where the panel meets the sill... they probably are welded on but the shape of the join gives it no strength whatsoever, so it's never under any great load.

 

So in other words... I wouldn't worry about it!! :)

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Anthony
The guy I bought it off was going to Mi it and use it as a track car. I have no idea if he knew the extent of the damage, or even if it was him that carried out this bodge, but I don't think the shell would have stood up to much track abuse :)

He knew it had been smacked up the rear as I pointed it out to him when I did the beam (and he did seem suprised when I pointed it out), but whether he knew about anything else I wouldn't like to say...

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GLPoomobile
I think they are all like that TBH... the panel came away from the arch on my last car and I repaired it with seam sealer to stop water getting in, never had any problems with it despite thrashing the car senseless on a regular basis (and I can safely say that rallying is tougher on the shell than a track). I'm pretty sure they are not welded together as standard.

 

As for where the panel meets the sill... they probably are welded on but the shape of the join gives it no strength whatsoever, so it's never under any great load.

 

So in other words... I wouldn't worry about it!! :)

 

 

I'm not worried about - the piece of s*it is being stripped and all the good bits going on my new 1.6, which has a really good shell :D

 

I know that there are supposed to be spot welds between the panel and the inner sill. These had obviously split, although to be honest I couldn't actually see any trace of them. Comparing it to the other side it does look like there is just seam sealer running along the join to the inner arch, but I'm not expert.

 

 

Considering the whole panel was split from the bottom of the B pillar right back to the top of the arch, and can be pushed out to reveal daylight, I wouldn't exactly call it normal!! The sounds of metal on metal rubbing when going over speed humps was terrible.

 

Maybe seam sealer is a lot stronger than silicone sealant, but I wouldn;t think it would do the ridgidity of the car much good if it was just hanging together with sealant!

 

Anthony - Richy probably didn't know about this, to be fair. He seemed like a straight up guy and I don;t think he would be stupid enough to turn it into a track car if he knew the rear wing was hanging on with bathroom sealant!

 

I suspect it was picked up by a trader after the accident, fixed up on the cheap and then palmed off to Richy.

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Paintguy

Doesn't sound too clever! :)

 

The section actually around the curve of the arch is only bonded on with adhesive sealer, but there should definately be some welds between the bottom of the panel and the sill.

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stu_woac

your find pu and other ploys are stronger than many spot welds

 

as long as its been applyed properly

 

but hi mod silicone is the crapest stuff in the world for sticking it, as you can just rub it of with a stick

 

or it fall off when appleid to dirt

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