1990 mazda Mx5 welding project

ok split the sill into 3 sections as this is how it seemed to be previously

this was hydrated and will be wire brushed to get rid of what i can cut out and replace

first piece of zintec cut to shape and tacked into place bent round to aid access but will be fairly straight later on to meet the sill

cut out rear of sil and bottom of sill and replaced with 20 guage zintec

seam welded inside at top to inner sill

and underneath to chassis


arches will be rejoined to bottom with a plasma cut piece to suit when i get chance

front inner wing was looking a bit crusty




ok back with the slit disk

oops here we go again


cleaned up with wire brush broke through wheel arch so cut out and had to plate it

inside formed into a box affair bottom with return and sides

outer skin shaped formed and tacked into position

fully seamed and finished piece

Jebus and I though I'd seen it all with my 70's Fords and 80's Hondas! I dead to think whats hiding on a lot of MX5's!

Was it an import?

Good luck with it, I'd say you're a legend for even thinking of welding that mess back into shape!

Thats gotta be a UK model, good luck fella.

Christ I hope my gf's isn't that bad underneath! Fair play to you for going ahead with this! Theres more than enough practice there lol!

Holy carp! Did someone leave it parked in the sea for a couple of weeks or something?!

Well done for sorting it out though

front chassis down tubes had a piece of metal with weld around the edges and it was siliconed over a hole to look like it had been welded

the other side is just as bad, as all the drain tubes from roof were blocked or routed into the sills and the drain slots were blocked up with underseal or removed altogether with the last repair, so i'll put 4 in each side 2 into middle section and 1 at each end. to avoid it happening again
so they filled with water until it found a way out (into the chassis rails pmsl)
before i started i took it to local garage for a 'pre mot' if ya like, he just laughed !!
i grabbed the sill to swing under the car, my fingers went into it and i got soaked about 2 liters of rusty water on the floor ,
best quote for the welding was £1200 'and if it gets worse it will be more' so open ended most garages wouldn't even quote saying car not worth the cash spending on it.
carpets are wet inside and i'm sure it to do with the roof drains still.
this was my first import from japan:-

Fair play for doing the work car looks ok now .

another wee update started to get somewhere near on the rear box section of the sill now here we go :-



ok in previous photo of rear section you can see the vertical piece that splits the main sill from the back section and rear arch with black line across it we decided it would be better to make it form the bulkhead so we bent it round the roof of the sill....


than we placed horizontal piece into the section and welded it into place and seamed it to the floor


so it now looks like this


gave the nasty flaky bits a wire brushing and another coat of hydrate 80 then coated with seam sealer on the joints coat of zinc primer and waxoil underseal stuff inside except the weldable bits

its as good as it gets without taking the car apart to its base structure.

tacked in a plate to fully box in the rear section and add some strength

rear arch to inner sill joint

ok all seamed all round now

botom of plate seamed to the new bottom now forming the new floor pan


oh and all this wonderful fun is being supplied by this cracking piece of kit

just goes to show this stuff is possible with a £40 second hand welder

put the rear arch support back in just tacked and red oxide primed


all seamed


wire brushed has good penetration and is solid i am not grinding the welds flat because they will not be seen
i use the stack spot method for this thin metal seems to go well


so currently we look like this from a distance
rear

front


hope it aint boring you all!
a bit more tomorrow
cheers
dave