The Triumph 2000/2500/2.5 Register Forum

HI everyone.
Just looking for a bit of advice on Rusty wheel arches. Having looked at 2 cars now, both with rusty wheel arches and repaired sills I was wondering how easy / difficult it is to repair. Both cars had scabby inner arches and scabby outer. Are small repair panels available ? How much would it cost to repair all 4 arches (difficult question to answer as I can't supply photos). But both cars were MOT'd.

On to Sills. Both cars sported solid outers but these had clearly been worked on. In one case it looked like they were new (i.e. not patched). Inners seemed ok from inside. Floors ok. Should I be concerned about the inner centre sill section ?

Any advice / cost estimations / pictures of good sills would be welcome.

Thanks JOhn

Lloyd has the best supply of panels at the moment: https://southwalestriumphs.com/

Hi John,

It's a bit quiet on the forum this week as most people are at the national in Paignton. (I'm not as my car is still in bits!)

With the arches I suppose to a certain extent it depends how bad the scabbiness actually is and whether you have the equipment to do it yourself.
All that get used cars will need sills eventually, and if you have this done under your stewardship at least you can be confident in the quality of the repair. The structure of the sill is similar to the Dolomite one so if you've seen the inside of one you will have an idea what they look like. If you Google "Triumph 2000 sill" there's lots of pictures of sills in various states of rust and disassembly.
Existing repairs should be examined carefully. Patches will just trap water and rust through again quickly. The use of cover sills is quite common, these could be just stuck on over the rust although it is quite possible to use the cover sill as a repair panel and make an effective long lasting repair. The front of the sill goes behind the front wing, so to repair a sill properly you need to cut off the bottom of the front wing. The sill stiffener that runs down the middle of the sill will tend to rust quicker than the outer so if the outer has patches the bottom couple of inches of the stiffener will probably be rust and fresh air. The sill stiffener does make difference to how stiff the car feels, it is quite common for people to just cut it off rather than repair it but unfortunately there's no easy way to tell from the outside.

The main cost with body repairs is labour. To have a sill repaired properly it's generally reckoned to budget about £1000-1200 per side. Obviously if you do this yourself or the welder is your mate and owes you a favour you can do this for less.
Many repair panels were not available for quite a few years but Lloyd Reed, off his own back and with his own money, has had panels re-made. He has now set up a website https://southwalestriumphs.com where you can see the prices and what is currently available.

dolomitejohn wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 28, 2018 11:41 am

On to Sills. Both cars sported solid outers but these had clearly been worked on. In one case it looked like they were new (i.e. not patched). Inners seemed ok from inside. Floors ok. Should I be concerned about the inner centre sill section ?

There is a way to gauge the integrity of the sill structure,
jack the car up under the end of each sill and try opening/closing the doors. If all is well the doors will open/close properly.


Whether the car's owner will be willing to permit this is also a way of telling.......




Ian

Thanks Gents, some great advice. I am familiar with Dolomite Sills, so I now know what should be inside at least.

I will keep searching.

Thanks again.

John

There is a way to gauge the integrity of the sill structure,
jack the car up under the end of each sill and try opening/closing the doors. If all is well the doors will open/close properly.


Whether the car's owner will be willing to permit this is also a way of telling.......

Yes I suppose that's a way of telling. Jacking using the original scissor jack on the jacking points (assuming they've been re-fitted) and listening for a crunching noise may give you a clue about the state of the inner sill!

To be blunt John,
if I had a car that wasn't capable of supporting it's own weight as described
I wouldn't be driving it until it was sorted!


Ian.

YEs I think that is a good point. Next time I view I will ask the seller to demonstrate.

I recall now that one of my previous Dolomites had this issue.

Thanks again.

John

If you are looking at cars that need work to the arches and sills, my personal opinion is that you will end up spending far more to repair them than you think. Depending on how long you are prepare to wait to own one, I would wait until the right car appears with solid arches and sills - won't be overnight but they are out there if you are prepared to wait. You will have to pay more for one, but I would argue it will be considerably less than repairing a rusted vehicle. Don't forget that a car with visible rust will no doubt have hidden gremlins in the bodywork that you won't know about until the work starts. A good paint job will set you back a princely sum, and when you take into account the panel and welding costs on top, it would have to be a collectable model to do all this, such as a Mk1 / PI / S / Estate etc.
The more you look at with someone who knows the cars will give you a better insight on where the weak spots are - there is a lot more to check besides arches and sills! You will immediately know when you find the right unmolested car.

Thanks guys. Y our advice has been taken on board and already proved invaluable.
I have walked away from 1 scabby car and have stopped thinking about it.

I guess a repaired car would be ok provided there is evidence of repairs and its been done to a good standard.

Thanks again.

John