Gold 2.0Si

[russ92xmsed]

Good old French car seats, can't beat them. Back seat of a Renault 21 is also extremely comfortable place to have a cuppa!

That could have been a hell of a lot worse Neil, I would be happy with that result considering it was the first MOT you have had with it. Mines up in mid May, so a little time yet, but really not looking forward to that. I have a trackrod end at the ready in the boot, just in case!

Hope you feel a lot better soon. I have been ill too this week. Just a cold though. There is a lot of viral things gong about I believe.

[Vince]

Good stud Neil.

Im going to try to get mine MOT'd soon...depending on available funds of course, It wont return back to the road anytime soon, but at least it can be ready to do so

You've got me worried now about sills

[citroenxm]

They are FINE on yours Vince, and IIRC all the jacking points were nice and straight too!!

[Eddie nuff]

Three of the jacking points on mine look good and are straight with the other one being only slightly bent, but that doesn't mean I would be confident in using them to actually jack the car up. On further inspection the outer sills are weak in patches but solid elsewhere, whilst the inner sills are vice-versa. The floor is solid, free from any rust and has been undersealed at some point.

The ultimate answer would be to chop the old sills out and weld new ones in but as new sills are not available patching up seems the only short term answer. I'm curious to know whether new sills could be made.

[Eddie nuff]

Took her in on Monday afternoon for the welding doing and got a call within a couple of hours. "Do you just want us to do what the MOT guy says, or do you want us to do it properly?" So I called in today after work and he showed me what the tester had marked off and what he had found. The basis is that the inner sills are shot and where they are going to need work on so as not to be in the same predicament at the next test.

He mentioned new sills, to save patching up, but when I told him they weren't available he said how about getting some made. "Leave it with me I'll do some asking around", but what will be needed is a template of the sills themselves. Anyone got one or know where I can get my hands on one?

[Dean]

They can get the profile from the old ones once they have cut them off, easy panel to make up as its all folds, no forming required, sounds like you have a good team working on your car there, difficult to find switched on people to work on cars like this now!

D

[russ92xmsed]

Oh no, not another one with crumbling sills! Sorry to hear that Neil, but as Dean says, sounds like you have a good garage to sort them out.

[MTXM]

Sadly repairs to sills on these earlier cars are routine now and all mine have needed patching. The main damaged on my 1989 car is where the front jacking points have been folded in, which has also affected the lower wings that anyway tend to rust away. On another car I had a very badly dented sill section cut out and replaced with a piece taken off another car, since due to the length it was not worth buying a complete new sill. At that time (may be four-five years ago) the sills were still available from Citroen but quite expensive. Usually it is possible to repair holes with plates Neil and I surprised that you need to replace the complete depth. Anyway all the best of luck with the task that is well worth doing and you are wise to make a thorough job of it! With regards, Matthew T.

[citroenxm]

I know about sills! BUT the issues are NOT confined to sills and I PROMISE you it isn't either!

Front outriggers directly behind the front jacking points are also becoming a common rot away,

The last one I did actually looked perfectly fine, with a tiny hole, but as I got the grinder to clean it up to weld, the hole got bigger and bigger, and infact, there WAS NO OUTRIGGER! The shape of the underseal was completely intact, making it look like the metal was there.... pressing it showed otherwise.. Was quite an eye opener!

[MTXM]

You are absolutely right there Paul and a couple of my cars have needed welding in the location you mention. The problem is due to there being a cavity and the rot starts inside, plus the appearance of the underseal can certainly be deceptive. Interestingly my 1989 car wheel arches seem to be sound on both sides! Regards, Matthew T.