Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

How do you know the inner sill is rotten? Sometimes they look worse on the out then in. If your lucky you caught it early. Others, something be done b4 and rust has been left in taken the inner sill b4 you can tell from the outside. Get a camera inside the door vent

Iv been in this position b4 and lost my S which I had spent 2 much on.

Personally cost wise you have to ask yourself how long to plan in keeping the car, once u pump some money in you get relucnted to move on but will just keep requiring money. If its a keeper do it right. But the oem sills. Heard they avabile again.

It will add value back to the car. £200 per side. If wielding is cheap then your quids in as normal oem sill replacement can be 2/3k job

Will save your weilder loads off time then making up sections.
If the inner sill gone then its likely the base with the drain holes has as well. This isn't just a case off cover plate like the repire pannles.

£400 for sills
£400 for paint
£200 for your mate

When open up probley you can get at stuff and fix correctly.

Say max £1500 but that should add to the value off the car.

Very 944 will need some sill work. If it hasn't be treated early or already. More cheap jobs the more the oem cars will be worth.

Here are some pics I took yesterday morning...was in a rush to get the car to my mate's garage, so not very revealing.

Offside rear:


Offside front:


Nearside rear


Nearside front:


The nearside looks particularly bad on the outside with bits coming off, would have thought the inner sill on that is gone too but the offside outer and inner sills were the ones highlighted in the MOT doc. It talks about excessive corrosion near the seatbelt anchorage area and that has made me very afraid indeed. The car was on the ramp when the I got showed the visible rust underneath.

The photos don't really give a good idea of the problem, but they don't look too bad. I am surprised that the MOT guy has suggested the inner sills are gone, as he couldn't see them and they are not allowed to remove 'stuff' such as trim panels and carpet to inspect. So, his comment regarding the seat belt archorage nust be based on the corrosion he saw under (on the lip?) of the outer sill perhaps. Don't be too 'afraid' the 944 is built like a tank with regard to the seatbelt mounts and they are mounted in the 'inner' inner sill. The sill box/door step is actually three panels that form two cavities.

See the photo below:


Have a look yourself by removing the door step trim (it just pulls off its clips), fold back the carpet and inspect the floor and panels from inside the cabin. Poke around with a screwdriver if needs be...

Another way to check the extent of the problem is to open the door and remove the vent on the door jamb, near the striker plate. Be careful with this as they are prone to break (as the plastic tags gets brittle with age). Then shine a torch down into the cavity, you should see the inside of the sill between the inner and outer quite easily. If you have one, poke a borescope down there too for a better view. Otherwise, remove the rear interior quarter panel trim (the one with the speaker grille in it) and again have a look down into the cavity - it is most revealing.

You will see this area:


There have been some really good bits of advice in the previous posts, so don't lose heart, as T3rra says, all 944s will need a bit of sill work if they haven't been originally rust-proofed - it goes with the territory. However, how many other 25 year old cars are still on the road today? The fact that the 944 has lasted this long is is a testament to Porsche build quality!

Wow! That's amazing! That clears up a lot of doubts in my mind...Was looking at a secondhand front wing from breakers costs reasonable...you guys are giving me a lot of confidence about this! My 944 is only a 2.7 nothing special but have gotten attached to it. That's why I'm going to great lengths trying to get it right. Only in the last year, it has got a new waterpump, cambelt, battery, headgasket, and now power steering stuff, steering rack, brand new rear brake discs/pads. Would be terrible to lose it after all this!

2.7 are fairly special.

I would get it open and see. They rust from the inside up. Normally more to the back then the front.

I saw an s2 which a fist size scab I could off put my finger though. Guy pay 2k put my mobile inside and the sill looked like new bar the scab. Scab had been surface rust. I think he got lucky. There a lot off cars that have been repired only to fail again a few years later.

Send me your email and I can send u some pics off oem sills so you can see the drain holes e.c.t

I have spent the last 35 years with classic Triumphs and a Dolomite Sprint and the good old MGB have a similar sill construction........but weaker!
Classic cars become owned by folk who say "yeh I can do that, how hard can it be?"
So these Porsches have had a good run and outlived their contempories and are falling into the hands of people like us who will fix em

I reckon there are going to be 944's running for the rest of my life

At least its only the sills, on a Triumph its the whole car

So very true, my first car was a Triumph Herald, it had a floor that resembled flaky pastry - those thing really could rot

Been searching around for sills as I would have to supply the parts and would like your opinion if it's good.

Basically, I'm after inner and outer sill repair panels and came across this:

Inner sill repair panel: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/191029257407

Is it good quality? For the outer panel, will be getting a pair of these as recommended above:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/231136496672

And a pair of the repair quarter panels from the same. I hope these are good too!

Slight complication...the mechanic told me yesterday that it is rusty near the offside suspension mount point area too, but the other side its fine. What to do here? Haven't seen the car myself, ought to pop in today ...any thoughts?

Hi, those inner repair panels look fine - not quite the same as the original, but nice and strong and they are not seen anyway! As the listing states, you will have to drill the holes required and notch out the lower edge for drainage, but that shouldn't be a problem. From the photos in the listing it looks like they went and got the panels zinc plated and passivated after they drilled them, they do look good.

The outer panels should be fine, many forum members have used them and know the company that supplies them.

One observation here...if your inner sills are as bad as the listing, then you will notice that the photos show they have taken away the entire outer sill to weld in the new panel...so removing the door step bit that would normally be left. This is important, as the outer repair panels from Porkaparts (and others) need the door step to remain in place (or at least available) to complete the repair as they only come up to the lip of the door step. Have a look at the profile and see what I mean.

However, if your inners are not as bad as the photos, you can cut out the rotten lower section whilst keeping the door step in place. Then get your welder to trim and seam the inner panels to fit. That is what I did although I used SH OEM metal (but the principle is the same). Have a look here to see what I mean:



However, if you have to remove the door step, drill out the spot welds along the seam and cut the step out making it available for the welder to refix and join to the new outer repair panel.

Hope that helps with that bit.

Regards the rust near the mounting, you will have to go and have a look. The metal at that point is very thick but can look quite scabby with surface rust and general crud and old underseal, etc. Best thing to do is take a screwdriver and have a good poke around to see what he is taking about. Some of the mount can be repaired from inside once the sill is opened up. Mine looked bad but apart from the inner sill having a hole at that point, they were solid enough. I cleaned the entire mount area up and applied some rust convertor, zinc sprayed them and they were fine. It's a bit involved working around the alloy and rubber suspension arm bits, but can be done.

Take a camera and photo the area, we can comment more accurately then.

Regards.

Thanks, that makes sense. I hope it isn't as bad as the pics in that ebay listing! I shall go there and have a look and take some good photos underneath today.

A few years ago I had the same issue. I'd disagree with the comments on here, the inner sill corrosion can & does affect the seat belts mounts. Mine had been bodged & butchered with on the end of the nsr sill 3 layers of metal plus pudding, a piece around 15 inches long weighed around 6 pounds. The bill in mid 2007 was £1400. Unfortunately they did a crap job with no drainage holes & the sills unbeknown to me were filling with water & rusted through again. Hence selling it 2 years or so ago.

Hi Jim, I re-read the topic and I seem to be the only one who commented on the seat belt mounts. However, I cant see where I said that the inner sill corrosion doesn't affect them. I simply said the 944 is built like a tank there and there are three panels. Obviously, if the drainage holes are blocked, water will pool and all sorts of corrosion can take place (your point in particular). The MOT guy could not have inspected the actual seat belt mount, but made a statement based on what he could see from the outside. Nobody will know until the area is properly inspected, ideally by opening it up. I also suggested that the OP fold the carpet back to have a good look himself and poke around with a screwdriver to satisfy himself with regard to rot, etc, so he became aware that there could be a problem..

If the inner sill is corroded, there will be an inherent weakening of the whole structure, and so repair/replacement will be needed, which is what has been recommended.

Sorry to hear you had such an unfortunate incident with your 944 , was it a white S2, as I think I followed a repair on a blog, only to see that car being listed on eBay a while later with sill rot again?

Possibly mine, mine was a 87 2.5 but with all S2 bits on it, front PU, D90s etc. Mrs TR7V8 decided we'd spent enough time & money on it. To be honest it was a Cat C bought for not a lot of money & had given us a great deal of enjoyment. Over the 7 years we'd had it & a total of 40ish K miles. Countless holidays both with & without TIPEC. Several track sessions, my daily driver for work (38K in 18 months). All for less than 42pence per mile
Will the Boxster replace it (in my heart) not sure, the jury is out on that.

have a look at this link, maybe of interest
http://www.porscheclubgbforum.com/tm.as ... y=&#796134

Nick

Yep, I certainly think it was that one (an almost S2!). A Boxster didn't do it for me..