Picked up my Eunos Roadster v-limited 1.8 recently. Im after a decent garage in Birmingham who can repair the sill (only 1 side needs doing). Ill be doing the paint myself, I just dont have the skill/tools to do the metal work. Can anyone recommend a garage?, a rough cost would be nice too if possible at all, I understand this may be a little hard over the internet without seeing what works required. Cheers Ross.
A quick zoom in on your drivers side suggests that might be more than the car is worth in welding and metalwork taken to a restorer/garage. You might get a better idea of price by searching some of the numerous threads on Mx5nutz and also some suggestions on local places. Hate to say it but mine wasn't quite as bad as that one and I had to replace the entire inner and outer sill down the whole length of the drivers side to get rid of all of the rot. Done DIY with ebay panels it didn't cost me that much thankfully but it might be cheaper to find yourself a better shell and swap the choice bits over like people were telling me to do on mine.
I've had a full look over it and the rest of the sill is fine, it looks a bit rough as it had a crappy side skirt fitted and its fetched all the paint off (when i removed it crudely). i have searched and asked on nutz but not found a decent offer within Birmingham (or anywhere even half close). I 100% wont be re-shelling/buying a new car, So repair it my only option currently. I did consider buying a welder/learning, but thought it would be best to see if anyone local had a decent recommendation before dropping £300/400 on a welder/metal and learning myself.
If you can get hold of a mini endoscope thingy you should be able to dangle that inside and get a better idea of exactly what wants doing. There are bunged access holes on the inside of the car at intervals below the length of the door aperture, another halfway up the B pillar below the seatbelt tensioner and another if you remove the rubber bung in the rear wheel arch. Some 5s just seem to go at the back end of the sill to begin and will get away with a quick patch up for the MOT, but in more advanced cases you'll see that the whole floor of the sill and bottom portion of the internal strengtheners will have gone like on mine which will fail the MOT for being within 30cm of seatbelt mount. Hopefully yours is the prior. No idea on prices. They are all saveable pretty much.
Try this guy How to get Birmingham (UK) car and auto welding 30-50% less than... I might not be concourse but strong and mot ready. Where about are you?
Ive done a few of these The problem is caused by blocked drain holes the outer skin is made by bending 18gauge steel round a 4 inch drain pipe. Inner section is a simple bulkhead very easy to fix, unless the water has eaten away at the internal cross member Have a search on retro rides I put restoration on until owner run out of cash £300 to where I got too! Hope it helps a little Dave
Hi Ross. I'm in Brum with an MX5 Mk II and tired sills. Did you find somewhere? Would you recommend them and if so, how much did it cost? Thanks. Jane.
I have 2-3 mx5 shells here - and a plasma cutter. If you are willing to pay for the pannels, I could cut and deliver to you when I am over in the lorry collecting more... I think the sills and all I have are very good.
Thanks for your offer though I'd have no tools or skills/training/ location to do anything with them. Panels? My garage said it was sills. Is that the same thing? I was told it is the sills. These are rusty metal bits on the rear edges, just behind the doors. I assume they would need painting afterwards. I know how to check my tyre pressures. And adjust the seat position. This is the limit of my technical ability. I live on the nine floor of a block of flats. I car park on the street.
