mar5den

Hiya all I took my Audi 80 into the garage to day to see what work was involved to get it threw it's test and sadly it's rotten underneath both sills bottom of both wings bottom of the suspension and the boot there's a few ofther spots I don't want to get rid of it because it's my pride and joy...can you buy the complete sill? and does any one know of any good welders in the northeast of the UK the is good and cheap I got a quote on fixing her up and they quoted me over 1k way out of my budget I was looking at getting a welder and doing it my self is it a job for a professional or could a novice like me do it.is the strength of the car in the sill?

bangernomics

Mar5den, the strength of a car without a chassis IS in the sills. They are not supposed to be just cosmetically repaired with epoxy because of that. That is why they fail an MOT when rotten. Other parts like bits in the wheel arches can just be cleaned back to good metal, treated with rust inhibition then filled with epoxy and sanded and painted. You should be able to find someone to put new sills on for less than a grand. That's a bit steep.


Mig welding on a car that is badly rotten is not that easy. It's an acquired skill and if you buy a small hobby welding equipment you will find that those disposable argon mix bottles just run out almost immediately. Better the larger bottles of argon that will give you plenty of working time to learn how to weld. Suggest you also buy some sheet steel and cut it up and practice welding it together first before starting on the car. You will also find if your settings are wrong or the metal is too thin that the line just seems to stab right through the paper thin body work. Done badly it will make a right mess and need a lot of grinding off. It's important to take it right back to good bodywork and if need be fabricate some sheet steel to cover any gaps. Probably easier to find a small struggling garage that needs the work and strike a deal. good luck