How I repaired my sill damage (GQ)

On a camping trip over the weekend I dented my sill real bad and while in the process of building rock sliders this was a kick in the teeth. I decided to get on it right away and fix the problem. I bought some multi-purpose heavy duty bog (Selley's Plasti-Bond) from work some sanding gear and I was ready to go. This was the first time I have taken hammer to car panel let alone bogging painting etc..

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I started out with a big job ahead of me and first asked questions about bogging the whole way or fiberglassing then bogging but ol' mate ThreeDogs suggested a brilliant little idea, Rivet into the sill and pull the dent out to minimise bogging. This was step 1.

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After this I had to carefully straighten (belt) the step part of the sill and flatten it out. I then used a few more rivets to finish up pulling out the panel as much as I could. This worked an absolute treat and I can't thank TD enough!

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After finishing pulling the sills out as much as I could I finished off the rivets then drilled them out leaving me with a whole heap of holes giving more strength to the bog from the extra adhesion.

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I mixed up my first batch of bog and went for it. The first coat was a starting point but I had a long way to go to bring it to my standard. So it was just bog sand bog sand etc until it started to take true shape and I was getting pretty impressed with it.

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I realised I had also bent the bottom of the door too so I grabbed a bit of timber and carefully brought it back to a nice straight line and this worked amazingly!

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So tonight being the 2nd night after denting the sill I'd say I have a few more to go but this is the detail I like to go to. This is as she sits now, it's almost done and ready to get the lines right and a final sand.

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I plan on sanding back both sills once finished, 2x undercoat with Killrust Heavy Duty Primer then 3x Coats or black gloss Killrust and top it off with hopefully an automotive clear coat 2 or 3 coats. I will then checkerplate both sills and all 4 doors under the creased line in the panel on them to cover and proctect them, along with the dent in the passenger door. Don't think I won't keep you all updated! I hope this inspires others to fix their misshaps ;)

A belt sander is the best way to get them nice and straight mate. ;)

Yeh I had a belt sander that I've owned since I was about 9 years old but my uncle blew it up, I bought a random orbital sander today though to try get it right :) Ill finish off by hand with a block though.

I have one a lot worse than that. Wanna fix it for me? Haha

Just be a little. Are up with the random orbital. It will be inclined to feather the edges and hump it rather than a solid flat sill. It might look a little lumpy when you lay the paint on it.

Borrow or hire a belt sander if you can mate.

Sure lol if you really want to make the trip!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MudRunnerTD

Just be a little. Are up with the random orbital. It will be inclined to feather the edges and hump it rather than a solid flat sill. It might look a little lumpy when you lay the paint on it.

Borrow or hire a belt sander if you can mate.

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Yeh thinking about it thats really a much better idea, thanks mud I'll just use my old ryobi with care..

I think its more of a cut out and replace job. Ill take a photo haha

can you describe the Rivet technique for us mate? Looks like it worked a treat but not sure how you did that? I get that the rivet hold teh panel but did you just use vice grips or something on the rivet and pull like hell of somehow use a slide hammer on them? Any pics?

I drilled the holes for the rivets in the lowest points of the dint and using my river gun it takes 2 pumps of the handle to finish the river off so I did 1 pump which left the tail on the rivet and just used pliers to DIRECTLY against the rivet, not on an angle or lever because it stretches the holes. I just keep moving along and it worked perfectly, but I didn't do as much as I probably could looking back on it. I then just finish the rivet off and drill it out