Omega Owners Forum
Omega Help Area => Omega General Help => Topic started by: terry paget on 11 April 2018, 11:16:28
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Having got the car to run properly, now comes the MOT challenge - holes in both rear cills. Here is the offside cill. Is it worth saving?
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/xxqu0kfmpitzvsk/OSrearCILLhole.jpg?dl=1)
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No worse than a Mk4 Golf I am currently adding metal to :y
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Looks similar to what I had in the 3.2, given lack of examples about I'd say it's worth saving. I took mine to Serek for a good value fix :y
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Replacing a complete sill isn't a difficult or expensive job. An MOT patch for another couple of years is how most car welders learn to do the more difficult jobs.
So my advice, which I've given before, is to stop worrying about the outer sills and arches and start digging at where they tie into the rest of the structure. Places like the donut mounts, diff mounts, front chassis rails especially at the joints and subframe mounts. Rot in the windscreen surround should also be considered. Use an old flat screwdriver for this work, and don't be gentle with it.
Before you go any further, remove the plastic trim inside the wheel arch at the end of the sill. Don't expect to find much metal behind it. That area is an instant MOT fail due to its proximity to the subframe and seatbelt mounts.
I'm expecting problems in any one of those areas to kill my car in the next to or three years. I can fix them,but don't consider it to be worth the time and effort. Paying someone else to do it Would buy a nice non-Omega replacement.
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If needs be, I have sills here, and can get to Oxford, but VXL V6 has first refusal, unless his have finally arrived.
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If needs be, I have sills here, and can get to Oxford, but VXL V6 has first refusal, unless his have finally arrived.
Thanks for your generous offer, of which I availed myself last summer. I am not a confident welder, and let a professional welder, friend of my son Ben, do the actual work while I watched. Since then I have learned that MIG welding requires a decent supply of gas, more than the small can that came with the welder. My welder friend did not replace entire cills, he patched then as appropriate, indeed similarly to what the garage charged me £300 for.
I still have a complete o/s cill and most of the n/s cill available for further repairs.
I accept Nick W's advice that 18 years old Omegas have little life left in them, and that patching holes in the cills may extend it by a couple of years.
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I'm likely to be replacing mine in the next couple of weeks; I'll try to remember to take plenty of photos.
I have already repaired this, which was hidden behind the cover:
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/o3njh3624uryz2s/CrustyMess%5B1%5D.jpg?dl=1)
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Having got the car to run properly, now comes the MOT challenge - holes in both rear cills. Here is the offside cill. Is it worth saving?
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/xxqu0kfmpitzvsk/OSrearCILLhole.jpg?dl=1)
Is that an upward dent in the sill where the hole is or an actual indent that is meant to be there?
Doesn't look too bad for fixing. Small plate would cover that.
Mine has that ominous looking crust along the bottom lip of the jacking point so I'm probably looking at similar when I take my sill covers off.
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Having got the car to run properly, now comes the MOT challenge - holes in both rear cills. Here is the offside cill. Is it worth saving?
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/xxqu0kfmpitzvsk/OSrearCILLhole.jpg?dl=1)
Is that an upward dent in the sill where the hole is or an actual indent that is meant to be there?
Doesn't look too bad for fixing. Small plate would cover that.
Mine has that ominous looking crust along the bottom lip of the jacking point so I'm probably looking at similar when I take my sill covers off.
Rust is always worse than it looks, and it usually comes from the inside out. So the entire lower edge of the sill that's visible in the photo won't be any good, which poking with a screwdriver would prove. It's unlikely to be the only rotten area on the sill. I know mine have enough rot that patching them would take longer than slicing along the whole panel and fitting the entire sill. The ones I bought include the door jam, so a bit more trimming will make spot(plug welding with the MIG) welding the new panel along its top and bottom edges quick and easy. Not having to do a lot of finish grinding is also a BIG time saver.
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Looks similar to what I had in the 3.2, given lack of examples about I'd say it's worth saving. I took mine to Serek for a good value fix :y
But it's a 2.2 and it may still fail MOT. My impression is that a good professional cill change costs around £600, then there are all the other corrosion problems Nick W mentions.
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Looks similar to what I had in the 3.2, given lack of examples about I'd say it's worth saving. I took mine to Serek for a good value fix :y
But it's a 2.2 and it may still fail MOT. My impression is that a good professional cill change costs around £600, then there are all the other corrosion problems Nick W mentions.
I paid a fraction of that, I’ll drop you a PM.
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I have just watched a 2003 75000 miles 2.6 automatic saloon on e-bay with MOT till August go for £340 in Southampton, only declare fault, needing a door solenoid.
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Looks similar to what I had in the 3.2, given lack of examples about I'd say it's worth saving. I took mine to Serek for a good value fix :y
But it's a 2.2 and it may still fail MOT. My impression is that a good professional cill change costs around £600, then there are all the other corrosion problems Nick W mentions.
I paid a fraction of that, I’ll drop you a PM.
Thanks for PM. I have just read again your thread 3dec17-13dec17, which describes very well your cill problems and how you dealt with them.
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Having got the car to run properly, now comes the MOT challenge - holes in both rear cills. Here is the offside cill. Is it worth saving?
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/xxqu0kfmpitzvsk/OSrearCILLhole.jpg?dl=1)
Is that an upward dent in the sill where the hole is or an actual indent that is meant to be there?
Doesn't look too bad for fixing. Small plate would cover that.
Mine has that ominous looking crust along the bottom lip of the jacking point so I'm probably looking at similar when I take my sill covers off.
I think that dent is not original, it was caused by a bump. I imagine my welder will weld a plate over that hole, the dent and quite a length of cill.
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Dent probably arisen as a result of damage caused but incorrect jacking...
Basically if the sill cover moves as you jack the car, then the jack is incorrectly positioned.
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Could this occur because the user manual says 'depressions concealed by flaps at the front and rear on the vehicle underbody indicate the points where the jack is to be attached. Fold the flaps outwards to access the jacking points.'? Experienced car people know that the actual points are inboard of this on the metal seam, but inexperienced jackers may think you remove the flap and attach the jack literally at the depressions on the plastic behind the flap, which will then press on the outer sill itself.
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Wet muddy crap gets trapped in there behind the plastic covers and over time eats away at the metal.
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It is much better NOT to jack a car under the sills in my opinion
I jack the triangle donut plates or front subframe
I've also found using bottle jacks lifts a car strait up better ,
some trolley jacks pull the car up and over because the wheels jam ::)
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Cardboard, filler,, lots of black undersill. Old-skool rules. :D