53 replies to this topic

[baggy33minis]

if you wan't your mini to be right and last longer its got to be fitted with the proper narrow sills.I hate seeing all those adverts that say fully restored and then show a pic of their shocking oversills.

pic of my old gt i rebuilt
 gt2_009.JPG   458.56K   136 downloads

[Carlos W]

I'll get rid of my wide outer sills and buy standard ones then!

[MigliaMayhem]

my car has over sills on, but didnt really know what they were when i brought it.
so might take them off in the summer and have a look once i can weld.

You are not alone. Obviously, you aren't to know until you learn from places like this forum. It's now a balance between leaving them until they need doing and maybe having more work to do, or getting with them sooner and finding they aren't yet that bad!

This depends on the individual, all I can say is from my experiance and the cover sills harvest corrosion and by the time it is evident on the outer sill the inner has usually fallen to bits.

The pictures I posted were fitted to a 97 cooper MPI with only 18k miles and the floor required a couple plates, so you can only imagine what lies behind a pair of seam welded cover sills with no drainage.

[59 Speed]

Hello all,

Thanks for all the advice, I was under the delusion that having wide, sealed sills would be better as it would not let water in - didn't think of condensation etc...

I think I will chop them down a bit as 1984mini25 has suggested, they should end up looking like miniman24's.

Cheers again, Ian

[l_jonez]

The other consideration is they create a weaker structure. The original sill forms a strong box section but with the over sill being welded under the floor it creates a much bigger box section that can be less stiff
Quick drawing

[dannye636]

ello i just bought a mini with over sills and thay made it that rusty thay fell of

[jonny d]

mine had oversills http://i192.photobuc...et/P4020339.jpg

Edited by jonny d, 25 February 2011 - 06:33 PM.

[minidaves]

wahoo someone that has noticed the affect vehicle stucture if you fit horrid over sills

dave

[Dan]

Given how they alter the structural design of a main member of the vehicle I can't see how over sills can be MOT worthy.

[Carlos W]

Given how they alter the structural design of a main member of the vehicle I can't see how over sills can be MOT worthy.

Where's Bungle and his soap box?

[charie t]

Given how they alter the structural design of a main member of the vehicle I can't see how over sills can be MOT worthy.

Have you seen some peoples impression of a repair? It can still pass an MOT test because the hole is no longer present and has been seam welded
MOT test doesn't test from an engineering veiw

[GTIAlex06]

I ordered normal genuine sills from mini spares and they gave me oversills. Only realised after ther welded up in the car.


All the old rust was cut out, iv drilled holes to release water. Got some wax in there. should be fine.

[Andywade]

Mine has oversills - I want rid


When i bought the car I did not know of the issues with oversills, looks like a propper bodge job under there, I think theres at least 2 lots of sills rusted away under there.

[lrostoke]

We are working on one now, Have it mounted in a spit, When we finished drivers side we put the car back horizontal and the car weighed more on the passenger side
After removing passenger side oversill we found 2 more sills under there one of them looked to be home made ?

Edited by lrostoke, 03 March 2011 - 04:47 PM.

[jamiestevenbell]

i have just had oversills fitted on my mini during the restoration but obviously i had the old rust cut out and replaced and the old sills cut off i was going to drill holes on the inside to fill them with wax oil and put a rubber grommet in would this be a problem for mot time and to stop the condensation i will drill a small hole in each grommet would this be sufficient to stop the condensation???