MGB & GT Forum

I had a hole in the dog leg passenger side about a quarter size. After judicious use of a screwdriver it is now along the length of the dogleg. The sill inside was also rotten. The sill under the door is sound. If the sill is repaired, is a "back section" available to go under the dog leg?
The inner sill is sound but just the outer under the dogleg wAs rotten.
Thanks

Awesome, thanks for the tips. I have read porters midget book which was also great. I am lucky that the rust is not more severe. The car is a 67 so not very rusty for that vintage. Always was a CA or west coast car.

To answer your question.

NO there is not a partial sill repair panel. Either buy a sill and trim what you need, or make a repair section based on your skill level. I tend to buy the sill and cut; have tossed several new sills with a bite taken out of the back 10 inches.

If you have not already cut out the dogleg section, I advocate for leaving the as much of the old edges in place around the door and wheel well. People tend to get a bit cut happy when doing this for the first time.

Post a pic.

Pete

X2 on PP note (I for one got cut happy on the Drivers side, not so much on the Pass side...)

Gordon,

I assume you're referring to the front dog leg. If so, consider buying the full panel that goes up to the trim strip. That's an easier welding job than butt welding the shorter panel. If you do use the short version, I'd recommend using a backer plate to avoid warping. My friend welded in a piece of scrap to fix the inner sill hole that seems to come as a matched set with the outer damage.

Have fun! We finally did both dog legs and some other repairs on our roadster last summer. With a new paint job, it's finally a presentable (and shiny) car after 28 years of ownership!

Steve

Much easier to make it look right if you don't cut the dog leg clear into the door jamb if at all possible.

What Joe did sounds like what the OP wants to do. I like Joes approach. If suited, I sometimes take a diagonal cut so as to preserve the factory join near the base of the door.

Good advice so far- Another suggestion would be to buy a pneumatic flanging/punch tool (harbor freight about $30.00). Trim, Fit & the Mark the edge of your replacement panel on the existing dogleg so that you can leave about 3/8 extra below the mark/edge for the patch panel when you final trim the existing dogleg. Punch holes about every 1 - 1 1/2 inches along that 3/8 strip. Flange the repair panel to fit behind the existing body part and temporarily fit/attach new metal in place with a few sheet metal screws, clamps and/or special fasteners. You then have a welding area/seam that is 2 thicknesses to plug weld (fill in the punched holes with weld and grind off flat). Skip around and use low settings and you will not distort. You can if you like add some tacks on the seam between/below the holes and grind. Makes for an nice even joint when filled as the metal surfaces are the same level given the offset of the flange.

There are several way to do this and others may have better suggestions, but as a less than expert welder this technique worked fine for me.

Best, Bob K

Yep - I have done the flanging trick and the butt weld on the drivers side, the passenger side is going to be butt welded as I learned about not cutting too much out right off on the drivers side (thanks Peter and all here), this is the result of the drivers side after HOURS of fitting, hammering, tacking, removing, re-fitting, etc., and several drinks later!!!! on a long winter day!

The fit around the door was worked on by closing the door, measuring, opening, re-adjusting, etc., I had to go into the pillar a bit to get rid of some bad sections and am overall pretty happy with the repair...

i've seen on here before where someone has used glue to attach dog legs.

here is a pic of my progress so far. Welding is ugly as I did not have a sill panel and just made up a repair from different pieces.
I was not able to save the wheel arch as I had to remove the triangle at the back of the sill that was rusted.
I have the dogleg repair fitting pretty well, but there is a space between the triangle piece at the back of the sill and the wheel arch. Should I make up a piece to fill this in?
It looks like a "factory rust trap planned obsolescence" between the rear wing and sill.
Thanks for any tips

I am the crazy who glued his new doglegs using 3M body shop adhesive. That was in 2005 and they are still holding fine.

Awesome. I heard there was a ford Taurus glued with that and it was too strong in a crash test( did not crumple).

The 3M is fine as long as its not a structural part of the car, Rich O