Door seal sill repair

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I've been a little lazy lately where the Mini is concerned. Rather than tackle large jobs like upgrading to a Stage 1 kit, I've only undertaken small preventative maintenance tasks to keep the Mini running. In fact for several months now I've hardly had to do any work on the Mini, which has been great.

Rusted inner sill

One job that needed doing rather urgently was a patch up of the driver's side sill. Water draining out of the bottom of the driver's door had resulted in a rusty hole on the inner sill over time. It had gotten so bad that water was now coming into the car during heavy rain.

Treat and fill

First I inspected the area by removing the door seal and clearing away excess rust with a wire-brush attachment on a power drill. This left sharp jagged pieces of metal and a small hole, which was more a gap between the inner and outer sill. I considered spot welding but it was a small hole and it was not a strength point on the car.

Smooth and primer

I used Genolite to treat any small bits of rust remaining. After it was dry I used Davidson's P40 glass fibre body sealant to fill the hole and left it overnight to harden. The next day I smoothed it to shape and then used Davidson's P38 body filler to smooth out any small gaps or holes and left it to dry overnight.

Apply top coat and allow to dry

The next day I smoothed out the body filler, cleaned away excess dust and gave the area three coats of grey primer paint allowing an hour in-between to dry. Next I sprayed three topcoats of paint, again allowing an hour in-between to dry.

I'd carried out this job over a weekend starting Friday evening and finishing Sunday afternoon. On Monday morning I inspected the area and then replaced the door seal and continued to use the car as normal.

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