bmwe21.net forums

Hello!
I have a 1981 318i and I have just realised that my door sills are very rusty behind the paint..

I have found sills to buy quite cheap but I´ve heard from different sources that you SHOULD weld them into place and some sources say you should NOT weld but rather use pop rivets and glue?

http://static.schmiedmann.dk/ProductPic ... 51_big.jpg

Have anyone made a thread here in the forum about changing the door sills? I havent found one..

Have anyone some pics from when they have done it or just as much tips as possible to help me out!

Thankful for all help I can get

You will find tons of info and detail here:

http://www.bmwe21.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=22124

Or just ask.

Glue and rivets is not done. Just build it like they did in the Factory. So sils need to be spotwelded on the lower side every inch or so. In top also, but near the A pillar and B pillar it is Copper soldered. I used some extra spotwelds and sealant.

From the horses mouth directly

uwbuurman wrote:

Or just ask.

Glue and rivets is not done. Just build it like they did in the Factory. So sils need to be spotwelded on the lower side every inch or so. In top also, but near the A pillar and B pillar it is Copper soldered. I used some extra spotwelds and sealant.

thank you super much both for this answer and the verrrry nice thread about your restoration!!

so what you did first was to drill out the old factory spot welds and melt the old soldering and removed the original sill? after that i guess i have to drill out new holes in the new sill (as it in the image looks like it doesnt have the holes)?

is it a certain position it will fit into or do i have to somehow create a jig to hold it exactly in right place? any tips of that unless its "one way only to fit it"?

again thanks a bunch!!

I didnt drill holes in the new sills because I used a spotwelding machine. But if you dont have one of those you drill the holes and weld them shut.

The old one I roughly cut out, and afther that I care fully stripped down the rest with a grinder and a drill. There are specific spotwelds drills, have a flat head so you dont damage the metal behind it.

@uwbuurman i have one more question, as you see in the image in the link below, my door sill doenst seem to look just like yours. you seem to have the two holes in the back end of it as well as it seem to sort of "bend" inwards there a bit to follow the shape of the body. my door sill i bought is straight and does not have those two holes and mine has a sort of an extra panel at what i believe to be the rear end of mine.

(see link:
http://static.schmiedmann.dk/ProductPic ... 51_big.jpg
http://magnumeuropeanclassicpanels.co.u ... 00_1_2.jpg)

im thinking about cutting off the top part and that extra piece of body panel and only use the lower part which is normally painted black on the e21?
an example link here to show what i mean with the lower part which is black:
http://s.petrolicious.com/2014/feature/ ... aur-17.jpg
do you think i can cut my new sill to only use that lower part and thus only change the outter side of it (and not the top side which on my car is rust free) or will it be too tricky to weld? do u think it would need to be fully welded (and not just spot welded) as it is on the outside of the car, now IF it works to do this at all?

i have welded some steel tube crash frames (cro-mo steel) and some other smaller jobs but never any body parts like this and therefore im a bit in need of help!

i hope i can make u all understand what im trying to say...!

Yeah, well, that is a "Weld over" sill. Mine are copies of the original ones. The one you show is for welding over the rotten parts, they don't have the enforcements inside, above the jackpoints.

Original, the sill runs behind the rear quarter panel. I got the replacement sills at Walloth&Nesch and I think I rather would have those instead of that weldover piece...

On the other hand, if you are not looking to replace the whole sill, than it is fine as a donor piece...

If you have rust in the sill remove the front guard and check.
As sill continues to under the guard it is very common point for them to rust.

If you are doing it, do it properly.