Hi All,

Just had a our breadvan fail its MOT, mainly on brakes but there was also a little bit of rust.

The tester has written Offside inner (rear sill by petrol piller neck) Vehicle structure has excessive corrosion seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of the body mountings.

So clearly I need to fix it, but after getting the wheel off and the car on axle stands I noticed what was a LOT of mud, scraping around the filler neck, I must have taken a good bucket full of clogged up dirt from around the area. The only actual rust I could find was on the corner of the sill, where it becomes a single skin curved peice which then goes up the arch.

Inside, i cant see any rust to the inner sill.

Almost all the nasty you can see here is welsh mud.

Whats the best approach, I could fashion a bit of steel to tidy up the end of the outer sill and sort the arch profile out, but should I take out the fueltank to check behind the filler neck?

Also should there be a plastic trim on this arch to stop this getting full of mud?

Any help or advice appreciated.

I'd take out the tank if you're welding that close to the filler neck.

I've repaired this area on 3 polos and it's fairly straight forward, I can bet when you cut the outer rot off, the inner sill will have a hole or two aswell though.

Mines similar to that however does not look as bad,,,can you get a repair panel for that lower bit?

Garuntee wet mud didn't help, but at the end is a very thin but of metel, thier was a thread of someone who did a repair like this, I think it's in the FAQ, might help you

Cool thanks will take a look in the FAQ,

Ill be taking out the fuel tank as I don't like the idea of welding with it there either lol, plus its empty so its almost all fumes.

I haven't been able to find any panels available anywhere so may have to fabricate something.

Am sure one is on ebay £50 genuine vw

Buy a full sill if you don't want to fabricate one

I think I have found one on the 'Bay, but no mention if its just outer or comes with the inner strengthener bit - is it just one panel?

First thing to do is get some new axle stands so I can get far enough under it to drop the tank, then hope the damage hasn't spread too far lol

I recently repaired a mk2 classic in the same area, the work is in this thread

http://www.clubpolo.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=44726&page=7

This one looked okay but the inner panels were held together by the sealant!

Edited 5 August, 201412 yr by Vic

I recently repaired a mk2 classic in the same area, the work is in this thread

http://www.clubpolo.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=44726&page=7

This one looked okay but the inner panels were held together by the sealant!

Thats great thanks! Pictures there really help, since I haven't got much reference left

No worries, good luck with the repairs. Incidentally I used a 'klokkerholm' full sill and chopped the back from it - joined it near the door 'b' post.

No signs of rust from inside which I guess is a good sign, struggling to get the car high enough to comfortably remove the fuel tank at the moment, pita job :(

Taking it out isn't the hard part!