John, My sympathies - one of the annual events that tries the tolerance of the most dedicated Spitfire driver in the UK...
#80 sounds pretty cheap to me - I hesitate to say too cheap?? What will be done at this price will be a cosmetic repair only, it won't really add back the full strength you have lost with the rusty sill. I had Daffy's welded up for about #100 myself a few years back, but I saw this only as a stop-gap to get me through the MOT and back on the road. Then, a year later, Daffy failed MOT again... for rusty sills. So not only will a cheap repair not give you the strength you need, it will also need doing again pretty soon, negating any saving you might have made. The second time I had the sills cut out and replaced with new panels obtained from TRGB. That cost me #300 (inc. VAT), plus the cost of the panels which I sourced (only $30-odd I seem to remember, for both sides). That included all labour, plus painting with stone-chip, which I intended to paint over with Inca Yellow (but still haven't, so still driving around with black sills!). That was still pretty cheap compared to some of the quotes, which were in the #500-#800 range. The high price quotes were from classic specialists, who expected to do the job PROPERLY - i.e. cut out all rusty metal they found, and keep cutting until they found something solid, and re-build from there, plus do a decent job on the painting. The #250 job was from the everyday garage-round-the-corner, and they just cut the old sills out and welded the new ones onto whatever was left behind. You pays your money and takes your choice. I would strongly advise replacing the sills, because if you don't do it this time the problem will be back sooner than you want. Whether you go for a truly professional job, or something like I had done, depends on your wallet and what you want your car to be. If you are really cash-strapped get the cosmetic job done, but expect to re-visit the sills sooner rather than later. Good luck!! Richard & Daffy (who is due in a month or so's time, so keep your fingers crossed!) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Important Notice: The information in this email is confidential and may be legally-privileged. If you have reason to believe you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, distribution or any action taken or omitted to be taken in reliance on it is prohibited and may be unlawful and you are requested to contact the sender urgently and dispose of this email -----------------------------------------------------------exp. /// [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list /// Send admin requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] /// or try http://www.team.net/cgi-bin/majorcool /// Archives at http://www.team.net/archive /// Send list postings to [EMAIL PROTECTED] /// Edit your replies! If they include this trailer, they will NOT be sent.
