Side skirt removal

[pureguava]

Double post in the Stephens and V8 section as it’s applicable to both and trying to find someone who might know...

 

I got the bumper off for a respray and the side skirts look little bit “ sand blasted “ towards the front and could do with a freshen up ......they look like they are a combination of bonded and riveted on there and look a bit tricky to remove / replace 

Has anyone removed them ? Any pointers ? How difficult to do this / replace 

thanks again!

[mike_sekinger]

They are a royal PITA to remove.  Once you have removed the rivets which is fun in itself, I found it best to use a masonary chisel to lift and break the bonding.  You will have to be brutal with the sill to remove it.   Eventually, once the sill is free you will need to break the fibreglass connection to the body where the air flows into the engine compartment.  This needs to be bonded back together on re-assembly.

It's a horrible job.

[pureguava]

Thanks mike - I will try to avoid this!

 

[Lex Templar]

Best to leave them on! I'm pretty sure they were bonded on before paint from the factory.

[eeyoreish]

I agree this is a PITA job. Had to remove the RH one from my '84 TE to repair some damage around the handbrake lever. Chopping away the air intake at the rear was by far the worst part. I'll be seriously considering leaving the LH one fitted even though (eventually) I'll be going for a colour change red to white.

[Woodie]

Hi

I thought that I would put my experience forward. I have just removed 2 turbo sills, retrofitted to an S2. 

Once I drilled out the 50!! rivets per side, I used a series of wide Beech wedges and with a mallet hammered half part way in, then wet them as they expanded put in the dry ones, then drove in the wet wedges. It took several steps to break the black mastic that had been used. 

It was a days work per side!!  They are available if anyone wants them?

Good luck

 

[eeyoreish]

That looks a lot like what's on my garage floor...