Filling gap between bottom rails and ali sides?
 

Afternoon All,

I've got a bit of a gap between my ali side panels and bottom chassis rails in the engine bay. It's been slowly filling with swarf and crap, and I'm a little worried it's going to end up full of water when I get it on the road:



I've just given it a quick clean out, and wondering if I should fill it with some kind of sealant, or possibly drill some drain holes in it.
Any thoughts?

If the gap is open at the nose end and the chassis 25mm lower at the front than the back as normal then any water should drain out, nothing wrong with a couple of 10mm holes for drainage, the last thing you want is a water trap.

Could you not fill the gap with silicone? It's flexable and should give. A nice enough finish if you used clear.

Sorry to go on a slight tangent. Does the same not occur for all panels? I've just cut a rear bulkhead panel and, unless i do a fair bit of filing on the joints of the chassis tubes, it'll be very hard to get the panel to sit completely flush agaisnt the rails. I am imagining the same will be true when I come to offer up the floor panel as well...?

I guess it does to some extent, it's just that most panels sit (more or less) flat against the chassis rails, rather than going off on a tangent like the sides at the front of the chassis.
Wherever the panels do sit flat I've bonded them on with sikaflex, hopefully filling any slight gaps.
I was just wondering if it's worth doing the same for the massive gaps at the front.

TSM - good point about them sloping forwards and being able to drain out of the front. Or it would be if I hadn't folded the panels over the front frame at the bottom and sealed that gap up!

Might be a silly question but did you grind back the welds were the panles will fit ? As this make a much tighter and better finish !!
I also siliconed my tiny gaps and they are still just as good
:D ;) :) :cool: