[Lokidog]

Hearing about the cancer (rust) that is possibly concealed under the plastic trim covering the sills of Sierra's, I had a rush of fecal matter to the brain and got out the grinder

Firstly I removed the rubber trim by unscrewing all the fixings at the base to reveal the steel skirting and it's spot welds.

After about 50-60mins of carefully grinding away at the 24 spot welds (both sides), the steel skirts came away to reveal minor surface rust to the sills.



The side of the steel skirt which the grinding was done



The hidden rusted on the inside of the steel skirt.

As this was only minor surface rust, it was easily repaired.

I spent some time sanding the sills to remove all the surface rust and then I used K&H Stop Putty to fill in the hollows resulting from the grinding.





Then I had to wait a couple of hours for the filler to cure…

After the 2 hour wait… I sanded back the sills where the filler had been used. I then gave both sills a good going over with a wax & grease remover before proceeding to mask it off for the primer coat.



The Zook patiently waiting for the filler to cure.



The masked off area with the first coat of primer. I gave it another 2 coats of primer.

I will sand it back and use some more filler where it is required.



Still a fair bit to do.

I'm deciding whether to paint the sills in a black or a hammertone grey and also whether to continue the colour used on the sills into the flares.

I may do a Photochop of the Zook to see what it looks like.

Update - Did a quick Photochop…

A couple of pics…



As is with white flares and sills



Photoshopped with black flares and sills

and a couple more



Grey flares and sill or sill only

[Lokidog]

This weekend I finally got around to finishing the painting of the sills.
Saturday morning I used some more putty to fill in the hollows which became more evident after the original coats of primer.



After applying more putty, I left it for a couple of hours so it would cure. Putty tends to shrink slightly on curing and when I used the putty originally, I smoothed it flush with a putty knife. This left slight hollows that I needed to fix before the final coat. Next time I'll remember to leave the filler slightly proud so I can sand it back flush.

Then I sanded the sills back, cleaned them up again with wax and grease remover and masked them off for the final coat of black.



I applied 4-5 coats of gloss black, which I'll leave till next weekend to cut back to a nice shine



I pulled all the masking off late yesterday afternoon. It come up a treat!!! Happy as a pig in poop! I'll post up a pic of the final result after I've cleaned the zook up a bit.

[Scrawny]

Looking good!! Let me know when I can send mine over

[Damo]

Mate! Top job, really nicely done.

[Lokidog]

Thanks Scrawn and Damo, it's been something that I've been meaning to do for a while.
After hearing about the steel skirts on zook's rusting out, I thought I'd pull my finger out and get on to it. I was also surprised about the amount of sand and crap that finds its way in behind the plastic trim as well.
I definitely recommend removing the plastic sill trim and steel skirts on any zook that still has them. (Just cross your fingers that the rust is only surface and not perforating, or the repair job won't be as simple as mine).

Another thing to mention is that I'm not a panel beater or spray painter by any means. I don't even use a grinder much also! This is something that anyone with a bit of patience can do. Just take your time like I did, and if unsure just ask a friend who does have the skill to help you out.