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!)
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