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Category: The Stash

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  • Pants, Jackets and Purses – Pickpocketing Guide

    Pants, Jackets and Purses – Pickpocketing Guide

    Pants, jackets and purses
    A short pickpocketing guide, written By Trx100
    Section 1 – Pants
    If you mention pick pocketing to an ordinary individual, they will immediately think of someone with their hand in another persons pocket. However, as any pickpocket will tell you, that is not the case. There are in fact quite a few different techniques that are used, although the first of which I’m going to mention, is the back pocket bump and lift.
      

     

     

    Back pocket lifts

     

    1. Bump and lift

     

    This is probably the most famous lifting technique as far as pick pocketing goes. As the name suggests, it involves bumping into the mark, and lifting the wallet, phone, cash, or whatever you are aiming for.
    Now, when you spot your mark, identify which pocket the goods are in. If you cant properly identify that there is actually a wallet in the pocket and you can get close enough, you can actually brush the pockets of the mark to feel for the wallet. This technique is known as “fanning”, and will come in handy during your pick pocketing life.

    So, you know where the wallet is, but how do you lift it?

    Trail the mark. Lifts like this tend to work better in crowded areas, so if you can trail him until he is in a crowd of people, you can really use this to your advantage. If not, the lift will still work, your bump just needs to be a whole lot more aggressive. In some cases, I’ve known people to actually smash the mark so hard, he has fallen to the ground. Just make sure you bump him just enough to make the lift.

    Line yourself up to the mark. Come from a slight diagonal angle, it makes it easier to bump, lift and pass by. Speed up, and approach the mark. You must also remember to keep your eyes OFF the marks pocket, and elsewhere. People can follow your line of sight, and will see you making the lift. Once you reach the mark, use your index finger and thumb, to grip the tip of the wallet. Now get ready to bump.
    The bump is merely shoving into the mark, so he is distracted. The mind can only focus
    on one thing at a time, so the mark will notice you slam into him, and not notice his wallet being removed from his pocket. This is the split second opportunity you have, to remove the goods from the mark.

    Bump into your mark. As you do this, use his forward momentum to help you lift the wallet. Pull the wallet back slightly, and slide it up and out of the marks pocket. Pulling it back slightly will stop the friction between the wallet and the marks leg, reducing the chance of him feeling it.
    Another technique you can use here during the bump, is hitting the marks pocket with your knee as you pass him. This is yet another distraction you can add the mix, and if you can hit the wallet up a little too, this will help the wallet come out of the pocket.

    Once the wallet is out of the pocket, palm it. Basically, this means concealing it in the palm of your hand. Apologize to the mark if you want, and carry on walking. Head away from the mark and into a restroom if you can, shuck the wallet for cash, and ditch it in the trash. Hell, if you really care, you can wipe it down for prints before you ditch it.

    2. Razor blade

    This style of lifting works really well. Its fast, easy to pull off, and doesn’t even involve a bump.
    Best to keep this one to crowded areas, as its easier to get up close to the mark for a longer amount of time.
    There are a few effective ways of slitting a pocket, which are explained below. I personally prefer the third one, as its easy, and the wallet prevents the mark from feeling you cutting his pocket much better than the first method I describe.

    1. Single slit (bottom)

    Take your razor blade, and make a slit across the bottom of the marks pocket, just below the wallet. Make sure the slit is just wider than the wallet. Put your hand at the bottom of the pocket, and the wallet should just drop out into it as the mark carries on walking. If not, push it down from the top of the pocket. Child’s play.

    2. Single Slit (middle)

    Make a single slit at the lip of the pocket, in the middle, going straight down. This will allow you to make a really simple lift as you are moving, as the wallet will slide out of the top of the pocket really easily, in one smooth motion. No bumping involved here! (unless you want to, of course

    3. Double slit

    This time, you will be slitting the sides of the pocket. Start at the lip, and work your way down to the bottom. This should allow the pocket to open up, revealing the wallet inside. All you have to do now, is take it.

     

    Side pocket lifts

     

    As far as pick pocketing goes, side pockets are known for being a lot harder to lift from. These are generally stayed away from, but if there does happen to be a opportunity that you just cannot resist, here is how to pull it off.

    1.Bump and lift

    Remember the technique we talked about in the back pocket bump and lift? Well, its time to use that all again. Its all pretty much the same thing, except you will be using your index and middle fingers to grab the goods.

    Follow your mark, on the side that the wallet is on. Approach him quickly, but this time, hit him from straight behind. Don’t go at a diagonal, like you would do for the back pocket lift. Bump into him, and push him forwards. Again, you use his forward momentum as an advantage to help you lift. As he is falling forwards, slip your index and middle fingers into the pocket, grasp the wallet, and slide it back out. He should literally fall straight away from his wallet.

    Palm the wallet, apologize, carry on walking. Same old routine.

    2. Dip and slip

    I personally love this method of lifting from side pockets. Its probably the easiest one to do, as it doesn’t involve a bump. However, this will only work on pants with really baggy, loose pockets, so be careful. Also, it’s a whole lot easier if you do this move with a jacket over your dipping arm, so the mark doesn’t see your hand going near his pocket.

    Trail your mark. Walk quickly, so you catch up to him. Once you get within arms reach, dip your fingers in and grasp the tip of the wallet. This is where the slip comes into play. Sure, you could just slow down, and let the mark walk out of his wallet. But that’s slightly risky, seeing as it IS a front pocket. I prefer this method that I made up a while ago…

    3. The cell phone slip

    With your free hand, pull out your cell phone. Slow down, so the wallet begins to slide out of the marks pocket. Begin speaking on the phone, I usually just ramble on about a load of crap, and make it sound legit in case anyone is listening. Now, slow down even more, letting the mark walk away from his wallet. Keep talking on the phone, eventually saying something like “Yeah hold on a second, Ill find out what the name of this road is..” or something similar. By now, you should have stopped, the mark should have walked
    away from his wallet, and all you have to do is finish off the role by saying “Alright, ill head back the way I came”.
    Walk off, shuck for cash, and ditch the wallet.

       

    Section 2 – Jackets
       
          

    Oh lawd. The jacket lift. One of the most simple lifting opportunities you will ever come across. Most of the time, you don’t even need to bump into the mark.
    Not only can you hit a jacket pocket from any angle, but the mark wont feel a thing…

    1. Bump and lift (Behind)

    Approach your mark from behind, and slightly to the side of him (whichever side the goods are on). Not too quickly, not too slowly. You don’t really need a large bump for this move to work, so don’t overdo it if you don’t need too. It can often lead to making things messy, and that’s the last thing you want.

    Once you are close enough, bump the mark, reach into the pocket quickly and pull out the prize.

    Its really that simple.

    2. Bump and lift (In front)

    See a potential mark, putting a phone or wallet into his jacket pocket in front of you? Simply approach the mark, on the side of him which he is carrying the items. Make sure you are not looking at the mark as you approach him, or else he is likely to spot you eyeing him up and find you suspicious. That said, always be aware of where he is, you don’t want to end up walking into a tree. You will need to walk straight into the mark. While you bump, dip in and make your lift with your outside hand (the hand furthest away from the mark). Apologize for being so careless, and walk off.

    3. Dip and slip

    You should be familiar with this method by now, it was covered earlier in the guide, and not only does it work on pants pockets, it works on jackets too! In fact, it’s a great method to use when you are trailing your mark, in a slightly crowded place. So how do you pull it off?

    Its much simpler to do with a jacket than with a pair of pants, but the principle is the same. Follow your mark, wait until you are within arms reach, dip the pocket with your index and middle finger, and slow down. The mark will walk away from his wallet. Simple stuff.

     

     

    Section 3 – Purses
      

    Heres a little bit of history…
    Back when I first started pick pocketing, all I wanted to do was lift from peoples pockets. No matter how much people told me to lift from purses, I was absolutely intent on getting the bump and lift down to a tee. Sure, this had its benefits, it meant I could perform that particular move pretty well, but I really didn’t realize what I was missing out on. That all changed when I gave in to my urges, and went for a purse lift.

    Purses have got to be one of my favorite places to lift from, if not THE most favorite. The goods inside are not in contact with the mark at all, women always carry more money
    than they need, and the purse itself is designed to be easy to get into so that means easy latches/clips, and usually a flap that covers the top.
    Put simply, a pickpockets heaven.
    But how do you go about removing the items from inside it?

    1. Dipping

    This is the most used method, and is fairly simple to pull off. Say you see a girl in the local store, purse slung over her shoulder, browsing through what there is to offer on the shelves. Now, you can be almost certain that she will have a wallet on her, as most girls don’t leave their house without one, especially if they have a purse over their shoulder. She is completely engrossed in what she is looking at, you check that the aisle is clear, and move in for the lift…

    Stand next to her, and slightly behind her, so you can reach into the purse more easily. Start browsing the shelf, possibly picking up a few things and having a look at what there is to offer. With your free hand, unclasp the purse. To mask the sound of the clasp, you can use your thumb (hard to explain, but you will know what I mean if you try it). Slide your hand underneath the flap, into the purse, and feel for the wallet, still keeping your eyes on the shelf in front of you.

    One you find it, pull it up, slip it out from under the flap, and walk away to the right if the mark is on your right, and to the left if the mark is on your left. This way, you wont have to spin round with the wallet in your hands, possibly drawing her attention and getting
    you caught in the act.

    Now, walk out of the store, shuck for cash and cards, or whatever is in there, and put the wallet in the trash.

    2. Kicking towards you

    Ever gone to a library, internet café, restaurant, or anywhere and see a woman take off her purse or bag, and leave it on the floor next to her?
    Happens a lot, and this is a great lifting opportunity that you should look out for. Personally, I find it easiest in internet cafés, as the woman is engrossed in what she is
    doing on the computer, and doesn’t pay attention to the bag she left on the floor. So for this method, ill describe it as if you were at an internet café.

     

    Take a seat at the computer next to her. Boot it up, and begin doing something – Browsing the internet, writing something on Word, etc. While you are doing this, hook your foot in the strap of the purse, and pull it towards you. Now, reach down, unclasp the purse, and take the goods. Hide the wallet in a jacket, or in your lap, or whatever. Now simply push the purse back over to the mark, get up, and walk out.

     

     

    And finally, a little summary…

    Well, that pretty much sums up a few of the best methods to use when pick pocketing. As you continue with your career, you will undoubtedly pick up or invent your own methods of stealing, which work the best for you. This is a great way to improve yourself, and make a better pickpocket, so try and get into your own style as quickly as you can. Just make sure you know the basics first, or else you wont find yourself getting anywhere.

    Thanks for reading!

     

     

    Discuss

    http://www.totse.info/bbs/showthread.php?t=4924

     

     

  • Antennas

    Antennas

    Antennas

    In this thread i will go over some different types of antennas commonly in use, I wont list every type of antenna as it would take to long but here are some examples

    Directional Antennas

    Yagi-Uda Antenna: Shortened to “Yagi”, most of you will know of this antenna type as it is commonly used for receiving TV signals. Basically it is comprised of a folded dipole which is connected to the lead out cable and is known as the “driven” element as well number of parasitic elements, one behind which acts as a reflector and is 5% longer than the others and one or more in front which are directors, these are not electrically connected to the dipole and have an impact on the gain of the antenna

    Yagi antenna:

    Helical Antenna: Commonly used for amateur satellite reception this antenna is basically a coil of wire wrapped around a support to hold the correct diameter and spacing between the turns with a grounded reflector at one end. the antenna is circularly polarised and depending on the direction the wire is wrapped will determine the polarisation of the antenna, either being left or right hand circular. this antenna will receive signals that are linearly polarised in any any orientation as well as either left or right hand circular depending on the polarisation of the antenna.

    Helical antenna:

    Omni-Directional Antennas

    Dipole Antenna: This antenna has two elements which are fed from the centre and generally are 1/4 of a wavelength long. they are commonly used as simple fm radio antennas

    Dipole antenna:

    J Pole Antenna: Also known as a “Zep” antenna as it was used on German Zeppelins. this antenna is made so one element is 3/4 of a wavelength long and the other being only 1/4 of a wavelength long. The antenna is matched to the feedline by a quarter wave transmission line stub.

    J Pole antenna:

    By Daktologist

    Discuss this.

  • Homemade Wave Tube from T.V.

    Homemade Wave Tube from T.V.

    I got bored today, and decided to finally do something with an old TV I had laying around with broken volume buttons.

    Following this guide, I ended up a working, showy blue oscilloscope.

    Pictures of how I got there:

    What I started with

    Trying to discover which coil was horizontal/vertical. The torn apart IDE hard drive was 13GB in size and is destined to become a Tesla turbine at some point.

    Closeup of the last picture. Alligator clips for the win! 

    Looks like I’ve got something…

    I hooked up my Ipod to a amp I removed from a broken boom box. Works well to adjust the thing 

    Just playin’ some music…

    Sawtooth wave in Audacity.

    The small amp and makeshift dummy deflection coil.

    All it really involved was some wire switching, and finding a replacement deflection coil to act as a dummy (This tv had a protection circuit). This took the most time, as every coil of wire I had simply got too hot and had strange effects on the wave.

    I ended up using the degaussing coil I got out of an old dell monitor I took apart, this worked perfectly. The resistance was almost exactly the same as the coil it was actually supposed to go to.

    I’m just screwing around in Audacity looking at square/sine/sawtooth waves in different frequencies at the moment, pretty fun to play with.

    Altogether it was pretty easy to make, looks cool, and has impressed a few friends. I think my work here is done…

    Discuss http://www.totse.info/bbs/showthread.php?t=678

  • Remounting your Rear-View Mirror

    Remounting your Rear-View Mirror

    Let’s face it, over time things start to go bad, and one of the things we don’t think about until it happens is the glue holding our rearview mirror DOES get old, and eventually it may fall down, which causes many problems, such as:

    • Creating a blind spot
    • Making it difficult to see who is behind you
    • Making it harder to back up
    • The ILLEGALITY of it. You WILL get pulled over sooner or later

    Remounting it is fairly easy if you know what you are doing, and have plenty of patience.

    The first thing you need to do is determine if you have the original bracket, or if you need a new one. In my case, I had the original bracket, but I opted to go with a new, plastic, bracket, as the glue I chose would stick better, and it had holes in it for a better central seal.

    Once you have your bracket of choice, you need to get glue. There IS a glue sold as “rear-view mirror adhesive”, but the 3 tubes of it I’ve acquired have all been dry and unusable, so I get automotive adhesive from wal*mart. It hold up to 465 psi, and is more than fine for holding my mirror up.

    Your next step is to scrape the old adhesive off of the windshield and clean the area to ensure that the new bracket will have the best possible seal.

    After prepping the area you simply apply the glue to the back of the bracket, and stick it on pointy side up, making sure the bracket is facing the correct way so the mirror can later be applied.

    That’s all there is to it! Just remember to BE PATIENT! It’s frustrating not having a mirror, but it’s more frustrating if you try to mount it too early, and end up having to start over from scratch. I put a bead of silicone around the bracket for an extra hold, and when my mirror is up I’m planning on putting a bead of silicone around it’s bracket also for an extra seal over time.

     

    Discuss here.

  • Change the Outer Sills on your Truck (Toyota Hilux)

    Change the Outer Sills on your Truck (Toyota Hilux)

    The outer sills on my truck were rotten – holes 10 inches long in some places and I had to change them. This is how it was done.

    If I was doing this job again, I would give myself 3 days having done it once. If I had access to a workshop / large garage I would take that down to 2 ½ days as you are then not having to take off doors every morning and put them back on each evening, you are not going to get rained off the job and you don’t have to get out and put away tools each day.

    You are going to need the following tools and materials:

    • Metric socket set with 6 sided sockets 8mm, 10mmm, 12mm and 17mm and extension bar
    • 600mm or longer socket bar
    • Mig welder that will weld at 25/30 amps with gas, wire and mask.
    • Angle grinder and lots of cutting and grinding disks
    • Flat head and cross head screw drivers
    • Mole grips and welding clamps (although you could just get away with mole grips)
    • Electric Drill and metal bits (5mm if you are cutting holes to plug weld through)
    • Jogglers with a punch if you prefer to punch the holes to weld through
    • Metal snips
    • Small and large hammer
    • 1 inch chisel.
    • Spot weld drill bit
    • centre punch
    • Stanley knife
    • Marker pen
    • Big bit of cardboard or some carpet
    • Sandwich bags
    • Seam Sealer
    • Primers, paint, lacquer, sand paper, paint prep rags
    • Some one to make tea
    • Marlboros / roll ups (optional)

    Advice

    You should also have some WD40 for cleaning and freeing stuff, copper grease for when you put things back together and some rags or kitchen paper. You will need some good rust killer / inhibitor for the inner sill. I use Bilt Hamber Hydrate 80. Its good to have some scrap steel in case you need to make any more little bits of panel up too, I got away with using good bits of sill I had cut off but had some steel on standby anyway.

    Protective equipment is up to you. I always wear mask when welding as I don’t want a flash, other than that just overalls, that’s why my hands are covered in cuts and burns and my legs and feet have burns on them from welding spatter. The spatter burns straight through trainers 🙂 .

    The sills are only available from Toyota at the moment and come in at £134.49 + vat per side. Part numbers are T61412-35020 for the left hand side and T61411-35020 for the right hand side although if you phone up, give your chassis number and ask for the outer sills, parts boy should know what you mean.

    I see no reason at all why the job would not be very similar for the single cab – from looking at pictures of a single cab sill, the front end and profile seem to be exactly the same, the double cab sill just being longer, having a pressing in it for where it sits under the B post and the rear edge has a little step in it.

    Start by taking off the trims that sit on the sill / under the door. These have screws in the them, just take the screws out and the trim should pop off. Put the screws back into the trim and store them some where safe. Lift the hooks that hold the carpet off the sill.

    You should be able to start to make out where the spot welds are – the entire panel is spot welded, making removal and replacement simple. If you are replacing a whole panel on a car, spot welding should be fine unless the original was seam / butt welded – use common sense and replace like for like. If you are cutting out and replacing part of a panel, it will have to be seam welded.

    You might want to take off your wheel arch extensions and wheel arch liners on the front, but its not 100% necessary, it just means the wing will have less weight and so stress on it when you take it off and it makes it easier to get over the aerial on the near side.

    The extensions and arch liner are held in place with self tappers and 8 mm headed ACME bolts. The same bolt it used to hold the mud guard in place, undo all but the inner bolt on this and push the mud guard under the truck. You might find the bolts are rotten and they snap and the screw heads are rotten and wont come undone. Its a Hilux. That’s what happens.

    If like me, your inner wings are rotten, the wheel arch liner and extension should come away pretty easily. Try and take them off a couple of days before you start to see if the wing is rotten so you know if you need to buy a new one or you can repair the ones you take off. Would not be hard to weld some new metal where its needed or even rivet some new metal, hiding the rivets behind your wheel arch extensions, but I wouldn’t call this a permanent fix.

    I then had to take my bumper off so I could be sure to expose all of the bolts holding the wing on. On putting the truck back together, I think its not strictly necessary as you could get to the bolts behind the bumper with an 8mm spanner.

    To take off the bumper, there is an L shaped bracket at either end where the bumper mounts on a rubber bush. Again, the nuts on the bolt we rusted to bits. The bolt is welded to the L so all I could do was grind off the nut and as much of the bolt as possible. I later drilled through the original bolt and tack welded the new bolts in place to re-use the bracket, but they are available new from RoughTrax and Milners, they are about £7 a side.

    As I have a winch on my truck, I first had to take off the top half the of winch – this was held on with 4 machine screws. I should have also removed the spot lights to avoid breaking the lenses (never mind, shiny new ones next pay day).

    You now need to get down under the centre of the truck at the front and you will see the main fixings for the bumper are 4 17mm headed bolts. You will need as 17mm socket and an extension bar – my 600mm bar coped, but I wouldn’t like to try with a 400mm bar. I do have a 24V impact wrench that I tried to shift the bolts, but it wasn’t happening, so the bar was the only way for me. Might work with air tools, I don’t know. Once the bolts were loose, I could take them out with the impact wrench.

    Now for the sandwich bags. Put the bolts in one of them and label it accordingly then put it some where safe. Do this For all bolts and fixings you take off so you do not lose them.

    I then found out had to release the front panel that the lights are held in to lift the bumper out. You will have to remove it even if you decide to leave the bumper in place as it holds the wings on. It is held by 2 screws on each end and then you should be able to pop it off. While you are doing this the bumper should be secure as it sits on two arms. Once you have removed the screws from the ends of the front panel, you can lift it from its position (you do not need to disconnect the the lights to do this) and lift the bumper out. Give the threads from the 17mm bolts a spray of WD40 as it will help to keep them clean for when you come to refit. If you are a real boyscout you could put copper grease on the bolt and screw it back in, but this means taking it out when you come to fit back up.

    You are now ready to take the wings off. The wings are held on with 10mm headed ACME bolts. The locations are in the following photographs.

    These bolts will probably be so rusted they snap off right away. I replaced them with 40mm M6 bolts. Don’t worry about having to drill and tap for them as you will see these bolts are held by nuts welded to the new sill.

    In the engine bay you have 4 bolts, two will have rubbers on them for the bonnet to rest on. Again, bag up and label everything you take off.

    The above pictures show where the mounting bolts are behind the bumper. The one on the side, you should be able to see, the on on the front is actually on the other side of the panel, but you will be able to get your hand up there and feel it. The last bolt is behind the door – open the door and look at the top corner of the wing. You are going to have to put the 10mm socket on an extension bar to get in there.

    Once this is undone, the wing should be free, if you have started on the off side, make sure you take the castellated nut off the aerial mount. You can now lift the wing up enough to expose the connection for the indicator, you might need a small screwdriver to push the clip part of the connector to get it apart. The wing can now be lifted off and stored for refitting if its in good condition. If not, store it away (don’t want pikeys taking it) as you will need the indicator and the wheel arch liner fittings, but these can be left in the wing until you need to take them out if replacing.

    Now you have the wings off, its time to get the doors off. Taking them off and refitting them is a simple one man job. Wind down both front and back windows before you start un-doing anything as this makes moving the doors around so much easier. Knock out the pin that holds the door retainer with light taps of a hammer from below and then you should be able to lift it out.

    Now, make sure your doors are closed properly. Prepare some card or a bit of carpet to rest the doors on for when you get them off.

    The 4 bolts you need to undo are the hinge to door bolts. These require a 12mm socket on an extension. Slacken all bolts before you remove any, you don’t want to be in the situation of having 3 of the bolts out and one that take a lot of moving as you will have just that and the door lock mechanism holding the door on.

    Once you have the 4 bolts out, get one shoulder in the open window and open the door. You should be able to lift it out of the aperture no problem, rest them on the cardboard or carpet you prepared. You should now be ready to start cutting!

    Start off on the front section between the A and B post. With a metal cutting disc on a grinder, you can split the sill leangth ways down to middle so you can have a look inside fist, or just do as I did and cut the sill as close to the lips where it is welded to the inner sill. Be very careful when cutting next to the A post as there is an outrigger that you might cut into. If you do cut it, you can weld it back together so all is not lost if you get it with the grinder. There are some ‘hidden’ spot welds at the A post end of the sill. I drilled out enough spot welds holding the A post so I could get in. You can also get in to them by removing the piece of trim in the foot well.

    Getting this bit of the sill out is the hardest part of the job, just as the area below the A post has a few different sections meeting up, so there are a few spot welds to cut out. I see no reason why, if the metal is good here why you could not leave an inch or so of the sill protruding from the A post, trim the new sill section and weld it up again, but I wanted to do it without cutting the new sill. All though you are then in the territory of replacing a section of a panel and by MOT rules as I understand them seam weld on the new sill all the way around, well, its up to you.

    You should be able to see the joins between the sill and A post and B post as there is seam sealer between the two. Cut this out with a stanley knife. When you are happy you know where the outrigger is on the B post, cut as much of the sill away as you can, but try and leave ½ inch to an inch just below the B post as you are going to need to grip with the mole grips when you have released the spot welds to pull it out.

    I tried two different bits for cutting spot welds. The first was from Machine and Mart and had a telescopic spike and what would be described as a very small hole saw. These blades break really easily and the tool leaves behind a nipple of metal that needs to be ground off. There are a few deep spot welds through a couple of pieces of metal that this just wont do. I then tried a spot weld bit from Screwfix. This is more like a milling bit, takes out the whole spot weld so no grinding is needed, it seems to cut much faster and it didn’t break or wear out.

    Using the spot welding bit or a hammer, chisel and grips, remove the strip of metal pictured above. When drilling out spot welds, give the spot weld a good whack with a punch and hammer so the drill doesn’t slip.

    The B-Post has 8 or 9 of spot welds to the sill, some of them very close together. Locate them by site, punch and drill them and when the remaining sill starts to move around, you should be able to feel where it is still attached. Drill out any remaining spot welds and the remaining sill should pull out easy enough.

    Cut the top and bottom of the sill under the rear door and get the bit of the sill out. From looking at your new sill, you should see a lip where it locates at its rear into that nice curved section with the bung in the rear and you should be able to judge how far to cut back. Again, leave a little metal around the edge so you can pull. I think there were two spot welds in the rear section I had to chop with a chisel as I could not get in with the drill. It didn’t matter anyway as the lower C post was rotten I made a new one – I think if your sill is rotten enough to be replaced the lower C post will be on yours too, so removing that is the access you need when you come to weld back up.

    All that remains one you have the pieces from the A, B and C post removed is to remove and of the upper and lower parts of the sill – you can drill out the spot welds or go at them with a chisel and grips as below. Notice the highlighted section. There are 3 or 4 of these on the inner sill – its not damage, its a water drain channel so when you come to weld back up, do not do your welds on these!

    Once you have all the metal off, clean up the inner sill. Where it looked the worst on mine I removed rust back to bare metal and had a prod at it with a screwdriver to make sure there was enough metal there – all was fine but if I had made any holes I would have cut patches and welded them in, its would save welding patches in from the underside in six months time. Treat the area with rust killer / stabiliser – again I used Bilt Hamber Hydrate 80 as not only does it make rust chemically inactive, it forms a seal, just make sure you get rid of all the rust first as you do not wan to trap any moisture. You can then grind the upper and lower edges of the inner sill to remove any paint, snots of spot weld and contamination.

    Once the surface prepared, offer up the new sill. This can be a two person job to get it seated right. Make up where you want your spot welds to be on the new sill with a marker, take the sill back off and using a centre punch and 5mm drill bit or a joggler / punch tool, cut the holes to weld through. When marking up, mark in the same location as the old spot welds, that way you cannot go wrong.

    Put the new sill back on and have a cup of tea.

    After the tea, disconnect both batteries and the alternator. The alternator has 3 connections – a triangular grey plug, a square black plug and a heavy wire bolted on to the top, hidden under a grey rubber cover. Lots of different ideas on disconnecting batteries and alternators – for example on a ‘modern’ car with an ECU and lots of electrical equipment people recommend leaving them on as they help to prevent voltage spiking and what not. For a couple of minutes under the bonnet tho, I get the piece of mind my batteries are not going to explode and my alternator will still work. If I had an ECU, I would probably remove that as I have heard too many stories about expensive bits getting cooked 🙂 .

    Below the B pillar, grind the primer / paint from the new sill as you are going to attach the earth here. When welding on a car, always have your earth close to the weld. There is no point attaching far away so the electricity has to travel through lots of bits of car.

    Make sure you have had a few goes on the welder to see it is set up right so you dont end up burning a load of holes. I used a Clarke 165 Turbo, which on its lowest setting gives out 30 amps. Consider 30 amps the most you want to use, I would have preferred to use 25 amps. For the spot welds, the wire speed was set to 3.5 on this machine. I then attached the earth clamp, turned on the gas, switched on and got the welding helmet comfortable.

    Clamp the sill within about 1inch of the hole you going to weld through with welding clamps or mole grips, you want the metal to be together with no gaps around the hole. Feed half to three quarters of an inch from the end of the shroud on the welder, and then get the torch up close to weld – I had it 1 ½ inches from the weld. Aim the wire at the very centre of the hole so it goes through and contacts the inner sill first. If you do not, the weld will not penetrate the inner sill and all that will end up happening is you fill in the hole you made to spot weld or burn a hole in the new sill. If you do fill in the hole without penetrating, grind the weld flat, centre punch it and drill it out and do it again.

    If you burn a hole, you will have to repair it with weld – make small welds to fill the hole. Once you have some small welds in place, you can make bigger welds as the weld you have put down will not burn through nearly as quick as the sill will. Again, grind and tidy up each one. When it has cooled down sufficiently, get some primer on it. I used Number 8 etch primer on all welds and exposed metal with a view to covering with normal primer then paint.

    Plug weld all the panel, remembering there are some in the B post. Once you have the whole sill on, check your welds. You can do this by trying to get a screwdriver between both inner and outer sill – if you can, check the nearest welds and see if the weld has penetrated – if it hasn’t, drill it out and do it again. Apply seam sealer to the lower A, B and C pillars.

    You can now go on and do the other side.

    If you need to put the doors back on as you are working outside and its getting late / raining, just lift them back into the appature and press it in. The lock will hold the door while you get at least a bolt in the top hinge and one in the bottom hinge and always refit the doors rear first, front second.

    Once you have both new sills on, you can repaint. Best to have the doors off for this, but make sure when you come to put everything back together, you put the doors on before the wings. This is one of the new rear lower C pillars I made.

    It was made from 2 pieces of steel – some from the old sill and some from some steel I had lying around. I made the outer section fist from some sill, as it was already nearly the right shape. I tack welded this to the lower C pillar, then made some longitudinal cuts in its rear edge to I could fold tabs around on the curve. The picture I made in paint should help with the idea.

    The rear section was easy to cut out and it quite self explanatory. Making the hole for the bung was a bugger, in the end I marked up and drilled the circle out and tidied it with a file. This was then spot welded on and tacked to the other part, I then started doing full welds, paying attention to the first piece where I had cut for the tabs to fill those with weld. I built up this area then grinded it to shape.

    I did get new wings, so I then cut the holes for the indicators as they did not come pre cut – again, drilling and filing. Cleaned the wing, couple of coats of primer, couple of coats of paint and offered them up. The panel fit was not nice, with the wing bellying out on the edge where it meets the door and not sitting right with the bonnet. I looked at the old wing and there is a spacer that goes between the wing and sill – once this was fitted the panel was good fit.

    Remember, if the bolts for the wing to sill rotted out on your old sill, you just need some 40mm M6 bolts – any car care shop should sell them. Waxoil underneath and the leading edge of the a post and sill and get as much as you can in through the grommet.

    Once the wings were on, the bumper went back on, then the panel above it, reconnected the alternator and batteries and realised some on had stolen my number plate.

    By dr rocker

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