I am after a bit of advice on my VW camper project. The middle sill on the sliding door side was okay where it attached to the floor and also about two inches down but I had to cut the rest of the vertical metal and weld about 3 inches of vertical metal until it eventually meets the lower edge of the inner and outter sills.
The problem is that even though I tacked the repair and only did short welds, distortion bent the metal slightly. The metal seems to have bowed so that if you look with your head against the rear wheel arch towards the front wheel arch you notice it bows outwards like a flared wheel arch.
My question is whether there is any way to bend the metal back straight again. I have started nearest the rear axle where the metal is okay and then after each plug weld tried hammering it and bending it with clamps etc but as I have moved forward it isn't working to bend it straight.
I am reluctant to cut the repair metal that I have previously welded in because with the inner sill now in place I won't be able to weld it from both sides as I think I might have done before. Also it will possibly distort again anyway.
Any ideas? The metal is approximately 1.5mm thick. But it is being welded to the inner sill which is thinner which makes it difficult when clamping the two together because the inner sill will bend.
The problem is that even though I tacked the repair and only did short welds, distortion bent the metal slightly. The metal seems to have bowed so that if you look with your head against the rear wheel arch towards the front wheel arch you notice it bows outwards like a flared wheel arch.
My question is whether there is any way to bend the metal back straight again. I have started nearest the rear axle where the metal is okay and then after each plug weld tried hammering it and bending it with clamps etc but as I have moved forward it isn't working to bend it straight.
I am reluctant to cut the repair metal that I have previously welded in because with the inner sill now in place I won't be able to weld it from both sides as I think I might have done before. Also it will possibly distort again anyway.
Any ideas? The metal is approximately 1.5mm thick. But it is being welded to the inner sill which is thinner which makes it difficult when clamping the two together because the inner sill will bend.