rocker or not

i went to look at an 89 5 speed yesterday. the guy claims that his mechanic told him that his frame was rotted and the car is not worth saving.so that struck my interest because this car is a unibody with sub frames.(at least thats what i have gathered from here) any ways ive been told that the car has had engine rebuilt a year ago, new clutch,the car itself is pretty clean a couple of dents on quarter high between the rear and side windows cloth interior all in decent shape. so i asked about the rusted out frame, the kid reaches under the car and pulled a piece of pick weld off.now hear is my question if the pinch weld rotted that is the rocker panel under body kit correct? i was hiting as much of the floor as i could everything seemed solid even had undercaoting on it.so what is your opinion is it the rocker is it fixable?

take it somewhere and have it put on a lift. then see for yourself if its worth it.

well some of the pinch weld is missing on mine and the floor is still solid. But put it on a lift and inspect for yourself.

my car is the same way, but if you can't do the welding and body work yourself, then find another car because the cost to weld in new rockers and paint it is going to be more than the car is worth.

thanks for the help guys i think im not going to be birdless anymore.im going to offer five hundred and see what happens

The rockers form a portion of the unibody structure of the car. For the majority of the length of the rockers you have the floor structure, an inner reinforcement rocker panel and then the outer rocker panel. The inner reinforcement rocker panel along with the floor structure forms part of the pinch weld under the door seals. The bottom of that panel (inner reinforcement rocker panel) is spot welded to the outer rocker at the bottom. The outer rocker is welded to the same pinch weld under the door seal as well as forms the second half of the pinch weld at the bottom of the car and is welded to the floor structure.

Point being....if the rockers are rusted out the structural integrity of the car is compromised. How much depends on how bad the rust is and what parts are no longer tied to where they were designed to be tied to.

Of course its hidden under the rocker and the repair wouldnt have to be all that pretty..Unles syou are trying to go for an all out restoration...An deven then...Whos going to see it

sheet metal and a tig welder....