rocker panels??

92sclikenew

Registered User
are they worth the work to make the car have solid rockers again or is finding a new sc just a better bet????
 
Keep the one with bad rockers to drive when the salt is out and buy one without rust for the nice weather. Resale value sucks anyhow so might as well keep the one you have.

Kurt
 
they can be repaired, I did it!!!

My car had bad cancer of the rocker panels on both sides, so bad the ground effects had nothing to screw into on the bottom and some places that metal strip rigth underneth the door was rotted out too. I cut the cancer as best I could with a 4 inch grinder leaving 1/4 to 1/2 inch from the bottom of the running floor board trim where it makes the angle change. I cut the bottom underneath where the metal would come back to the frame/body. Pressure wash the hell out of it, let dry, spray with "2yr rust proof" paint, double coat. drill small rivet holes in the 1/2 inch tab area i made. mount up the gfx with an extra set of hands, using good eyes mark where the holes fall on the gfx. drill the right size hole for the rivets. I used some outdoor locktite glue,sealer at this point on the mating seem as well; with it fixed in place push the rivets in place from inside the gfx from underneath the car. Then slid the rivet gun on a rivet, then the washer on the other side as the gxf are only plastic, squeeze and pop. Repeat as many times as needed. then I took my 8 inch by 8 foot section of galvinized heating duct, measure a nice width, cut it and placed it between the car and the gfx. Put a flat block of wood inside the gfx where i would use to push against as i drilled holes in both the sheet metal and the gfx. aply more rivets with washers. then while pulling/pushing the gfx so the the door clears the properly go ahead and drill 2 holes at oposite ends thru the sheet metal and underbelly, and rivet. Repeat as needed and for those bends or curves just cut small slits or beat it good with a soft hammer. Once this was done I then took more sealent and sealed the seems I made to slow the effect of water getting in there. Oh I did have to unmount the brake lines so i could work the sheet metal, drilled new holes and just mounted them oustide the metal. NOw that its done i feel that these gxf are even more solid feeling that my old rust free 89 had. If theres anything i left out please just ask me.:)
 
pics would be nice..

my sc only one rocker is really bad the other is still pretty solid atleast what i can see of it so far.....

i just ask because i plan to keep her for daily driver no matter what.. and was thinking of finding a 94-95 5 speed.. as rare as they are.. but i want one bad lol just aint got the doh to put out for it..



and if i fixed the rockers and it dosent cost alot whats it gonna hurt thats if its cheap.. i didnt buy my sc to make money on a resale i bought it cuz its not a mustang or a camro :p:p;):D
 
yes pics are nice

I only have two pics of that, one after i cut away the cancer with its open cavities and one after it was all done on the drivers side, also had to rebuild the drivers side rear wheelwell/fender/flare as that was gone, plenty of sheetmetal and bondo there. Well there still is the passenger side to work on so I can get step by step pics if you like. I have no I idea of how many people want to rebuild these rocker panels like a big bandaid of gfx. Well let me adjust my shift cable so my backup lights work and also patch the holes in the cats so it passes inspection on monday.:)
 
pics would be nice..

my sc only one rocker is really bad the other is still pretty solid atleast what i can see of it so far.....

i just ask because i plan to keep her for daily driver no matter what.. and was thinking of finding a 94-95 5 speed.. as rare as they are.. but i want one bad lol just aint got the doh to put out for it..



and if i fixed the rockers and it dosent cost alot whats it gonna hurt thats if its cheap.. i didnt buy my sc to make money on a resale i bought it cuz its not a mustang or a camro :p:p;):D

Replacement rockers are dirt cheap. If its the only spot thats real bad, which is typical, you could probably get new ones welded in at a body shop pretty cheap.
 
Replacement rockers are dirt cheap. If its the only spot thats real bad, which is typical, you could probably get new ones welded in at a body shop pretty cheap.

i can weld them in i have a weld and can weld and if they are dirt cheap i might be doing these soon since they are rotting not to make the car prefect but just make it more solid and last some more time;)
 
It might not hurt to use some POR15 inside of things while its open just to help out. Unfortunately I don't think you can weld on top of POR15 though.
 
por 15 is the way to go definatly. i made my own rocker panels. i have a sample sitting around my shop somewhere ill try to get a picture. i used por 15 to paint everything. then i put my rockers and gfx on with stainless rivits so im not taking it off anytime soon. I havent finished the part by the door hinges yet but i put the gfx back on so next time im in there ill take some good pictures.
 
Please just dont put bondo and 2x4's in there as mentioned eventually since bondo absorbs water and so does wood the whole damn mess will fall off your car including your ground FX and it will look like sh** as well rockers are the easiest thing to install just remember measure twice cut once:)
 
Please just dont put bondo and 2x4's in there as mentioned eventually since bondo absorbs water and so does wood the whole damn mess will fall off your car including your ground FX and it will look like sh** as well rockers are the easiest thing to install just remember measure twice cut once:)

i would never do that:eek:;) what some people will do:rolleyes:
 
No bondo or wood involved here

The wood mentioned was only used to push against to make a clean hole thru the GFX and sheet metal or instead use ur hand to push againt the dril bit and end up with a bloody hand. The wood was moved to thenext hole every time and removed when done. The only place where some light bondo was used was the rear wheelwell flare as i couldnt get the sheetmetal curved really smooth in some places sith a sheetmetal hammer, even then it was covered in watertight enamel and 4 layers of paint followed by 3 layers of clear coat.If that was whats being refered too.:mad:
 
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