Rocker repair/replacement opinions sought

[mferris]

I have holes/patches in my rockers and need opinions on best path forward (never having done this).

It took an hour to remove 2 quarts of bondo dust from the rockers today. See picture links below.

A DPO brazed on some patch panels over what I presume was the worst offending rust holes. Then leveled everything with (lots of) bondo. There are many other holes - but I did not find any rot, so I presume that the bondo and paint that was added had stopped most of the rust when repaired.

Opinions on what I should do? I just want a nice driver, I may never show this car.

Driver side:
Front holes: http://bit.ly/15dviVR
Center looks okay: http://bit.ly/X5m7Vp
Rear patch panel: http://bit.ly/Wl1xwv

Passenger side: (much worse)
Front patch and holes: http://bit.ly/XzPgof
Center holes: http://bit.ly/XVoHsT
Center2 holes: http://bit.ly/15dvFiY
Rear patch and holes: http://bit.ly/XR25MU

I could purchase/make rockers, or patch as the PO had done and bondo over, or just bondo over these holes again. I might just hand this to a body guy and have him deal with it.

Considering the placement of some of the holes and the fact that the patches are already on the outside of the rockers - I guess I could just weld on more patches and redo the bondo job?

I have already replaced all 4 floorpans and the sills are somewhat thin, but workable with careful welding (no holes). Recall some of my other posts where I'm worried about body flex - but I think that's not too much of concern now that I see the holes in the rockers are not completely gone so I presume the center structural rocker is okay.

(and yes - I sprayed this liberally with Rustoleum Primer after taking these pictures).

 

[DanR]

Panel patch or replace?

Mike,

If my car, I'd find out what is behind the prior repair job!

That is if I intended to keep the car whether as a driver or for any chance of SHOW!

After removal, clean all metal as best as I could: sand blast, scrap, grind, etc,etc....
Then I'd use POR-15 to cover "all" metal surfaces that I could possibly reach.

Purchase or manufacture the Panel needed making sure the back/inside of the Panel is likewise coated with POR-15. then weld in place and finish in a professional manner.

You will never regret making this choce!

My Metal man is supposed to make Panels for two of my SIV's.... Because of some of the same things you are encountering.

 

[65beam]

opinions

randy willet in new hampshire has real good repair panels if you decide to buy any sections. we used one of his lower front fender panels on our last restoration he is a frequent poster on the CAT forum using the name " oneoffive". be carefull with the rockers since they are quite unique in their shape. they curve up towards the back and also curve in. there are some rootes / chrysler rockers that have shown up on e bay over the years but they are a straight panel. stay away from them. you could cut out the bad sections such as the right fender and flange the original metal, pound out repair sections and weld them in. it requires very little filling if done this way. ditto with the other places. i don't see anything that can't be repaired with a little time and work.

 

[DanR]

Mike, As an after thought, I recently purchased a hard Top from Ken Ellis.

He stated very honestly and send me several PIC's defining quite well the extensive rust in the TOP!

I knew what I was buying and AM VERY HAPPY with the TOP!!!!

As a bit of warning on "potential" rust behind the scenes I suggest sssstrongly that you remove the outer panel and accomplish the extensive rust removal I previously suggested.

ROOTES engineered and produced a nice little car in the Sunbeam Alpine. How ever "I can not find any paint or metal prep except over spray behind panels on the car.

As an example on the Hard Top I recently purchased had much rust on and inside the front edge that fastens to the Windshield. My metal Man removed this edge as a means of repairing and discovered that ROOTES did not do any metal prep prior to assembly nor did they do any after assembly. My rust problem was across the entire front edge of the top.

It was cu out an replaced utilizing a front bow of the soft top after additional modifications.

Further investigation showed that the entire top was ill prepared by ROOTES!

I suppose that was prior to "Dipping" pieces or whole cars. (??)

What I am saying is that what lies "behind" with out metal prep will continue being the unknown!

 

[socorob]

I bought a few cans of eastwood internal frame coating and sprayed it into every crevice that little tube would go into. My car happens to be very rust free and I want to do what I can to keep it that way. The stuff is easy to use and hopefully works as advertised.

 

[the ghoul]

randy willet in new hampshire has real good repair panels if you decide to buy any sections. we used one of his lower front fender panels on our last restoration he is a frequent poster on the CAT forum using the name " oneoffive". be carefull with the rockers since they are quite unique in their shape. they curve up towards the back and also curve in. there are some rootes / chrysler rockers that have shown up on e bay over the years but they are a straight panel. stay away from them. you could cut out the bad sections such as the right fender and flange the original metal, pound out repair sections and weld them in. it requires very little filling if done this way. ditto with the other places. i don't see anything that can't be repaired with a little time and work.

I'll have to hit him up! Thankyou.
I have seen simmular reviews on the patch panels sold by Victoria British.
You really have to pick your battle with these cars. If you see any rust bubbles on the exterior panel your sure to have some patching to do on interrior metal. My $.02
POR15 is your best friend and realistically look at it and decide if you want to do a full restoration or do you just want it to look good for the next 5 years or so. If your answer is the latter,
Angle grinder with a wire wheel, por 15, and metal re-enforced or fiberglass re-enforced filler are the way to go..

Good thing about the structural metal on these cars is its all rather simple shapes and if you can't patch it perfectly no one will ever see it.

 

[the ghoul]

Ok, this is what I'm talking about. On my series v this was the worst of the rust on the exterior

But after I peeled of the body skins you can see here the inner rockers were badly rotted as well...

 

[DanR]

Mike, What "the ghoul" said and displayed in his PIC's is exactly what I was referring too, when "it's what is behind the scene" that is troubling.

POR-15 cost will perhaps scare you at the $$ amount per unit but for the money I am very pleased.

I just ordered another gallon for my next project.

 

[socorob]

If you google around, you can find better things than por15. There's a guy who has a website that did each of the 4 motor and drive mounts in the hull of his boat with a different product then had photos of them a year later. I think POR15 was the 3rd best. That's probably more extreme than it being on an alpine though since the boat was used in salt water, but food for thought.

 

[mferris]

I'm less concerned about coating with POR15 (or other - I've already done interior of my gas tanks so I'd spray that over the whole car if it make sense) - I'm more concerned with finding the panels and the time/energy/money to rebuild the panels and then fixing any cancer on the interior structure if there is any....

it's the unknown and the setback in time that is getting to me b/c I thought I'd have this painted by summer....

-M

 

[Nickodell]

I bought a few cans of eastwood internal frame coating and sprayed it into every crevice that little tube would go into. My car happens to be very rust free and I want to do what I can to keep it that way. The stuff is easy to use and hopefully works as advertised.

Sounds like the same stuff Rusty Jones and Ziebart used years ago when it was accepted that cars would rust out in a few years (some, like the Renault Dauphine, seemed to do that in the dealer's lot.) When I bought my TransAm in 1973 I took it to R. Jones and had the full treatment. It stank like a refinery for a week, and they warned me to park it over newspaper when I got home because it would drip. There were some new rubber plugs where they'd drilled holes into boxed-in areas and squirted the stuff in before plugging the holes.

I finally sold the Screaming Chicken in 1986, and it had no rust through, when the vast majority of Firebirds of the 70s had been melted down into razor blades.

 

[the ghoul]

Sounds like the same stuff Rusty Jones and Ziebart used years ago when it was accepted that cars would rust out in a few years (some, like the Renault Dauphine, seemed to do that in the dealer's lot.) When I bought my TransAm in 1973 I took it to R. Jones and had the full treatment. It stank like a refinery for a week, and they warned me to park it over newspaper when I got home because it would drip. There were some new rubber plugs where they'd drilled holes into boxed-in areas and squirted the stuff in before plugging the holes.

I finally sold the Screaming Chicken in 1986, and it had no rust through, when the vast majority of Firebirds of the 70s had been melted down into razor blades.

Watch out with that stuff;
Perhaps they have improved it some but I used to help my buddy with his business scrapping 71-74 chargers and almost every car that was undercoated was rotted out and the non undercoated cars faired much better. What happened (with the old stuff I don't know about new) the undercoating will dry out, crack, and absorb moisture.

Im sure there are better products out there than por15 but I've been using por for about 12 years now and have had nothing but good results.

I know your not asking about paint but what we are saying here is if you coat the existing rust and surrounding areas that will stop the cancer then you can patch it however. I know no one likes the prospect of fiberglass or just slapping a good grade of filler (long hair or metal re-enforced), but some times it really is the best action to take short of a full body skinned restoration. And even that is a losing prospect unless your taking an extreamly rare car or one you'll keep forever and hand down to grand kids.