Guest Anonymous Posted December 16, 2002 Share Posted December 16, 2002 Need some advice. There appears to be holes rusted through both rear wheel wells right where they meet the rocker panel. Both rocker panels are solid inside and out and all the way from the front to the back. Nothing visible looking at the car from the sides, but stick you head in the wheel well and look forward and there's these ragged holes about 2 or 3 inches in diameter. Question 1 is: Should I just clean and patch, or is this indicative of further rot that will require removal on the rocker panels? Question 2: How DO you remove the rocker panels? The car's on a rotisserie, so getting at things isn't too bad, but it seems like a lot of work to get those panel off and I'd like to avoid it if possible. OFF TOPIC: Got a needle scaler attachment for the air hammer from Harbor Frieght and just FLEW through the undercoating! Best 14.99 I've spent so far! Thanks! Twydog Las Vegas 71 240Z cleverly disguised as a 2700 piece jigsaw puzzle which my wife swears will NEVER be finished! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aviatorx Posted December 16, 2002 Share Posted December 16, 2002 Your rust damage may be limited to the wheel well, but I doubt it ..... Personally, I'd cut out the rust - or at least get in there to see how extensive the rust damage is(full wells are available as replaceent steel at Mill Supply (Tabco), Vic Britt, and others .... you will probably find rust in the rear quarter dog leg (lower forward portion of rear quarter - and they are reparable as well) but take a GOOD look at the inside rear of the rocker box! The forward and rear atachment points of that assembly are MOST important to what rigidity the Z has! Outer rockers are also available - but inners are NLA I believe... At best you have a small patch job in the well and some clean up at the rockers...at worst - well, don't go there yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aviatorx Posted December 16, 2002 Share Posted December 16, 2002 Your rust damage may be limited to the wheel well, but I doubt it ..... Personally, I'd cut out the rust - or at least get in there to see how extensive the rust damage is(full wells are available as replaceent steel at Mill Supply (Tabco), Vic Britt, and others .... you will probably find rust in the rear quarter dog leg (lower forward portion of rear quarter - and they are reparable as well) but take a GOOD look at the inside rear of the rocker box! The forward and rear atachment points of that assembly are MOST important to what rigidity the Z has! Outer rockers are also available - but inners are NLA I believe... At best you have a small patch job in the well and some clean up at the rockers...at worst - well, don't go there yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted December 16, 2002 Share Posted December 16, 2002 If you see rust in those areas, I can almost gaurantee that the INNER rocker is rusted out also. And like AviatorX said, that's an important structural area. I had to hand form new pieces for those ends of the inner rocker, and they have many beads and bends to make them stiff and strong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted December 16, 2002 Share Posted December 16, 2002 Dang! I kinda figured that would be the case, but I was holding out hope it might not be a biggie. Oh well, I didn't get all these tools just to decorate the wall... Thanks for the advice guys, and I'll let the board know what I find. Twydog Las Vegas 71 240Z rapidly turning into Swiss Cheese! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted December 16, 2002 Share Posted December 16, 2002 I shoulda said this too: Instead of recreating large portions of the structural areas of the car from flat stock, etc., I should have just gotten a rust free shell! I understand the desire to "save" a basket case though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aviatorx Posted December 16, 2002 Share Posted December 16, 2002 sorry about the double post... Food for thought -if you need to cut into the rocker corners while you are on a rotisserie, you will want to tack weld some bracing to take those loads while you fabricate...otherwise you will surely have a bent chasis, and doors will be a bitch to line up! Let us know what you find ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted December 19, 2002 Share Posted December 19, 2002 Okay, I've cut out the lower front edge of the quarter panel ahead of the wheel well. Let's see if I understand what's going on back here: (This may get detailed since I don't have a digital camera) 1. It looks to me like the rocker panel comes back and is attached to the corner of the frame under the panel I just removed. I deduced this from the fact that ahead of the panel on the bottom of the car there are two flanges welded together...one for the body and one for the rocker. At the rear there are three...one for body, one for rocker, one for the lower front quarter panel all sandwiched together. Is this right or some kind of one off mod to my car? 2. Although there is some surface rust on the outer face of the rocker in this area, there's good metal underneath, no rust of any kind on the inside, and the area where it attaches to the frame is rust free. I checked both inside and outside and from every angle possible with a variety of pointy and blunt instruments. This leads me to believe that the structural integrity of the unibody is not compromised...true/false? 3. The course of action as I see it goes two ways: (Both choices involve liberal POR-15 anywhere I can get it) A. Go ahead and pull the rocker panel, replace it, the inner rear wheel tub and either the lower front or entire quarter panel. B. Just do the inner tub and front quarter panel. I know it's really tough to diagnose this from just a description, but Santa's got a digicam in his bag for me so I have to wait until the 25th for pics. Is the concensus still the same (I'm screwed and will be fabricating heavily into Jan/Feb), or is there hope based on my feeble description? Thanks and Happy Holidays! Twydog Las Vegas (I can see snow from here and people tell me you can actually drive up and TOUCH it!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted December 19, 2002 Share Posted December 19, 2002 Originally posted by Twydog:Okay, I've cut out the lower front edge of the quarter panel ahead of the wheel well. Let's see if I understand what's going on back here: (This may get detailed since I don't have a digital camera) 1. It looks to me like the rocker panel comes back and is attached to the corner of the frame under the panel I just removed. I deduced this from the fact that ahead of the panel on the bottom of the car there are two flanges welded together...one for the body and one for the rocker. At the rear there are three...one for body, one for rocker, one for the lower front quarter panel all sandwiched together. Is this right or some kind of one off mod to my car? That sounds correct. 2. Although there is some surface rust on the outer face of the rocker in this area, there's good metal underneath, no rust of any kind on the inside, and the area where it attaches to the frame is rust free. I checked both inside and outside and from every angle possible with a variety of pointy and blunt instruments. This leads me to believe that the structural integrity of the unibody is not compromised...true/false? I agree. That sounds good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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