Rusty door sills

[72porsche914]

The passenger side has a gapping hole right where it curves at the botton. Is there replacement parts for that or do I have to fabricate something? Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

[racejoe]

I am not quite sure exactly where you are talking about. If it is where I think you mean (down by the floor pan) then you are talking about the inner longitudinal. I have seen repros of the whole thing before but they cost $$$$. Depending how bad it is, you may be better off fabricating. Take a real close look , especially at the firewall and battery area, you may find more.

[72porsche914]

Its the door jam right where it curves. It was kind of late when I originaly wrote this.
To my suprise, there is no rust on the firewall. The floors themselves are pretty solid. There is rust though along the edge were the seat belts bolt to the car. My battery tray is gone but the rust did not go beyond that. Now, there is rust behind the sail panals, and along the tops of the rear quarter panals. Also, the inner rocker is rotted on the passenger side but the suspension console is solid. It does have flex bad enough to where the doors catch when closing and tops of the windows smack the chrome trim.

I was also wanting to if its a good idea to cut the rust out of the inner rockers and weld some metel plates over the holes(actually 1 plate over the whole length of the inner rocker) . Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

[racejoe]

Sounds like a lot going on, repairable, but lots of work. Lets see, start with structure, I would definately look at Brad Mayeur's longitudinal reinforcing kit, I am in the process of installing one on a pretty solid car, and I am pretty impressed. Basically it is 1/8" steel plate that covers and reinforces the inner rocker panel like you were saying. Adds a lot of stiffness to the chassis. PP has an instalation guide for this kit in the tech section.

That is where I would start, but alot depends on how bad your car is, maybe you want to do some structure repair also to the inner rocker panel, you can get repro parts for that too. (the kit has to have something to weld to!). Brad's kit also replaces the jack posts and the triangle brackets that support the door sill.

I do think that there are patch panels for the rear of the door jamb, and the sail. Depending on how bad stuff is you could replace the whole panel (fender, sail, and door jamb.) The part where the seat belt fastens you will have to fabricate patches for.

If stuff isn't too bad you can probably repair some of your existing panels, there is some pretty remarkable rust repair stuff out there these days (POR-15 and the like)

[72porsche914]

How much is the Brad Mayeur's reinforcment kit? Where can I get one?

The hole in the inner rocker is about as big as a fist and located at the jack point. There are a couple of areas in the area of the jack point with tiny rust holes but very few. I want to take a grinder to it and see how much is actually solid.

A hole of that size is enough to cause bad flex? Thanks for the help.

[racejoe]

The kit is around $300, I think it was $304 including shipping. You can call him at (309)694-1797 and order it, I think you are going to need it. But before you order it I would do some serious exploratory surgery and see how extensive the rust is. I would start be ripping out the interior, back pad, sound insulation, carpet, etc. Based on your descriptions, I would be suprised if the inner lower firewall isn't rusted, although if the floor pan is as solid as you say there may be hope. TAKE A REALLY CLOSE LOOK UNDER YOUR BATTERY, inside the engine compartment, under the engine shelf, inside and outside the wheel well. Look where the inner longitudinal comes out of the rear firewall.

It is hard to say if that hole is enough to cause all your sag, I suppose it could. That kit will take care of the sag. You said there is rust near where the seat belt fastens, is there holes? If so you can look inside and see how bad the inside of the longitudinal is.

[72porsche914]

I checked behind the insulation and the firewall is completely solid. When I bought the car, it had been sitting for a couple of years with the window down. Im assuming the car took on quite a bit of water and that would explain the rust around the areas of the seat belt mounts.

[racejoe]

Good luck! I would start with the kit, then go from there.