Outer rocker panel question

[kolies]

I am new to 914's even though I have liked them since I was a kid.

I was looking at a 914 project over the weekend that I was considering purchasing. One thing that I was a little leary about was the outer rockers were riveted on under the door, and were held on underneath with 2 bolts. Is this normal? Or was a repair not done correctly?

Thank you.

Karsten

[Joe Ricard]

Yep that's about right. It's just a cover for looks.
The real strength to the car is the boxed frame or longitudinal (sp) made up of an inner and outer panel. If those are rusted the project is going to be intense.

[kolies]

Joe,
Thanks for the reply. How would I be able to see if those are rusted? I looked under the carpet inside, and it appears to look pretty good on the inside. Also ran my hand along the weld seam at the bottom, and it felt pretty good.

[racer]

Drill out rivets and remove the two bolt/screws from the bottom and examine.

What tends to happen is that the rear wheels throw a lot of dirt and moisture up against the backside of the jackports. Then the rust begins!

I made it a habit to remove the outer panels at least "once per season" to remove the small amounts of tire debris the car attracted at track events. Driving on sandy roads is another reason. Sometimes just removing the bottom bolts is enough to "shake" out the panel and watch the junk fall out.

[Tobra]

I would say removing bottom bolts so you can clean it out on bottom is enough, don't need to drillout rivets until you are taking them off for some reason. You want to look under the battery, get a fat guy to sit in the passenger seat and see how the door opens and closes.