Rudy!! Q about outer rocker panels
 

Is there any significant difference between the outer on an SC vs. an early(69-73) car?

I'm having trouble fitting the one I got from Stoddards. I beleive I may have gotten an early part by mistake as it has a 1/2" gap on the bottom where it joins to the tub.

Pics to follow

Thanks

Hey Tom: the outer skin should be the same, but I'll wait for the photos to see, and I will compare them to some of the cars I have here.

gimme a couple seconds.............

view from underneath
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1209249367.jpg
top view
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1209249466.jpg

it was a tight fit under the lip of the original door sill.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1209250849.jpg
fits nice in the front near the fender area

Some reproduction parts are not that accurate, this one looks a little flat at the bottom, I would make the top as tight as possible, tack it or put some screws there, and work my way down to make it fit, because it does not have a lot of bends, it will give and you'll be able to tuck it under to make it fit. or you can lightly tap the bottom, the fender area and where the door seals go are the most important, the rest of it is just cosmetics. I you can show me a picture at eye level showing the whole thing, would help me see more.

It's hard to see in the pics but the lower edge of the door barely kisses the top of the rocker.

I may make a small cut at the rear of the rocker in order to let it "stretch " a little more so I can tack the bottom. I have clecos holding the top in place for now while I figure this out.

Thanks for your time Rudy:beer:

here's another pic with the door in place:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1209258670.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1209258692.jpg
Rear door edge gap
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1209258727.jpg
I may make a small cut at the rear in order to let me "stretch" the rocker enough to tack the bottom. We'll see....

Thanks for taking the time Rudy

Found out what the problem was. I was so engrossed in trying to the rocker to fit that I never took a step back to look at the big picture, literally.

When I did step back I saw that the bottom of the rocker as bowed downward noticeably.
(illustrated poorly here cuz I forgot to take a pic)
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1209356924.jpg

So, I took an exhaust stand and threw a block of wood on top to push the bowed area upward until it was basically straight across and viola, the bottom of the rocker is now flush against the tub.

Now that it fits on the bottom, I have a small issue where the top edge just below the door is a bit off. But I'm going to shim the rocker a bit so it should be fine.
(here's another poor illustration)
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1209357488.jpg

Any way, here's a couple photos showing the progress.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1209357627.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1209357648.jpg
fender to door gap needs work
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1209357667.jpg
another view
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1209357684.jpg

My rockers from Restoration Design had just the opposite problem...they were too stretched out, and I had to make a tighter "C" out of them to get them to fit.

Looking good though. Check my thread for the filler panel between the rear quarter and the rocker.

Thanks Mike! It's good to see both our cars coming along. I have a couple of spots to patch then it's on to the chore of stripping the 10 or so layers of paint and primer:D

I'll be doing the quarter panel patch next weekend, right after I shim, treat and weld the rocker in. I'll be sure to post pictures of that as well.

Glad to see both of you have tacked the problem with the reproduction parts, trust me, it is getting worse, you should see the set of flares we just received.

Tom, how are you gonna handle the gap issue?

To this point I've tried adjusting the door about as much as I can, bu there is still a a mis-match. I may try opening up the adjusting holes on the door hinge but I don't think theres much more left there without creating a similar mis-match between the door and the quarter panel.

The only other thing I could think of is to weld a narrow strip into the channel where the rocker top is attached in order to "push " it out to make it level with the door.

The shim is represented by the red line, blue is the tub, green is the rocker
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1209397999.jpg

That looks like a good idea, don't forget that you need room for your door seal.

I had really good luck with the aircraft stripper method posted on the sticky thread at the top of the B & P forums...

I don't think that will be a problem as it's only an 1/8" off.:D

Mike, I'd like to do the aircraft stripper thing but I'm doing this on a military base and they very strict about chemical use, especially caustic ones.

And as I don't allow the customers to use it at our shop it would be hypocritical for me to do so.

I'll be fine using my trusty d/a and 40 grit. It'll just take a bit longer

How did the rocker turn out ?
If you use a small torch and warm the area, you should be able to take off some layers with a scraper.

I got my micro clamps from the Snap On guy, but I think I saw them on an Eastwood catalog.

I should finish welding the rocker this weekend. I would have gotten it done sooner but I had some work to do on the 914 that precluded my finishing it.

I'm real hesitant to use any heat for fear of warping a panel. I'll take more pictures as I make progress this weekend:cool:

I use one of those plummers propane torches, they are very low heat. sometimes I use it to take off all the extra fillers that has been on.

Tom, it looks like you're wrestling with similar rust areas that I just finished with. I I chose not to take off the outer rocker panels. Once I cut the rusty bits out and was able to look behind the outer rocker panel, I was able to cut them back to where they were ok. The I didn't have any rust at the front end of the rockers.

I made a 3' wand and sprayed POR-15 inside both rockers (as well as every other nook and cranny I could get the wand into) to catch any remaining bits of rust as well as protect.

She's all welded, patched up, smoothed over and epoxy primed now. I've got a rust patch on my passenger fender that I have to deal with now (similar to yours).

Some pics below - lots more here.

Geoff

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1210427598.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1210427679.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1210427701.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1210427905.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1210427717.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1210427638.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1210427729.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1210427752.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1210427765.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1210427778.jpg

Wow Geoff! Indeed, we have similar problem areas , but yours looks more advanced than mine.

I had a chance to further fit my outer rocker but neglected to take any photos. I need to adjust the door some more then I'll be ready to final weld the rocker in and start on the curve where the door lock post meets the door sill.

After that there's just one or two small areas that need metal work then on to the dreaded task of making the 'glass bumpers fit better. My front appears to be about 1 inch too wide and the rear fits ok but the ends aren't as nice as I'd like

Ok, so the shim thing didn't do as much as I tought it would. After aligning the door to fit better I found that the rocker still did not come out level with the door.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1211060875.jpg
And the gap along the bottom was too big as well
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1211060902.jpg

Since I had already cut the original rocker off I decided to make a "cap" to go over the top of the replacement. It's much closer fitting now but I'm on the fence as to wether I'll procede this way.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1211061089.jpg

With the cap in place everything lines up better.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1211061171.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1211061189.jpg

I welcome any thoughts you may have.

Tom

tom,
did you try pushing the rocker upward?
that will close your gap and maybe bring it out a bit.
i know you've already drilled for the clecos, but holes can be filled easily.
i don't like the idea of "capping". that's a lot of dead space to accumulate moisture and re-rust.
i'm at the same stage with mine and feel your pain,
good luck

A couple of questions Tom: is the top of the sill the same as the old one, check the other side if you don't have the old one, and, is the gap difference the same along the lenght of the door?

Rudy, as far as I can tell they are the same. It just seems the stamping is a bit off.
The gap is pretty uniform the length of the door.

I'm getting pretty frustrated with this part. Almost to the point of ordering an O.E. rocker(if that's even possible).

Rob, I had to use an exhaust stand to push the rocker up enough to get it to mate with the tub on the bottom.

I realize that for the most part these cars are hand built, but that doesn't make me feel any better:(

When I replaced my rockers on my 69 I had to lead the top edge all the way to get it to line up with the door, the top of the rocker curved in, it was the only way I could get it to match the door panel.

Craig, I'd like to try lead work have no previous experience with it.

I'm gonna take a break from it for now and try to come up with a new strategy. Keep the ideas coming, I really appreciate the input.

Tom

The only reason I used lead was because the edge was very thin and its where you might hit it getting into the car other wise a good filler would work I think? I just laid a bead down with a big hot soldering iron and some 1/8 inch coil solder then cleaned the acid up with baking soda and water.

Good idea to take a break, sometimes it's needed.....Tom, this could be a trail and error kind of thing, let's find out what is off, if they are of the same measurement, inside the tub, where you detatched the original panel, is it damaged? If the gap is consistant, what fits? did the door fit nicely before?

Don't get frustrated, just be patient.

I'll try to take a couple measurements tomorrow if I don't go golfing:D I'll keep you updated.
Thanks again

Aargh, I finally got through to Resto Designs and they didn't have any rockers on hand.:mad:

As you might be guessing I'm giving up on trying to re-work this part to fit. Looks like I'll have to bite the bullet and call Performance products or somebody else to get a new one...............

At least I have my 914 to play with now:D

Is it that bad ?? no way you can re folded..

I'm sure that the "cap method" I was thinking of would do the trick............but it would bug me that I had to do it that way, and like Rob stated it becomes another place for water to settle in and create more rust.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1212420584.jpg
tom,
just a thought, having just finished installing my outer rocker.
if you whack at the black arrows along the length of the sill,
you should get net movement of the red arrow.
of course you'll need a BFH to do it.
it worked for me.
another tip, if the above works:
tack weld at the fender mount and kidney bowl to establish your lower door gap.
once set, the welds at door seal channel and rocker bottom won't change much.
good luck

Thanks for your input Rob. I may give that a try this weekend. i took a couple weekends off to do other things so I'm anxious to get cracking on it again:D

I'm having the same problem RD outer rocker

1/2 inch gap at the bottom, out from the inner rocker.

but at the moment i don't have any gap to the door.

BFH required me thinks

Any suggestions greatly appreciated

I got a new piece from Automotion and it seems to fit much better.

However I've been doing other things like repairing a Civic that I bought from an action that I'm giving to my Mom.

More progress will follow soon:D

Classic: I had the same problem initially, but when I pushed the bottom upward and inward to the body the gap below the door became better.

Thanks for that, some work required.

I think i can make it fit with an even gap, considering the gap i have to pull at the bottom, frustrating as it is I'm still having fun.

Tony

All (yes, all) of the pieces I've received from Stoddard have either been 'slightly off' or wrinkled, but everything has been workable. However, the time involved in bringing the pieces back within specs (3 hr/ea for the rear frame sections near tt) does not really justify ordering them from said location . . . finally decided to send everything off to a local fab shop with the MOA brakes and a kick a** CNC plasma machine.