Hi, i just finish removing most of the floor pan. A section of the bottom of the inner and outer rocker panel are rotten where to floor flange meets and also bigger.
I would like to understand how the inner rocker is made. Is this a half sheet of metal like the outside rocker or it's more like a sqare stell tube. I have no jig so for now to change the complete part is out of the question. To fix correctly do i need to remove the outside rocker.
I have time concern also because i will be moving soon.
Some of the inside portion of the inner rocker panel are rotten at the bottom. I cut open the inner rocker to fix it. i want to patch the piece i removed. What would be the correct thickness. 20 ga seams thin could it be 16
Why not buy a pair of repro inner rocker panels (I've seen pairs as low as $160-ish?), trim yours back to good metal wherever you need to, and then just cut chunks out of the repro set to patch in wherever you need to patch? It would be the correct gauge, the correct shape, and would save a ton of time compared to shaping your own patch panels from flat stock.
Sorry I do not know what the correct gauge is. If nobody here knows for sure, you could contact one of the repro companies and ask them the gauge of their repro inner rockers.
I've decide to go foward with 20 ga steel. the car was holding with rusted steel so it should be better now. i dont like to idea t buy new parts to cut them down but idea was good.
I did that with my inner rocker too. I cut away the bad parts and used metal from the local shop. I used 1/8" angle steel to reinforce across the frame rails where the shock mounts are. I also used 1/16 inch 3" wide strips to reinforce the section that ties the rocker to the torque boxes under the rear seat.
When I look at mine, I'm glad that I don't have to go down that road. It looks like a miserable repair, with miserable meaning restoring structural integrity, not how it looks on the cruise lot. If I had to do such a repair, I would make my own patches with extra fortification. Also, it isn't that difficult to have an end result that's impossible to tell it's repaired.
20 gage is too thin in my opinion. It should be more like 12 gage, or 10-14 gage range. The convertibles have multiple pieces inside the rocker that I believe the couple do not have.
That is true its an inside panel, 2 like z bends panels inside and the outside rocker skin. they are like girders compared to a coupe. coupe metal is thinner and just has the inner and outer skins. the rockers on a rag top are the backbone of the car. the weakest spot for a vert is right at the torque boxes meet the rockers. thats why i added extra steel in that area.
