As I dive deeper into the restoration, chop strand is starting to look pretty good. (just kidding) I have been welding in patches and new floors and such for a month now and am hopefully just about done finding new rust spots to fix. The latest are the backs of the rockers, right in the rear wheel well. There are (were) 2 rubber body plugs, long gone and now the area is rusted thru in places, but I also found a rectangular hole on the inside channel of the rocker, looks factory as it is a neat stamped out hole. I can't believe this is supposed to be open, is there a plug missing or ??? What's the consensus on rockers on just summer driven cars with no exposure to salt, seal up the rockers or let 'em breath? I am ready to do one or the other right now.

Thanks!

PS pics were taken using a mirror so they may look a little funky

AMES Part number FJ555

Wish they had these back when I was working on mine. I ended up making two of them.

Looks like something that might have had a rubber flap over it to let water out but keep road gunk from getting in.

Well right as rain you guys are spot on...and I confirmed later today that there are supposed to be rubber flaps over the holes to let water out...all the way from the front cowl area. The water that runs off the hood and cowl runs down over the kick panel air intake boots, into the front of the rocker...all the way back to this rectangular hole, then out, and I found out the 2 holes that should have rubber plugs in them in the front of the rear wheel well, are for flushing the rockers out, wow, can't believe anyone would do that sort of maintenance on their vehicle, and apparently on my car, nobody did. Ha.

Thanks boys.

Cheers

The tab pops in the small hole and holds the the rubber against the open bigger square hole. When water comes down the rocker it pushes the flap open and drains the water. There are other places where the water can leak out from the cowl. Did you download the pics of that Camaro project I have under my goggle account?
Also, you will hear from a lot of guys to sand/media blast your car before doing any major welding. If there is any weak steel on your car body the blaster man will find it. 5-10 times more bad metal exposed after blasting.

Thanks Brian, appreciate the pic showing what needs to be done.

I couldn't find a link to your Camaro project, could you PM or email it to me please.

As for media blasting.....I really don't want to find any more rust, ha ha, and I am not stripping the car completely and am just repairing the obviously rusty areas. To date I have replaced all the floor pans, trunk pan, welded in new metal in small rust areas in fenders and such, the last major metal repairs are the 1/4 panels, then sanding, paint and all the other stuff that needs to be done.

Cheers

Here's a couple pics of one. kinda old and cracked so it doesn't do much as a flap any longer. I'll need a couple new ones myself.

I know what you mean about the chop stand. I was so frustrated with my engine build I felt like rolling the whole car off the dock into the chuck to make a new artificial reef for the sharks. And I didn't do anywhere near what you are. Stripped the paint down to bare metal, but didn't do much underneath.

Thanks Al,

The underside of your car looks amazing, clean and rust free, very nice.

I finally was able to get the kick panels off, after removing the E-brake assembly, and removing a rusted broken bolt that holds the E-brake to the lower dash, had to weld underneath the dash, THAT was fun. I then pulled out about 5 lbs of crap that has gathered in the lower cowl area behind the kick panels, simply amazing how much stuff was in there. I can now see the holes that lead to the rockers, thankfully nothing rusted through so I will just leave them as is. I cut new flaps for the rear holes from thin mud flaps and will attach those when I change the rear end out for the posi axle.

Thank you for all the answers here, it really helped me understand the rocker design.

Cheers

PS the pictures are looking down into the front rocker area below the kick panel air intake tubes, before and after removing the crap