Removing rocker panels Options

[Ian Stott]

James Smith recommended removing the rocker panels to check for rust and I am finally getting around to it, the three flat tip screws on the bottom are not cooperating and I'm resisting taking the vice grips to them, any suggestions? I ordered my new tires today, decided on the Bridgestone Potenzas, they rated very high on Tirerack and fellow enthusiasts gave them a thumbs up, will let you know my impressions after the first 100 miles, which will be at least April unless we have a warm March, which is rare, do I dare say yeah to global warming!

Ian Stott
Moncton
Canada

[warrenoliver]

Ian,

I had the same problem and came up with a simple solution that worked well for me - YMMV.

I jacked up both sides of the car about 15" and put it on jackstands front and rear. Then I took a big screw driver with a square or maybe a hexshank (not a round shank). I positioned my hydraulic floor jack under the screw and placed the screwdriver in the screw head. I then slowly raised the jack until I was pushing the screwdriver into the screw head with a lot of pressure. I used a crescent wrench on the square (or hex) shaft and was able to crack the screws loose. Once loose, I dropped the jack out of the way and turned them out.
I wouldn't have had to lift the car first but my screwdriver was too long to get under there with the jack.

Hope that helps - just a little bit of farmboy engineering (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sawzall-smiley.gif)

Warrenoliver