Early Spring Cleaning, look what my rockers where holding Options

[cassidy_bolger]

Time for a confession: after a year of ownership I finally got in there and cleaned out behind the rocker panels. This is what came out of the passenger side. holy smokes!

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The driver's side was much cleaner.

I didn't find rust on either side- thnigs were very zambezi in color. But, the jack post on the passenger side is sheared. It broke when I tried to use the jack that came with the car (I now use a floor jack instead) I assume it has rusted somwhat. What do I do with it other than never try to use it again?

[So.Cal.914]

It broke when I tried to use the jack that came with the car (I now use a floor jack instead) I assume it has rusted somwhat. What do I do with it other than never try to use it again?

Both the inner and outer pieces of the jack points are available new (aftermarket)

Remove the rockers, drill out spotwelds, remove old points and weld in new ones.

Your car looks really nice and stock. If you are going to leave it that way its not

much work.

[Joe Ricard]

That ain't nothing. my race rubber throws that much crap in there in one weekend. mostly "rubber clag" Don't know the proper name but all that stuff your tires pick up when on cool down. then gets scrubbed off and slung into the rocker panels once warmed up. and about 5 pounds of sand and pebbles.

[DonTraver]

I've heard the rubber on the track described as rubber marbles and it is when you get off line into them, car gets twitchy real fast. First time at Willow when I got on the straight after the back and the rubber started flying off, sounded like a pop corn popper.

One thing I did for that area during my restoration. I cleaned the area on the rocker and longs and gave them a coat of JB weld to stop the rust forming, doesn't have to be pretty, just clean so the JB weld sticks good. 5 years later, it's still working. There was rust forming on the rockers, but none on the longs yet. You still need to clean them out at least once a year, especially after driving in the rain or just washing the car will accerate the rust, that's actually in the owners manual.

Good Luck, Don

[Phoenix914]

I just cleaned mine out, too. The driver's side especially was full of dirt, like somebody went off road with it. I'm going to just pull the rocker covers off so the inners can be painted with the rest of the car at the end of the month. The outers need to be painted too, anyway.

[cassidy_bolger]

Well I am glad to hear that wasn't 30 years worth of road crud. I drive a lot in the rain here, so it might be like that every year.

So, how do you remove the rocker covers completely? Mine have rivets along the top edge at the door threshold. Do I have to remove those and replace with some kind of aftermarket removable solution?

My car is mostly stock and in good shape so I not planning any body work if I can avoid it.

[boxstr]

I would leave your car as-is. Just remember to use a floor jack. If you have to you can purchase a small one for the trunk to use for road side emergencies.
CCLIN914NATION

[Johny Blackstain]

I would leave your car as-is. Just remember to use a floor jack. If you have to you can purchase a small one for the trunk to use for road side emergencies.
CCLIN914NATION

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif) except cover that broken jack post up w/ some Rustoleum to keep it from getting worse until you get it fixed. Best way to remove the rockers is to drill out the rivets & put in new ones when your done. Because it's your daily driver & your location I would do everything possible to stop & prevent rust. My 2 cents.


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[Tobra]

I was just going to search on how to remove my rockers, thanks for saving my lazy ass from looking past the first page.

I use a high pressure hose every few weeks to blast crap out of there, seems to accumulate quicker than I would like. I use a floor jack anyway.

No intent to hijack, but any thoughts on using a more easily removed fastener on the lowere side of rocker to facilitate cleaning?