I took off my rocker panels and found a huge pile of dirt around the jack hole. After cleaning it, I found 4 small holes in the driver's side.

How should these be patched: weld a rectangular piece over the hole (or all 4 of them) OR weld a piece flush in each hole? Or does it even matter?

I will have to take it to a place, so I'm assuming I can drive the car without rocker panels, correct?
Click to view attachment

Take off the loose material to the right of the holes.

Those are very interesting holes.....
It almost looks like someone did some previous patch work on that long....What does the other side look like?
I would poke around that area with a screw driver for any soft spots. Usually there is a weep hole on the bottom of the jack post plate. I am not seeing that in this pic.

I didn't want to touch it; thought it might be seam sealer. I forgot to ask about it. I will remove it when I prep the area for welding.

Those are very interesting holes.....
It almost looks like someone did some previous patch work on that long....What does the other side look like?
I would poke around that area with a screw driver for any soft spots. Usually there is a weep hole on the bottom of the jack post plate. I am not seeing that in this pic.

The other side is fine. I think the car was in a wreck and repaired: the driver's side fender is a from a later model year, there is no jacking donut on the driver's side, the pan is dented, but banged out, the tube for the trunk cable was all bent, and the car was painted white, though it was originally silver. Everything is straight and it looks like a decent job. However, I'm finding evidence of repairs as I take the car apart and fix stuff.

If it was in an accident that would explain a few things.

Not a normal place for factory undercoating. I'd scrape it off to get a better look, might be hiding more rust/other issues.
Also not a place for weld beads to be. Looks to be repaired, questionably....

I'm guessing those holes were part of pulling the car back into shape ...

I would start wire wheeling that area and the area under it and start poking hard. Cutout affected areas and replace with good steel. That does not actually look that bad, the jack post looks solid.

I think a decent metal guy could fix it in a weekend..

I have a similar poor repair that is not rusted but certainly substandard.

Click to view attachment


I will be verifying there is not reaming rust and add Restoration Designs Frame stiffener overlay.

http://www.restoration-design.com/store/product/PP346L

Here's a picture of the area after I cleaned off the crud on top. It was not metal. It felt like clay; I could easily chisel it off and it was easy to break with my fingers. I ground down the metal a bit but it is very rough, not flat.Click to view attachment

Maybe your car was treated for rust by Zeibart - they drilled holes to get the wands in.

Does it have the same holes on the other side?

fwiw, i would cut from sill support to after jack receiver. clean out whats in there , treat, reweld and do the rd panel. you should do the rd panel on both sides of the car.