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replacing damaged rocker 85 Iroc (unibody)

21K views 185 replies 15 participants last post by  deadbodyman 
#1 ·
normally I would have spotted the damaged rocker right away when I disassembled the car but time was limited so I started stripping the paint off the nose ,taking off what needed to removed as I went then went down the drivers side ,roof and deck I even pulled,and disassembled the door guts and replaced the hinge bushings...when I got to the very end the 1/4 and rocker there was a good bit of damage to the rocker that was poorly repaired and coverd up with the ground effect, rocker cover...so now im in the process of replacing it and thought you guys might enjoy watching someone else work for a while and seeing how its made and put together and learn something or even teach me something....

First I brought it over to my bud at the frame shop and had him check it out and pull if needed ,these T tops can be a nightmare when they get hit ,they twist fairly ez,he also aligned the front end for me...

The only way to do this affordably is with used parts so I went to the local U pullit and found what I needed and cut out (the chunk) with my 18v sawzall
 

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#2 ·
Heres the rocker chunk with everything still attached ,the 1/4 bottom,hinge pillar,floor and all after I was done cutting it out from the junk yard......40.00 with an extra rocker cover (flair) it took three hrs and 8 batteries...:sweat:
 

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#4 ·
I'm not sure just how much I'll need so I'll remove each panel as if I was going to use every one...
I'm using a low angle drill bit insted of a spot weld drill because the saw type suck and the real good weld drills cost over 50.00 and I havent bought one in 15 yrs ,these drill bits work great just be carefull not to drill all the way through just one layer at a time...Theres a ton of welds to drill and theres always a few hiding somewhere that you'll miss no matter how hard you look.
In order to save time and make the drill last longer I start with an 1/8 drill ,find the center of the weld and drill a hole all the way through (in most spots except for the pinch weld at the bottom of the rocker and the where the door weather strip goes..We'll get to that and why later.
Basicly I'm taking the chunk apart piece by piece carefully just in case I need one of those pieces,I suspect I'll need part of the hinge pillar and possibly the inner rocker also...
 

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#8 ·
That chisel dolly thing looks awesome! Funny... I bought both steck seam busters and they just sit in my tool box. I might as well reshape the heads to something I'd like to use. Did you make that chisel dolly looking thing? That tool looks awesome with the reach it has.
 
#11 ·
Thanks guys.....
the funny looking chisel with two heads is for shoeing horses ,found it at a flea market. I didnt know what it was for a few years after using it ...I love sorting through a pile of chiselsand hammers for anything unusual ,I found the long one at the same place I dont know what its original use was for but its one of the most used tools I have ,both will hold an edge a long time..Keep em sharp and they'll give you no problems...
 
#12 ·
here, I finally got the inner rocker seperated from the outer...The plan is to use the outer and straighten the damaged inner rocker thats on the car to fit IT. Once I get into the damage things can change so I'm hoping there wont be any surprizes...having all the pieces will help in case I need to have a look at something
One of the reasons for seperating the donor chunk is to see how its all put together and what order and where the welds are so when I get to cutting out the original I'll know where everything is and whats connected to it,this way I'll have less chance of screwing something up.
 

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#13 · (Edited)
Seperating two pices of steel is fairly EZ but it gets more difficult when you have four and five layers and you want to take each one off seperately. Just looking at pics you dont really get a good idea whats involved and you dont see all the snags that you can run into along the way so heres a vid of me cruzing down the pinch welds which are only two layers and hitting some stubburn welds and multipal layers of thicker structural steel..
Try not to laugh...
 
#15 ·
I'm currently back-halving my Rambler American and was facing this dilemma. Drilling spot welds s#cks on the mult-layered stuff, even my plasma rig didn't do as well as a sawzall!

Russ
 
#16 ·
LOL,funny you mention that...Yesterday I started taking apart the damaged rocker with a sawzall and made a vid it only took a couple min to cut out everything and it took the rest of the day to drill out all the welds. The sawzall is a "must have " tool ...The plasma cutter ,not so much,in fact using a plasma can really screw you up if you cut through something you'll need ,whats nice about a sawzall is you can feel what you are cutting and as soon as you hit something hidden you can feel the difference and stop to check out what it is before its to late...Plasma cutters have their uses but be smart where you use them ,floors have braces ,rockers have inner structures that are hidden until you peel back a layer,I prefer the sawzall....and VERY SHARP drill bits....
Yesterday I got most of the damaged rocker off...I found a lot of extra damage and I'll have to dig deeper than I thought good thing I took the donor chunk apart like I did I'll be needing most of the parts ,maybe all of them...
I took many pics and a few vids but my USB is full so I need another one to down load my camers into ,then I have to figure out how to get the vids downloaded from that to here...
 
#17 · (Edited)
still having trouble with the vids so pics will have to do for now....

so I have all the pieces seperated from the donor and I'm ready to cut the damaged rocker out ...with my sawzall I cut the perimeter of the rocker leaving all the welds in tact ,I'll drill and seperate them next as strips more easily handled and easier to get at.Theres a few that are hidin and cant be reached with the rocker in the way.it takes about 5 min to remove the rocker skin...
 

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#18 ·
Opps,
Before anything got cut on the car I had to adjust the door gaps the best I could and get a better idea whats going on these hinges are welded on so theres very little adjustment.
from every thing I'm seein it looks like the bottom of the hinge pillar is pushed back a little...Why ? because the bottom of the door is tight and the top is wide but adjusted to ok,plus from the damage I can tell the old door really got shoved into the 1/4 especially at the bottom where the 1/4 was all bent in about a 1/4" so they changed the door, I checked its a different color...And the rocker has a an upward bow so I'm sure the pillar needs to go forward a little.....
Now that I know where all the damage is and what I'm replacing I'll jack up the car to a workable hight...the jack stands HAVE to be under the suspension so its just like it was sitting on the wheels....
 

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#20 ·
HEY, he didnt put any bracing in the door jamb....LOL
Before you guys have a heart attack....Heres why....
Any bracing will keep it from moving.....I want it to move as I cut out more and more...The hinge pillar has to go forward and I suspect as I cut out more and more it'll relax the metal and spring back and all my new stuff will fit just right...I'll be using just about all of my donor parts...including the inner pillar ,hinge reinforcement and the outer pillar.. Theres actually a lot of damage still here If I had spotted all this damage I would have used this car for all its parts for my 54 P/U which was my original intent...
I cut out everything and beat a few things back in place then test fit the new rocker (I found a red one)...
 

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#21 ·
That wasnt a bad fit,
The pillar still has to go forward a bit but I still have a LOT more cutting to do....I'll take out the inner rocker and since the floor has an upward hump in it I believe when I push the floor down straight most of the pillar will go forward...Then i'll cut out the pillar and replace that...
.Here all the inner structure is test fitted,making sure all my holes from cutting the welds are lining up,they HAVE to line up or something isnt right,remember the donor was straight so when it all goes back together if the holes line up everything is straight..if they dont something is wrong somewhere..
 

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#22 ·
Using drill screws I put the whole assembly together,beat on it some more with BIG hammers untill all my weld holes line up perfectly then it comes back apart and I start welding the inner pillar together (I spliced it ,btw, I also spliced the inner rocker back as far as I could go without getting into all the reinforcement braces ,that would be a night mare and I'm sure its in good shape right there because I laid the new piece over it to be sure...
 

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#23 ·
Well it looks like everything relaxed as I thought it might everything seams to be going together nicely BUTactually putting the door on will tell fer sure,with these welded hinges and no adjustment everything has to be "Dead On" I'll be sweating hanging the door tomorrow....I cant see having any trouble at all but I always worry to tell the truth...
What do Y'all think??? Will it fit? LOL...How bout this ,if it dont I'll bet I can MAKE it fit:mwink:
 
#24 ·
I got ahead of myself again...Heres what I did today...
Started working and realized the reason I couldnt find anything I was looking for is because I've made such a mess,I put everything in the box except for what I needed ...I got the inner rocker and pillar primed and welded the hinge support in place ,if the support is off even a little the door wont fit...primed that too and started welding the rocker on...
 

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#25 ·
At the begining of the thread I explained that I didnt want holes in the outer rocker from from drilling out the welds because I wanted to weld them on from the backside heres why...just a slight burn spot that needs very little prep and NO grinding which saves a ton of time plus its not only faster it looks better,in my opinion....
Tomorrow I hang the door....If it fits :sweat::sweat::sweat:
 

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#26 ·
yep. Did the same on the last rocker I did, which was a nomad. Was worried on that one cause no support to mock up fenders. nothing a little slice in the rockers can't handle. Great work!

I know that feeling. The same feeling I got when I welded in a hinge pocket on a chevy truck. Someone on line told me it was fine to do with no bracing and like a dummy I listened. Soon as I cut that thing out it was like the titanic. I had to measure the other side on top of all my bolt hole measurements and STILL was worrying at home before the weld in.
 
#27 · (Edited)
This morning I did a trail fit of the door and it fit pretty good I got a nice even gap from the rocker and door bottom and a nice even gap at the door to 1/4, I can deffinetly work with that...I bocked the guide coat to make the body line stand out so I could see how the bodylines lined up and they looked good too but HOLY CRAP the 1/4 and door are a lot rougher than I thought...Now I'm thinking I want to replace them too...Not wanting to look at it for a while I hung the fender To see how it fit ,I dont want any more surprizes... It fit really well but needs a little work on the bottom....
Anyway for a trial fit I'm very happy with the gaps and now I can take it all back apart and finish my welding,I'll use that time weighing out whether or not to replace the 1/4 and door ,I'm thinking I will...40.00 ea at the pull it yard ,at least I can go there tomorrow and see what kind of shape they're in....
 

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#28 ·
that door looks pretty hammered as if the body line is pushed in? That would be the final straw for me on that door if so. If the new one lines up the same why not give the door a little lift w/ a jack in the back when no one's looking to raise the body line? With the welded in hinges you probably don't have much choice. Great job btw. Never had to weld in a pillar holding in a welded on hinge but I can see the importance of it having to be perfectly placed. Great work, as always.
 
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