Rock(er) and Roll
Rock(er) and Roll
Rock(er) and Roll
One of the final issues I wanted to address on the finnie was the rust or corrosion that was present on the fronts of both rocker panels. What I found odd about this was that the undercarriage, rocker panels and jack points, all areas of concern on these cars when rust or corrosion is present, were very solid. Based on my knowledge of where the car had been for the majority it’s life, northern California and Arizona, are not areas where corrosion is common.
The issue was contained to the very fronts of the rockers on both sides, immediately behind the front tires. The driver’s side was relatively minor, but the passenger side had encroached into the very front lower part of the rocker panel, fortunately not a structural area, just cosmetic.
With this in mind I wanted to stop any and all existing corrosion and seal these areas from any incursion of moisture in the future. Here’s what the driver’s side looked like prior to repair and with anticorrosion paint applied.
I did the best I could with pictures, as it’s an area that’s difficult to photograph. You can see in the photos below that the top of the rocker panel is dry and clean with no signs of corrosion, as are the inside of the fender and areas behind it. This is a very good thing.
Driver’s side.
Passenger side.
Lots of body “shutz” in these areas from the original assembly process.
Note that these areas are not typically accessed unless you take the interior fender panels out, which I did. You can see that these are clean and dry, too, indicating that the corrosion was limited to the ends of the rocker panels. I ran my shop vac in these areas to remove as much of the loose material that might be in there.
Here is the inside of that same panel, probably never having seen the light of day in over 50 years. Pretty amazing condition.
Both fender panels were removed, cleaned, the seals reconditioned to make them flexible again, the insides resprayed with the proper gray primer and the outsides sprayed with Würth undercoating as they were from the factory.
With the body cavities open, I took the opportunity to run an endoscope into both rocker panels, which appeared to be clean, dry and with no signs of rust or corrosion. After doing so, the insides of the rocker panels were fogged with Fluid Film, a corrosion preventative used to protect metal.
And with the fender panel and repairs completed, here’s the finished product. Not perfect, but quite functional. Should keep these areas clean and dry for a long time to come.
After I completed the repairs to the fronts of the rocker panels, I turned to the driver’s side doors, which both needed moisture barriers and the refinished wood trim installed. Door cards were removed and cleaned with 303 Protectant as were all vinyl parts such as armrests and chrome and anodized aluminum parts were polished.
Driver’s door.
Rear driver’s side door.
At this point the major work is pretty well complete. There are some minor clean-up/fix-up things to do, but nothing of any real significance, mainly appearance items.
Sunday, July 14, 2019