Matt's Old Cars.com

Driver's Side Quarter & Rocker Panels
Part 14 - Rocker Rust -- Grinding And Welding

Back to American Restoration Index

May 1, 2004

As I mentioned in my last update, I ran out of gas for my MIG welder last weekend. I took care of that problem by getting a much larger tank.

This tank holds at least twice as much gas as the little one the welder came with. A bigger tank isn't exactly free (this one was $160 and I got $35 for my old tank) but it's only a few bucks more to fill than the old one and it will save a ton of hassle with running to get the tank filled all the time (this is the same reason I went with medium tanks on my gas welding rig). The only problem with it is that it doesn't fit properly in my existing cart (one of the first things I built with my MIG welder) very well. It leans back a bit and the chain is lower than it should be. A new cart (or at least a taller mount for the tank) is in my near future.

On April 29, I spent a few hours in the garage grinding the welds I did last weekend and finishing up on the areas I didn't do due to the gas situation. At the end of the day, the cover looked like this:

The two areas I was worried most about (where the door opening curves up) turned out pretty nicely. Here's the front of the door opening:

It's hard to see in this picture but there's a step at the bottom of the curve from the B pillar where it meets the rocker cover. On a proper four door cover, this wouldn't be an issue but since this is a cover for a two door, I ended up bending the end of it up a little and then making up the difference by building it up with the welder.

Here's the rear of the door opening:

The curve from the C pillar isn't as sharp as the B pillar's and I was able to cut far enough forward that the contour is pretty good as-is. I do have a slightly different issue to deal with here (another two door vs. four door issue) and that is that on a four door, the rocker cover goes up over the wheel well. What this leaves me with is a gap at the end of the replacement cover where it ends and the quarter panel starts. I added a small metal tab to the replacement cover to fill the gap in and later on, I'll end up filling this in with brazing rod when I braze this area back together.

On Saturday, May 1, I was able to continue work on this area. After some additional welding and grinding, the front of the door opening was looking really nice.

The back turned out pretty nice too.

Just barley visible is the area that needs brazed. It doesn't look that bad in this picture but it is very noticeable in real life and would really stick out with some paint on it.

Here's a good side view of what it looks like now.

Still left to do before finishing work can start is to braze the quarter panel back to the rocker cover and to bend over the bottom flange to match the rest of the rocker cover.

Up Next: Part 15 - Rocker Rust -- Nice Brass!

Last Updated 05/08/04 02:54:19 PM