11/29/05
Well I took the time off this weekend with the goal of removing the front drivers outer rocker extension off of the car and getting the prep work done for the new part. Also I wanted to get the inside of the outer rocker panel rust treated and protected. I met all goals but I have to say that removing the rocker extension was a major pain. The spot welds are inside where you cannot easily grind or drill them out. How dare ford design a car that I can’t easily take apart….what were they thinking 40 years ago anyway!! So I just ground, drilled, chiseled, and muscled that part off. It took about 5 hours in all.
This is the old rocker extension before removal. This shows that I have the torque box, toe board and seat pan removed.
This is the new rocker extension.
Extension removed, view from inside.
Extension removed, view from outside.
Another view
New piece dry fitted in place.
11/20/05
Well I drilled out all the spot welds that were holding in the inner rocker panel..have I mentioned yet how much I hate drilling out spot welds…..well then let me do it now…I HATE DRILLING OUT SPOT WELDS!!!
This is the outer rocker panel with the inner panel removed…
This is the outer rocker panel with the inner panel removed…
This is the ORIGINAL inner rocker where it attached to the outer rocker. As you can see only the top was still connected. The bottom was….gone
Here you can see how I drilled out spot welds and peeled back what was left of the inner rocker.
Rear with rocker removed. Yes it was a bitch to get out……
These are the new inner rocker panels this is how I rust protected all parts that are going to be welded in and create a cavity I cannot later add rust protection to. On the right you can see I primed the part except for where it is going to be welded, the outer edges, on the left I have painted over the primer.
After the part is painted I coat the unprotected edges that are where I am going to weld with weld thru primer. This will assure that this part will not rust again before the sun explodes in a super nova.
11/18/05
Ok so I have been lazy…so what!!! I actually had to go to Japan for work for a week and its a 14 hour time difference, day is night and night is day so it has taken me a while to re-adjust to eastern time again……plus I got a little lazy. Anyway I am going to try and get the rest of the drivers inner rocker out this weekend. All I have left is the part under the rear window where the seat is. As you can see from the pictures this is a little difficult to get out.
What is left of the inner rocker panel in the rear seat area. It is not going to be easy to get it out as it is so embedded in there.
Another view