Rocker Panels  2                                                         

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So cutting out the rocker would have been easier if I realized how much I could cut out without too much worry.  I purchased two panels from Clark's for the convertible.  The description says it meets under the door sill and the old one has to be cut out. 

Well I went conservative on my cutting because I didn't want to cut too much, and since you really can't test fit the silly thing. I played it safe.  I targeted cutting right down the center of the sill, and found I ran into the 3/16" inner beam while cutting.  In the picture to the right you see my son doing some of the cutting. 

 
By the time I was finished fitting the new rocker in place, I had ground or cut away all but about 1/2" under the sill.  Had I known this, I would have completely missed the inner rail and life would have been much easier.  Oh well lesson learned for the right side of the car.

The next set of images show what I found as we cut away the old panel.

 
 
The left shows how much body filler was put on the outside of the rocker.  In some places it was nearly 1/2" thick.  The steel is supposed to be 12 Gauge, but what was left was paper thin behind the wall of filler.  We cut the pieces out little by little primarily because using the sawzall was tough with all the flaked steel between the inner and outer rail.  It kept catching on the flakes and bending the heck out of the blade.
Again the image to the left shows the incremental cutting of the rocker.  The note here is to see all the flaked off rust that accumulated.  Behind the inner rail is another pile of junk too.
This image shows the front of the door and it also happens to show a bit of the pillar repair as well.  It isn't cleaned up yet, patience young Jedi.  In any case you can see the inner support rail being cut out as well.  In the original it ends just under the pillar and runs nearly to the back wheel.  I know the picture isn't great, but it is from a camera phone after all.

Test fitting the new rocker panel from Clarks.  This also shows me how much more of the old sill I need to grind away to get a good fit.  I figured I would use as much of the "new" steel as possible so grinding away at the old was the best option.  Note this test fit does not have the new inner support in place either.  It was too darn heavy to keep moving in and out.