More Beautification

(05/20/04) The next thing I got to was the right side rocker panel.

It was sorta hammered...well..disintegrated. Those things on the left side are rags that a previous owner must have put there to keep the elements out of the cab. You can see the replacement panel on the ground. They were some of the things I bought over the winter but couldn't get to until the weather got better.

The top side of the panel doesn't look too bad.

The high-speed grinder came in handy again. I started cutting the old panel out.

Eventually I got the whole thing cut out. I ended up wearing a hat and hooded sweatshirt with the hood up (not to mention eye protection) while doing this, because the grinder throws bits of hot metal everywhere and the curved shape of the door opening seemed to send them right at my face.

It didn't look good underneath at all.

I cleaned it up with brake cleaner, primed it with Zero-Rust and then some satin black rustoleum. If I was doing a killer restoration job, I sure would be doing things differently. But this is still gonna be a winter beater so that I don't have to drive the other cars in the snow and salt.

Notice that the door is off. And note the lower door hinge. That one's gonna provide some interesting moments.

I cut up a piece of galvanized sheet metal and pop-riveted it into place. I gave that a coat of Rustoleum, too, but after I had taken the picture.

And then I pop-riveted the new rocker panel in. I probably should have welded it, but that's one of the problems of not having a welder. I'm gonna have to break down and get one pretty soon, along with an air compressor.

Here it is just before I reinstalled the door. As you can see, I got a start on the interior. More on rusty bolts: there are 8 bolts that hold the seat rails to the floor. Two of them unscrewed. The other six snapped off. Maybe I otta remove all bolts that way and just re-tap everything. Hell, I could use metric taps and bolts and drive the next owner completely nuts...or bolts.

Remember that hinge I mentioned? Well, it seems that the pin had rusted solid and then snapped when somebody was REAL determined to get the door open. I had to take it to a machine shop and have the pieces of the pin removed. I couldn't get 'em out. But a new pin and we're back in business. That otta make that door a whole lot easier to open and close.

Next page: The driver's side.

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