The rockers form the bottom of the door frame at the outside edge of the car floor. Mine are badly rusted at the top. I am going to try to fabricate new rocker pieces but the compound curves will make it a challenge. I media blasted the driver side rocker to preserve it just in case I need to patch and use it.
I need to make sure the doors fit and close properly BEFORE I stiffen the body with steel square tubing. Right now the body has a lot of flex. I temporarily fastened the front and rear door frame sheet metal to the car body with aluminum rivets, and then test fit the driver side door. So far, so good. The body lines match up pretty well and the rocker fits nicely. The door still rubs at the outer top corner so adjustments will need to be made.
Media blasting . . . DONE! Rustoleum Rust Reformer . . . DONE! Today was EPOXY PRIMER day! Big success . . . Epoxy primer . . . DONE! I wrapped the body with plastic to minimize overspray when applying the primer.
I'm finished media blasting the inside of the body (but not the doors yet)! The video shows how well it actually cleaned up. Currently it has a light coat of Rustoleum Rust Reformer primer. Soon I'll spray a coat of epoxy primer. I sanded the outside of the body to check for damage from media blasting. No warping! My methods are gentle enough that I have not damaged the sheet metal. The section below the black line will need a patch panel due to rust damage. Media blasting gets the metal clean but can't remove 100% of the rust. The next step is Rustoleum Rust Reformer which chemically converts the remaining rust to iron oxide. Later I'll spray a layer of epoxy primer as a final sealer.
Media blasting can damage large metal panels. I'm working very carefully using LOW PRESSURE and very fine grit media.
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