Rocker panel repair...

[ScottyRegal]

I finally got a day to bring my rocker panel that i ordered from poston performance to my buddy that does body work on the side from working at a body shop. First off let me say....postons rocker panel fits awesome, what a great piece. secondly let me say...what a nightmare of a job.
he started by cutting the old bubbling and rusty one out, had to seperate the welds and chizel drilled them loose, then it came off, the panel behind the rocker panel was shot, and since its saturday nothing was open. we couldnt find a piece of plain sheet metal, everything was galvanized. so he decided to cut sheet metal off a old hood from another car. and we got a 5inch high by 40inch wide pice to weld over the existing back panel that he sanded down and applied this chemical to that makes rust literally dissappear and scrape off, so the weld part went ok, eventually he grinded down the spot welding he did and now i have a back mounting panel for my rocker panel to weld to, so he started welding the rocker panel on, we noticed my door is starting to have bubble spots on the bottom, which pissed me off, b.c the doors are only a yr old. secondly we noticed my rear panel bubbling on the bottom and the door in front alines to the front of the rocker panel great, but the bottom door on the door handle side sticks out past the rocker panel, and we cant figure wtf is causing this to stick out. it was like that to begin with, the rocker is flush with rest of the fender and rear quater paneling, just the tip opf the door hangs over it by a half an inch, but the hinge side is perfectly aline, wtf!!!! so now this is where we got to.

these cars are rust nightmares, im getting so frustrated. any ideas on how to align better, he was suggesting bondo to make the rocker flush with the door end, but it be about a 1/4 inch ammount of bondo, he tried using a crow bar to pop out the rear panel more but it wont budge.

 

[SFITurbo]

A small amount of door twist goes a long way on alignment. I found that you have to be VERY patient and it will come. Much easier to do without the fender on (In my case). Start from the stationary panel (1/4) and move forward to fender then hood. Prepare for window alignment also.

 

[ScottyRegal]

how do you actually twist the door without cracking the paint thats already on the door?

 

[SFITurbo]

Hinge area has a boatload of adjustment. Forwad/back/up/down/corner up/down. Chances are the door wasn't aligned right /hinge pins are worn, or someone tried lifting/standing/shutting something in the door. Align with the 1/4 panel first!!! You should have seen the crap that I had to adjust out. It didn't even look like the right door for the car. Watch your paint and take your time, you'll get it.

 

[ScottyRegal]

wow thanks for the headsup, never knew the door could be adjusted like that. unfortuantly, my body guy already added bondo to the rocker panel to adjust for the door sticking out, so in return it looks flush...he did a kick ass job though!! wasnt much bondo, he said it would be fine...if u put too much then it will crack etc...but he said its fine, it adheres to itself well and this is strong ****. i am really pleased with his work....btw...maybe u know....is there a factory line from the rocker panel to the rear quater panel? b.c he made it all smooth as if it was connected ....i wanna keep it original lookin...

 

[SFITurbo]

Wifes car has an indentation at that point, as far as I know it's original.(except paint). Mine is smooth (replaced). I'd leave it smooth, one less thing for your eye to catch looking down the body line. If you got a good body man, keep him in your pocket, they are hard to come by anymore. No one wants to do restoration work, the money is in insurance jobs.