Rocker Panel Update

So, I have been welding alot. Notice I didn’t qualify that as good welding, because certainly the pictures below show that. I put more heat into those pieces that was probably needed. Oh well - no one is going to see them anyway.

Here is the rear part of the inner rocker panel and floor piece. This was rotted away and was causing the door to not be supported. so, about 5 patch pieces later I have something a little more solid. I will have to put a relief cut into the pillar piece to get the rocker panel to slide into it.

Here is the lower side of the inner rocker panel. It is attached to the wheel well and should work out as a good mounting point for the rear fender.

Here is the other side of the door. This piece is often rotted all the way up to the seam and is an integral piece of strength. I replaced this pretty easily. It fit between the gap in the door and the body.

Lastly, in my attempt to find all the pin holes, and rusted through areas I went a little crazy with my scraper. Probably my favorite tool of all. I complete cleaned the floor of all the rubberized undercoating and dusty dirt left on the floor. This was a pain, but now I can be certain that the floor will be clean and not smell old! I plan on seam sealing evertyhing then covering it with POR 15 - black of course.

Mercury Hood Project

As you can tell by now, this car is going to be a big project. Or I should say a number of small projects. Rocker panels, suspension, and now the hood. Seems like everything I have is a bit on the “rough” side. It is giving me plenty of practice and I am starting to think my new nickname should be cut-n-grind.

So, now the hood. I got this hood when i bought the car. It is originally from a 51 as can be seen by the imprint of the front lip chrome piece that was removed a long time ago. As as can be expected, I have my work cut out for me. Behind the trim there is always more rust than you think. So, I measures up some pieces awhile back to replace the front lip. I will reinforce it later.

So, here it is on the car. The eccentric bolts for the hood are 5/16th’s fine thread with a shoulder on it. I had to get 4 of the 6 on to make it workable.

With it on, I can say now that it officially will not fit in the garage length wise.

A close up of the front lip area with the patch panels in place.

I marked these off with a metal awl, then removed then and started cutting.

This is what lies behind the rusty lip. There is an inner brace structure that is rusty as well, however, most of it I cut away and shouldn’t have a problem reinforcing it.

Pieces welded in. I have more work to do. Much more. There will be a decent amount of filler on this piece and I am okay with that. This is my first shot at this stuff and I expect to get better with more practice.

Rocker Rust - One step closer to the end.

I have been busy with alot of stuff lately, and have only been able to work on the rust problem in this car on a limited basis. However, I am particularly happy in the last few days, I have been busy welding and grinding away and getting closer to making the repairs this car needs.

i had some help a week or two back from Sawzall with making patch panels and offering some help in the planning of this project. Starting on the drivers side, I cut away alot of the inner rocker panel and forgot to take pictures. However, I have the pieces pretty much welded back in and the rocker is almost in place.

Here is the look from the ground:

From the top

Inside rear post

Inner Rear Wheel

There is still more to do as can be seen from this picture above.

Steering Wheel

I planned on running my accessory steering wheel but in the meantime I needed something to move this car around with. I happened to have a stock mercury wheel that wasn’t in the best condition. I got to messing around with it the other day and cleaned up the horn ring cover and inserting a piece of blue plexiglass. Just a little custom trick, but cool none the less. I plan on putting an led light in there somehow so that it glows at night.