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Concealed Rust Damage at Rocker and Rear Quarter
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Ptomas
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Joined: February 28, 2011
Posts: 5
Location: Charleston,SC
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 22, 2012 2:09 pm    Post subject: Concealed Rust Damage at Rocker and Rear Quarter Reply with quote

Hiya! Haven't posted in a while; I use the forums mostly for research. Now I am stuck, and have found some interesting PO repair work. I was finishing up patching rust outs on my Thing when I saw a small hump on the right lower rocker and tapped it with a hammer. A silver-dollar size chunk of bondo, half an inch thick, fell out. Yeesh. I ground and scraped until I found that the damage was all the way to the rear wheel well.
I found an outer rocker panel on sale and had it shipped in. On surgery day, I cut into the rocker with air saw, etc. I found the damage also went up the left quarter at the door. Most of the repair was done with chunks of old real estate signs (I kid you not-see pictures).So there was the crushed original body panel, tacked on real estate sign, and a thick slathering of bondo. I gotta admit, it all was pretty inconspicuous unless you really looked at the details. The parts I think I need that are listed in my parts manual don't appear to be available as nos or repro.I am thinking a left rear quarter clip w/ entire lock pillar and reinforcement would be what I need. Anyone have any thoughts on that plan? Does anyone have such an item? I don't think I need entire quarter, mostly just the pillar.
Question B- The actual rocker panel is solid from center of b-pillar to the front wheel well. Would it be a sketchy repair to just weld in the rear half only, as I have it cut in the pictures? Or should I go ahead and cut out the whole thing since I already have the panel? Any input would be appreciated. Thanks!
here is the sign metal
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Picture after patch removal-before clean-up
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..after clean-up
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here is patch behind front wheel (not related,just pleased w/)
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inside of same patch ( a little blurry)
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NOVA Airhead
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Joined: July 20, 2005
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Location: Richmond, VA
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 22, 2012 3:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I am always of the opinion you should preserve as much of the original metal as you can.

If you are sure the rest of that rocker ios solid I think its OK to patch if you have the skills to do it right.
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citroen
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 22, 2012 5:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

correct save as much of the orignal panel as possible . Mine was worse than that i used pieces of an old body and some new steel.
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///Mink
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Joined: May 03, 2000
Posts: 5051
Location: Fair Oaks, CA
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 22, 2012 6:15 pm    Post subject: Re: Concealed Rust Damage at Rocker and Rear Quarter Reply with quote

Ptomas wrote:

Question B- The actual rocker panel is solid from center of b-pillar to the front wheel well. Would it be a sketchy repair to just weld in the rear half only, as I have it cut in the pictures? Or should I go ahead and cut out the whole thing since I already have the panel? Any input would be appreciated. Thanks!


I did just the rear half of mine, a very similar repair to yours. As long as you do it right, there's no need to rip out the entire rocker. You can check out page 4 of my thread for pics of mine (damaged pics are on page 3).

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4...highlight=
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