How structural are the rockers in these cars?

[Hiflyer]

I recently found a 1974 412, that is shockingly solid and complete with the exception of the rockers, the passenger side is so bad that about 18” of the seam itself is missing followed by ~12” of the floor, the drivers is only slightly better.

Is this fixable? I know these cars are unibodies and I’m sure replacement rockers would be a pipe dream... any insight?

[Hiflyer]

Also looks like I’m dealing with a heater channel in there too? Anyone have a cross section or exploded view of that area?

[raygreenwood]

Sorry....meant to try to answer this.

Yes...you have a heater channel in there. It pretty much is a box channel that runs from just below the A pillar and all the way to the bulkhead of the rear fender.

I will try to post up the parts book pages which show what the individual welded parts look like. You can,get a little bit of an idea of the structure of this thing.

It does not have a pan....per-se. Like any unibody.....none of the individual stamped parts have any strength on their own. Where the segments are joined are where it is strongest....so the weld lines are critical.

Its not really a problem replacing most sections of metal ....except for cutting in the crunple zone areas......as long as what you put in has as much welding to tie it in as possible. Ray