• Hey Guest!
    British Car Forum has been supporting enthusiasts for over 25 years by providing a great place to share our love for British cars. You can support our efforts by upgrading your membership for less than the dues of most car clubs. There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Upgraded members don't see this banner, nor will you see the Google ads that appear on the site.)
Tips
Tips

One rocker finally on, one to go

Share this page

TR6oldtimer

TR6oldtimer

Darth Vader
Country flag
Offline
After much angst, sweat, and blood, I finally got the passenger side rocker on. A little grinding, sanding, and epoxy primer, then on to the other side.

(Click on the thumbnails to enlarge)












 
Ray- Put the photo's in a photobucket slide show. A lot easier to see your fine work.
 
Looks nice, Ray.

I am especially impressed with your ability to weld those sills with the fuzzy door seals still in place and not burn them!
 
I was studying mine over the weekend and know I need to do the same, but I am reluctant. What kind of welding setup did you use and how would you rate your skills (look pretty good to me)? Did you drill out the spot welds to start with? I will only be doing the outer sills, inner ones are still solid. I have not checked but wonder if I could rent a spot welder.

Thanks for the pictures, helps me visualize the process
 
Ray, you're a brave (and skilled) man!

A difficult job for the uninitiated, even if you have good welding skills it's difficult to get right the first time or two.

Nice job, thanks for posting the pics.
 
I used Oxy/Acet to braze the rocker in. Plugs on the bottom, and seam on the rest. The forward part of the rocker was seam welded over the kick panel. I used one of those to spot weld drills and a cut off wheel to remove the panel. I have since used the spot weld drill only where I cannot get a grinder to.

The hardest part (aside from not burning the fuzzy seals) was getting the replacement rocker into shape. The parts we get now are in the general shape of the original. It took a lot of metal pounding, shrinking, tuck shrinking, cutting, and stretching. (I ruined my first rocker) Fitting and refitting to get it right. When done, it should fit without forcing. Also, you must have the doors on to check the fit as well as the fenders. I must have put on and taken off the fenders 100 times.

The rocker provides a lot of support for the "A" post. You will be surprised how much the forward door post moves around. One of several mistakes I made was to not support it well.

While many feel the greatest challenge is the welding, it's not. You can braze, MIG, TIG, and or spot weld. It really does not matter. The BIGGEST challenge is to get the rocker into the proper shape and fit. Before you jump into the project take a good long look at the replacement part and the one on your car. Then decide if you have, or are willing to learn the skills needed to shape the part.
 
Finally got it epoxy primed.

(click to enlarge)
 
It looks great Ray; I can see myself trying this some day in the future.
I take it the gas can in the car in the picture is the alternate way to take care of the whole thing when the cutting/fitting bit gets too frustrating?
 
AltaKnight said:
...I take it the gas can in the car in the picture is the alternate way to take care of the whole thing when the cutting/fitting bit gets too frustrating?
Click to expand...
/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/lol.gif
I have thought about doing just that from time to time. Actually, it is one of six water cans I used to simulate passenger load while I adjusted door gaps.
 
Back
Top