DeTomaso Mailing List: November 99, Message #393

Finally did it! Yep, the driver's side rocker panel is in. One more
patch to install and that one will take some time. But barring that, I
did finally weld in the rocker panel. Took me nearly 6 hours of
fittingbut it did go in!

Still in the crawl-walk phase of welding, I did manage to plug weld (and
also did a successful stitch) of the patch panels and rocker panel.
Although (at first), it wasn't pretty to look at, my criteria was
simple:

1) The welds would be acceptable only if they were structurally sound
after I did the grinding.

2) If they weren't pretty, a clean up and POR putty/patch and final
sanding would mask any of these things.

In any event, I'm still suffering from grinding all the excess weld
material off (looking up on my back and welding/die grinding from
outside almost underneath the car). After all was said and done (and I
was satisfied with the appearance and strength of the welds), I closed
up shop, put my tools away and went to the bathroom. Felt like my face
was made of sandpaper! All that ground up weld flew around there. My
ears was also tingling with that stupid buzzing from the air compressor
(despite my hearing protection). Well, that's over now. I cleaned up the
top part of the rocker panel and sprayed some POR metal prep in
anticipation of laying down a coat of POR-15 silver and POR putty (with
the exception of that one spot that needs special attention).

So, I'm done! I just read in the latest PI International mag that repair
of the rocker panel section can almost cost as much as the car (maybe
with some of the other issues to contend with). I don't know about the
truth to that matter. All I can say that it wasn't fun. But, I'd say I'm
about 25% complete with the entire repairs. The things that remain are
that final corner to work on, the passenger side rocker (that is a
little easier to work with since there wasn't that much rust damage),
and finally the wheel well brace sections. Progress is finally being
made!!!! Cal #2428r.