rocker panels

Discussions about general body work and modifications
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loman
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Location: Missouri

rocker panels

Post by loman »

Does anyone have any good ideas how to clean the inside of a rocker panel out? My car has started jumping to the right when I launch the car. We could find nothing wrong with rear set up to cause this problem. Last night at the track after one of my runs, one of the track guys came to my pits and told me my car was putting sand on the track. He said he saw the sand earlier but never saw whose car it was coming from unitl my 5th pass. He showed me where it was coming from and we took a mallet and lightly hit the rocker and the sand came pouring out of the drain hole right in front of the rear slick. I'm guessing the sand has been packed in there for years and finally has started to brake free and come out of the holes. I removed the rear door panel but can't get to it from there. I was thinking of drilling a sizable hole under the door sill plate to gain access with a shop vac or something unless someone else has a good idea?
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poboyjo65
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Re: rocker panels

Post by poboyjo65 »

Loman you might go in thru the wheel well. it closes off the back of the rocker. I was thinking of making an access panel in there to clean mine out.this would allow a brush on a long handle to clean it out. I was blowing some of the mice nest & dirt out of mine when I was tubbing it. the outer part of the well is what covers it. I have a complete rocker that I took off of a parts car ,that's when I noticed how it is put together.

I'll try to get a pic of the end of the rocker today to show you .
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Johno

Comechero65
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Re: rocker panels

Post by Comechero65 »

Many years ago when I was working on my ranchero I ended up pulling about 10 lbs of red colorado dirt out of the frame rails and rockers. Also pulled lots of remnants of clover hay out of the frame rails and the dents in the truck bed and tailgate from doing all that work on a colorado ranch.

The rockers on mine have a couple small drain holes but apparently they are poorly placed or just not big enough. I cut some slits in the bottom of the rockers to roll the sheetmetal open so i could blow and flush the dirt and sand out. It's tedious and takes time but eventually you can get most of it out.
Then i reduced the openings in size but larger than the original drains in the hopes they will drain better. Of course now it has another 50 years to get this bad all over again. But since it will only be highway driving and never see another dirt road or be on another ranch in dirt fields to feed the cattle again, should never be a problem ever again.
Ron
Last edited by Comechero65 on Sun Oct 23, 2016 4:29 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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poboyjo65
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Re: rocker panels

Post by poboyjo65 »

If you went in thru here you could cut a hole in the outer w well ,in the center of the opening shown, then you could feel around for the tab on top which is where some spot welds were. the other tabs are bent outward, no danger of hitting those. leave enough meat around the edge of your hole to screw a access plate back on is the way I plan to do it.

the part I am holding is the wheel well opening. on the bottom pic you can see the remnants of the leaf spring front mount & just ahead of that a pc of the torque box.
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dadgum dirt dobbers!
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Johno

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StPro
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Re: rocker panels

Post by StPro »

That is the way i did mine. You could use a smaller hole and feed in an air hose without a coupler on the end. that puts a lot of air in there and moves a lot of dirt around pushing it out holes. It's not a fast job to get it all.
Only use the brakes to stop and get gas.
Projects
65 Comet 421Stroker
93 Mark VIII Supercharged w/Fogger
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loman
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Location: Missouri

Re: rocker panels

Post by loman »

Thanks for posting the pics johno! I'm done racing for the year so when I put the car up on jackstands for the winter I'll get a better look at everything. I can't remember if my wheel tubs go down and cover the rocker panel opening that you can see in the pic. I'm thinking right now, I might go the route that Ron took, and use the air hose like St Pro suggested. But it will be a while before I get that far, I first want to winterize the car in the next few weeks.
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loman
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Re: rocker panels

Post by loman »

I finally cleaned out the inside of my rocker panel. I ended up drilling a couple of 1 1/8" holes under the door sill plate. I removed one heckuva a mouse's nest. That had to be a mansion to those vermin living in there. There was no way that was going to blow out of there with just an air hose through the drain hole. After I removed the Comet's Vanderbilt mansion, I stuck the shop vac in each of the holes and then blew compressed air up in the rocker. I think it is pretty clean now but hard to get a good look. I wish I still had access to one of those camera snake lights.
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