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Hello all! I have been working on an 85' Firebird since 2020 and had a few body work questions.
To start, the guy I bought her from said she was painted only a few months before. I got her home and got to looking and whoever painted her did a poor job of it. The paint was quickly peeling off the rocker panels and already had severe rust. (which was odd seeing as the rest of the undercarriage is mostly rust free). I got rid of as much of the rust as I could and managed to paint it up again, but the panels just need replaced. I've looked up how to do this, but haven't found a very clear tutorial. I've also consulted my Chilton and Haynes manuals, but they don't touch on replacing the body panels at all.
Also on the rear quarter panel, the previous owner had a CB antenna mounted, but removed the setup and left two small mounting holes in the panel. I did a quick fix on it, but I want to fix it right. Body work isn't my strongest area and I'd love to learn, but I wanted to know what to prepare before I take on this job.
I found some plastic rocker panels, which I will be using for this project, but I'm unsure of how to remove these things. I was wondering if anyone has done a repair like this before and if so, what had to be done and what was needed to do it.
Many thanks!
Last edited by KittTheFirebird; Jan 27, 2022 at 03:07 AM.
Re: Rocker Panel Replacement and rear panel repair.
"I found some plastic rocker panels, which I will be using for this project, but I'm unsure of how to remove these things."
????? the rocker panels are metal..and replacements would be metal as well..... they are important structual wise.........pics of what you have / are repairing would be helpful.
Re: Rocker Panel Replacement and rear panel repair.
Please post photos of the affected areas.
Rocker panels are steel, welded to the unibody and are a structural component. Replacement would mean cutting the rusted metal out, fabricating new pieces from sheet metal or cutting off a rust free donor car and welding the replacement metal sections.
There are no plastic replacement options for rocker panels, unless that is you are talking about adding plastic ground effects panels to hide the rust holes. People do that, but not a good long term fix.
