Scarlet's Metal: Rockers

The continuing story of Scarlet, The 1963 Karmann Ghia Cabriolet

Here, on this page, the metalwork for Scarlet's rocker repair is described, illustrated in22 images.

This is a sub-topic to Scarlet's Metalwork, which can be found here.

AT RIGHT: Scarlet in mid metalwork...

Scarlet's main page is here.
Find her "initial rebirth" page here.
The previous step, disassembly, is here.
The next step, paint preparation, is here.

Repair Strategy

Damage to be Repaired

Karmann didn't paint the inside of the rocker panels - they were only primered - so their insides are always rusty, the only question is how badly. In addition, the outer skin had suffered some external scrapes - again, probably caused by that picket fence. The left side clearly needed the entire outer skin removed as a minimum, but the right was in pretty good shape, relatively speaking. The right would remain unknown until some exploration was performed.

Only once the inside was exposed could a true assessment of the damage be made. The photos tell the story, so rather than prattle on here, the reader is referred to the images below.

Available Materials

When work began it was beleived that new production repair panels were available for all six parts of the outer skin that are involved in the rockers, and some internal pieces, such as the cabriolet stiffeners. However, in actual practice, at the time they were needed, only later panels were available for the main rocker skins - the ones directly below the door and covered over by part of the front and rear fenders - and the available pieces have a different curve than this vehicle would require.

In addition, the best version of the modern reproduction cabriolet-only rocker stiffeners also were unavailable. So, instead, some stainless steel pieces were used instead. Some additional sheet metal was on hand to make smaller repair pieces which are not reproduced today.

A new panel for the lower end of the hinge support pillar was secured for the left side.

Performing the Repairs

As a first step, all of the non-stainless-steel pieces were painted in high-quality enamel paint prior to installation. All original metal that had any rust on it was given several coats of POR-15, a product designed to be painted over rust - hence the name POR.

The left side was unequivocal: all the outer skin had to go. Once exposed, as can be seen below, much of the original stiffener was in good condition, but some was rotten. The worst bits were removed as simple debris then POR-15 was applied. Once done, stainless steel was used to in essence patch the original metal, as can be seen in the images. There's a plate that runs perpendicular to the fore / aft axis of the vehicle which was fabricated and installed, carefully fitted - this piece was made to fit the original structure perfectly, but a bit large on the outer edge, so it could be gently altered, a little at a time, for perfect fit to the outer skin.

After the internals were repaired, the outer skin for the center part of the rocker (which goes under part of both front and rear fenders) was fitted. First, holes were drilled at appropriate locations in the aproximate locations of the original spot welds the factory used. Then, in fitting the piece, it was recognized that the repair panel protrudes much further downward than the original, in the neighborhood of one half to three quarters of an inch. This is a large difference. In order to have some place to weld to, the lower edge had to be extended downward using an additional piece of metal. This was done before actually attaching the rocker skin whatsoever so that the addition could be fully welded and have the welds ground smooth. It was then painted for rust protection, of course.

With a place to weld the bottom edge to, fitting the rocker skin proceeded and it was then discovered there was a mis-match of the curvature of the repair panel obtained and the actual vehcile's needs. This is the curve from vertical (down the side of the car) to the horizontal (though it doesn't quite become truly horizontal) as it approaches the lower lip where the outer skin ends. This mismatch was profound, but solveable, but note that there are implications for the two fender panels that go over the rocker panel.

After the rocker panel was installed, the two fender panels that go over it were installed. As noted above, the change in curvature had implications here, in particular the fit of the rear panel as it interfaces with the door opening.

...The photographs in no way convey the challenge involved here in fitting these repair panels to this vehicle!..

On the right, the pieces of fender which cover the rocker region were both removed to gain acess. Once done it was realized that the right hand rocker was in very much better condition, and it was decided to cut away a large fraction of the rocker panel underneath the rear fender for exploratory purposes and see what the condition underneath was like.

Happily, the inner structure was found to be in remarkably good condition, all things considered. So, it was protected from further rust as best as could be done and then only the rear half of the rocker panel itself was replaced, rather than doing the whole structure. This strategy worked well, as can be seen in the images.

The right side has the wiring loom pass through it inside a steel tube. This tube was in the best condition I've ever seen. Because both front and rear fenders were cut away for access, while access to this tube was easy, the new wiring loom was run through it and coiled up on either end, and kept out of harms way from the rest of the process.

The Images

Unfortunately photos were not always taken, so some images we'd like to have are simply unavailable.

First, the "exposed" insides of the rockers, right, and left, left side first.. The left front (left image here) was not in good condition, however from the center onwards, it wasn't so bad. It may be hard to see in these images, but the green that can be seen is the original primer and all the metal in green is untouched by rust. The remaining metal has surface rust, but most of it is not too bad.

After cutting away the truly rotted material, the front and rear can be better evaluated. The part with large circles in it is the "stiffener" unique to the Cabriolet model. The lower door hinge pillar is basically gone now, but the stiffener is still basically OK, though the front and rear - roughly the farthest front and farthest rear, could use some additional support, roughly two two "holes" worth.

In this next pair, the entire rocker internals have been coated in POR-15, and extra effort was made to coat the regions that are hard to reach. Also, the front stainless-steel stiffener have been welded in. In the rear, it was decided to add two stainless-steel stiffeners, one of which has already been welded in, and it can be seen at the extreme right edge of the right image below. Also note that an inch and a half plus "extension" has been added to the bottom extending toward the ground. This is to accommodate the outer rocker panel as described above. This extension is not yet complete in these images as neither the front nor rear ends of it are installed as yet, though the initial welds to install it have been ground flat already, in preparations for the skin to be welded on top. Finally note that the lower part of the hinge pillar has been replaced with new metal.

Here's the front's inner structure is now complete and painted in enamel, and the perpendicular plate discussed above is also installed. And here's a better shot of the rear-most stainless steel addition to the left rocker. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that an image was taken of the one just forward of this, but another similar piece was added covering the last two large holes of the original stiffener. ... An additional extension down low was installed during the installation of the outer skin.

Finally, the outer skin was installed. There are some images missing here - don't know where they went to! However, here are the front and rear fender panels installed over the new rocker panel that has been already installed. Note that shorter "extensions" were installed on the extreme ends and also that the bigger extension has not yet been cropped. Before getting to the paint preparation stage, the entire lower edge was carefully trimmed to one length, fore to aft. And, the front skin's weld has yet to be ground while the rear in these images has already been done.

Now, the right side.

As can be seen above, the right was in much better condition, however, the many photos taken of its work seem to be missing. However, the process on this side was much the same as on the other, except there was less need. As described above, the portion of the rocker panel under the rear fender was largely replaced, the structure it hides itself was painted with POR-15, while the front was cleaned up and painted with POR-15, and otherwise properly sealed.

BACK: Click here to return to Scarlet's Metalwork page.

Scarlet's "before" condition can be found here.

Scarlet's restoration is described here.