95 SW2 Door Sill / Rocker Repair

[cgg17]

Hello all,
Since I purchased my 95 SW2 and plan to daily drive it for a few years, I figured I would handle the rust issues before they spread.
Here's the pictures of the process.

Passenger Side
















Driver Side










Essentially I removed the top layer, followed by the bottom layer. Then I cleaned everything up, primed and painted it, then assembled it layer by layer. It took me three or four nights working on it.
It is nowhere near perfect and the paint does not match but with some body filler and proper paint this summer I should get it looking factory. But for now this will do as it is now 95% rust free on the entire chassis.

I also had to wire wheel and scrape out the seam under the passenger seam where the rear floor pan meets the front floor pan, as it was rusting and the seam sealer was peeling up.
I got it down to metal, filled the pin holes with weld, and primed and painted it. Once everything was semi dry, I put a thick layer of seam sealer on the inside and outside.
So, hopefully it will last another 26 years before rusting again!

If anybody has questions about this repair, just ask!
Thanks for viewing,
Chris

[Waiex191]

Very nice. So that is no new parts? Just rip it apart, clean it up, and weld back together? I may do this to my SC2 someday.

[454cid]

Nice work!!!

[cgg17]

Originally Posted by 454cid

Nice work!!!

Thank you!

[Zeebins]

Looks like new! Mine are currently covered in a layer of oil, lol. If I do ever decide to repair them, it doesn’t seem like it will be that hard

Did you use an angle grinder to cut them out? All I have is a cheap reciprocating saw and it’s definitely not good enough to take out the door sills.

[Waiex191]

This tool with a cutoff wheel goes through steel like butter.
https://www.harborfreight.com/corded...der-69645.html

I have an actual Milwaukee one. For $13 it seems hard to go wrong. I have a real sawzall too. The purpose of the hobby is to collect tools.

[cgg17]

Originally Posted by Zeebins

Looks like new! Mine are currently covered in a layer of oil, lol. If I do ever decide to repair them, it doesn’t seem like it will be that hard

Did you use an angle grinder to cut them out? All I have is a cheap reciprocating saw and it’s definitely not good enough to take out the door sills.

I used a cheap saw for the long cut and cuts through the part that goes towards the C-Pillar, then an air powered cutoff wheel to do the rest of the cuts. Then along the inside of the door frame (pinch weld) I used a drill to drill out the spot welds.
Then a welder, grinder, and wire wheel to clean it all up.

[cgg17]

Originally Posted by Waiex191

Very nice. So that is no new parts? Just rip it apart, clean it up, and weld back together? I may do this to my SC2 someday.

You will need a donor rocker segment from a car that is not rusted. The ones I used were from a 99, into my 95 frame. The shape was the same until about 6-8" up from the rear. The clips for the trim pieces are in different locations, so I had to fill the old ones in with weld and drill new ones to accommodate the trim pieces. Overall it is not a bad job.