Rusty Rockers

So those handy plastic pieces on the XR did a lovely job of trapping water against my rocker panels for 20 years. This caused the rocker to do a nice job of rotting away from both the floor inside, and the outer rocker cover on the outside. Indoors, the fix was easy with some L-shaped sheet metal, as seen below. Outside the car, it looks like I can just make up some patch pieces to go from the natural 'kink' in the rocker cover down to where it meets at the vertical joint. This also looks like a nice place to attach the underbody UHMW sheets, so I was curious if anyone had some bright ideas as to what I might do to facilitate that use later on.

Seems like a silly question, but this is the kind of thing I get yelled at for not thinking about when the time was right, and I had it all apart infront of me...

I guess the moral of the story is:

Buy a damn car from somewhere other than Ontario!

PAddy Wrote:
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> I guess the moral of the story is:
>
> Buy a damn car from somewhere other than Ontario!
>
> Patrick McVeigh
> Toronto, On
> Ford Sierra - Gp 5

Paddy, I don't know if'n you noticed but it seems there is some undercoating underneath the car.
You know if you get some liquid Nitrogen an spary it on that undercoating stuff will freeze then you can whack it with a chipping hammer and it jumps right off.

THEN if you want the repair is a snap, 1 piece outboard curving downwards and one piece inboard curving down to make a new "pinch Rail" Sorta like this: Y

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Well Paddy, those photos are rather confusing.

What causes them and how ? WHat part of Arizona are you from ??

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Cheers
M.Samli
Phoenix AZ
Gaylant VR4
EVO III GSR (Stolen)


Rallies are no place for traitors

Mustafa I think he's from Salt River, Arizona

> Paddy, I don't know if'n you noticed but it seems
> there is some undercoating underneath the car.
> You know if you get some liquid Nitrogen an spary
> it on that undercoating stuff will freeze then you
> can whack it with a chipping hammer and it jumps
> right off.

Yah, I didn't even bother spraying that area with the LN2, the hammer would have gone straight through the floor without it anyways. Rest of the bottom turned out pretty well for 2 guys who really didn't have much of a clue what they were doing...

> THEN if you want the repair is a snap, 1 piece
> outboard curving downwards and one piece inboard
> curving down to make a new "pinch Rail" Sorta like
> this: Y

Hoookay, I'm now at one with my sheetmetal after filling in the rear windows when it wasn't so cold outside, so this one's looking easy. But my (somewhat veiled) question remains, how do people attach their UHMW sheets to the rockers? Sheet metal screws? Weld on some plate and tap it? Rivnuts?

UHMW ... ew, why???

Want to go sledding into the woods on a winter event?
That would be kinda funny. Until it's time to extract.

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www.rallyrace.net

The other day when I was talking to Paul Westwick, he had a partial sheet in his garage. The balance of the sheet was under his car. He mentioned that the properties, unlike that of steel has the ability to absorb energy.

So in hitting a boulder of the like it will :

1.) Absorb some of the impact and not just dent the skid plate
2.) It's smooth nature will allow it to slide better over the object

Sounds logical.

I have an aluminum plate that covers motor and goes back to cover the front of the tranny housing.

Skye Wrote:
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> UHMW ... ew, why???

Because Derek Bottles does, and he is my hero?

You just answered your question. Derek's appear to be riveted. The only car we have that this is done on is riveted.

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Grant Hughes

I'm going to bite.. what's UHMW?

Skye Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> UHMW ... ew, why???
>
> Want to go sledding into the woods on a winter
> event?
> That would be kinda funny. Until it's time to
> extract.
>
> ______
> Skye Poier, Puyallup WA
> Early 30s Undercover Canadian evildoer
> 1986 XR4Ti 'GpA replica' almost done...

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Andrew M
Onterrible
30ish

UHMW - Ultra High Molecular Weight - Polyethylene

Under car protection

Quote:

Derek's appear to be riveted. The only car we have that this is done on is riveted....

Soooooooo........

Perhaps it is done differently in the rest of the world, but here in the Northwest where we regularly drive on roads graded using the World famous 'Simpson Timber Company Pea Gravel' we MUST use UHMW on the underside of the car to keep the underside of the car from going away at a rate which closely approximates tire wear. DO use the 1/4" thick stuff that will be sold by outfits such as Laird Plastics in Seattle on the underside of the car. Attach it with Stainless steel rivets with a 1/2" head. Aluminum rivets will quickly wear away leaving your plastic on the road. To the driver this is NOT amusing.
You will find that UHMW weighs a LOT less then skidplates that wear away and will keep the underside of your little treasure looking as new for years to come. A side benefit of UHMW is that it will GREATLY reduce the noise that goes along with the rocks that would be otherwise serenading you as you drive.

Do also get the 1/8" thick UHMW to attach in areas that require tighter bends then can be done with the thicker material.

Think of it as Teflon for the underside of your car.......
When you screw up really bad and rip all four corners off of it but are still doing 50MPH down the stage road with the shiny side up you will slide for a LONGGGGGG time!!

Paddy I suggest that when you tire of dealing with the tinworm you trek to somewhere like Seattle where X-Ratty's get hauled off for scrap that may have a bubble of rust around the rubber on the hatch.

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JohnLane

Overkill is consistently more fun

Hmmm but seems like it would be a royal pain during service, repairs, trapping mud and moisture, ripping off and dragging around, etc

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www.rallyrace.net

hudson Wrote:
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> I'm going to bite.. what's UHMW?

JFGI
(2nd definition)

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www.rallyrace.net