TomP

Okay so I had to drive over those tire-damage pieces of crap to get into a parking lot... took it nice and slow because they looked tall- got all kinds of crunching/scraping noises. Luckily that didn't happen on the way out.

Anyway, my cat fell off the y-pipe yesterday as I was driving... luckily I was near a side street, so I pulled in, put on my old "snow emergency" ski gloves, and slid the cat back onto the y-pipe.

Next day, I went to make a better seal (loosen clamp, slide cat on further), and just as I was done, I noticed a huge dent in my passenger side rocker panel, with scratches in it- probably from the teeth sticking outta that thing. I haven't hopped any curbs since '96 (and yeah I remember that b/c I did a lot of front end damage!), so it had to be those damned parking lot things. And the same damn thing probably yanked my cat off the y-pipe.

Next time I have to drive over those, man, I'm going the hell home instead.

But- anyone replace the rocker panel? It's always seemed like aluminum to me, and I've never seen any bolts holding it on. Are they hidden bolts? Is the thing welded to the frame? I could probably pop the dent out, but if it's easier to replace the panel, I might as well go get a junkyard piece.

Thanks!

MasterEvilAce

Why would you HAVE to drive over those? WTF?

JeffW

http://www.autobody101.com/

though i seen something here where the used the weld on dent pullers to fix that type of damage. i think it is a welded peice. i have stripped off most all parts from my z and seen no bolts ect for that area.

since i have no welder yet.....can always wish.... i would use a slide hammer type puller and drill holes to pull it back out.


Jeff

deadbird

They are welded in tomp, and quite well. There is a pinch weld seam unter the door sill trim and rockers usually wrap a small lower portion of the hinge and striker piller.
If your rocker recieved damage, have you looked at your floorpans ? some points are lower than your rockers..
If you don't want to pull the dent, it would be easiest to section the rocker in the area of the dent rather than try to replace the whole thing. Sort of like this but as a smaller section (just the affected area)...

CamaroRS385hp

uhh, because he probably needed to park in the parking lot to go do something....those spikes aren't supposed to hurt your tires if you go over them the right way. but if you try to leave the parking lot the same way you came in, w/o paying, the spikes will puncture your tires. except this time, even though he went over them the right way, they were tall enough to scrap the underside of his car and cause damage

were you thinkin he had to go over them he wrong way? like they forced him to? haha

MD83Z

Tom..... Get the heck out of NJ. and move out into the country...
The only thing you have to worry about here in Md. is cow manure. We only have curbs in Balt. city... (I remember you from the north point meet 2 yrs. ago. ) Anyway sorry about the dents.

TomP

LOL, MD83Z! Yeah too bad the park got hammered by the hurricane this year, I was looking forward to driving down and seeing everyone again.

And yeah MEA, I needed to get in that parking lot... no other place to park unless I wanted (A) some valet idiot who never saw a ratchet shifter, or (B) park on a major highway!

CamaroRS, I almost crapped my pants leaving, when I was going over the "exit" one, I was so light on the throttle that the car started rolling backward! THAT would've sucked twice- embarassing as hell, AND the cost of tires. Luckily I just nudged the gas a bit more and made it over without getting scraped too badly on the way out.

Deadbird to the rescue again!! Dude if I'm ever down your way, I'm buying you beer And a huge frikin' steak! So they <b>are</b> welded in, eh? Damn. Maybe I'll just try to pull it. I didn't see any floorboard damage- and my buddy actually thinks it might've been ice that I was complaining about driving over. (It snowed out here, and I hit a few strips where the plow jerks would plow out a parking lot- and push strips of ice/snow into the road.) And he might be right... b/c the damage IS only on one side.

I'll get a better look at it this weekend. While I was under there, I found a large crack in my y-pipe... probably from bottoming out all the damn time... so I gotta weld that up ASAP. (I have two clamps and a strip of aluminum on there as insurance.) It's been a little too wet to be standing in a puddle with the welder energized!

But if pulling it out sucks that bad, maybe I will just section it out... good idea. Hell I still gotta weld on that 1/4. I should stop trying to restore my daily driver...