[Dustr295]

I was recently starting to restore my 1973 Mercury Cougar XR7 Convertible when removing some rust three large chuncks fell out from under the Rocker panels. Now these chuncks where not repairs but coverups held in place by undercoating and caulk. If I could find the guy that did this I would have a few choice words for him. Upon further inspection the car has little to no remaining bottom surface remaining along the bottom of the rocker panels. The outer Rocker Panel seems to be soild and whole. The inner is missing in spots from what I believe is the lower weld up to an inch above the inner floor pan. My Question is I have no idea how the structure for the car is at the rocker panels? Is it only a inner and outer rocker panel or is there a frame rail running between them? If it is a frame rail what is the best way to make this repair? Can I buy inner rocker panels and or a frame rail for this? If someone has a picture of what the structure should look like? Any Help is much appreciated.
Thanks

 

[Cougrrcj]

Sorry, but it sounds like you have your work cut out for you... The inner rockers are the extra frame reinforcement that is required on convertibles for structural integrity. Hardtops have a solid roof structure that helps in that regard so they don't have the additional inner rockers. If your cat's inner rockers are gone, the only true cure is to replace them (and probably floors and torque boxes as well...) Please see this thread for what you're getting yourself into...

 

[Dustr295]

Is there an inner structure inbetween the inner and outer rocker panel. If so what does it look like, what kind of shape is it, any pictures would be helpfull.

 

[Cougrrcj]

Picture the capital letter D, now two of them together with the flat sides together. That's the relationship of outer rocker and inner rocker. The outer rocker's outer surface is painted body color and is what you normally see. it also has the lower lip/flange. Anything immediately inside of that, but not the floorpan itself is the inner rocker. Chances are, somebody did a cosmetic repair of the inner rocker to make it look good, but the actual structural reinforcement integrity is gone. The only repair is to replace it by welding in a new one. That said, you are limited to what the Mustang vendors sell which might be a tad short lengthwise since our Cats are a bit longer. This is not a job for a beginner!

 

[Dustr295]

When I was looking at the joint where the inner and outer rockers are welded together it looks like there is another piece to metal between the two rockers. I am not an expert so I am trying to be as detailed as possible so that I can get the detail and experianced advice from everyone on these forums. My uncle is doing the work for me he has about 30 years experiance with repairing/rebuilding cars. However his experiance is mostly with Dodge/Mopar. So I am doing the leg work of finding out as much detail as possible for him to make the repairs.