Another Miata bodywork thread

Anyone have cost experience in replacing/repairing rocker panels?

My car is really solid otherwise, floors are perfect, no rust on frame. Just some rocker rust. Since nobody seems to be interested at all in the car (seriously... not even a lowball offer), i may as well think about fixing it.

Are total replacement panels a thing? Any ideas how much i'd be looking at for this? No rust has progressed to the actual color paint area, just in the textured black painted area, so repainting that area is something i'm willing to do myself.

Below the black on a NA rocker is a pretty flat piece of metal. Just make your own out of sheet steel. If you get into the compound curve areas, patch panels are available from Mill Supply online. I have used their '99 patch panel and it worked well.

I can't/won't do the metal work myself, though. Any experiences with cost?

Get these panels:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mazda-Miata-Rocker-rust-repair-patch-1990-97-left-/300630810846

Or since you can't do it yourself find out what the person repairing it would prefer.

Or spray foam.

We have patch panels at FM, although they may not currently be at the website.

Cost depends on how bad that rust is. If it's just the outer layer, it should be fairly inexpensive. If it's into the structure, it'll be more. You need to ask a body shop in your area.

This is the worst of it. No idea if it's structural or not. If it's structural, i'd probably just find another shell that isn't red.

I can't recall the exact cost for mine, but it was under a grand out the door, in primer. I took it to a small, "mom and pop" local shop in the middle of the summer when people aren't crashing into either each other or furry woodland creatures. I told them they could keep it as long as they needed to and fit it in between "insurance" jobs. "Big time" shops wanted a couple grand minimum. BTW - I'd recommend having them weld in the exterior "patch panels", because they include the wheel arches. Although mind was only showing at the rockers, when they started cutting into it, there was rust on the inside around the arches that just hadn't broken through yet.

So far, the repairs (both sides were done) have held up for a couple of years and don't appear any worse for the wear. The only hitch is, because the underlying structure isn't factory, I don't use the rear pinch welds as jack points anymore.

That's not too bad, but there is probably damage to the inner layers. It isn't a big deal to patch the inner structure, but it takes time, and if you aren't doing it yourself...time is money. Cheap fix to do yourself, probably not at the bodyshop!

Were yours that bad?

At a grand, i'll just crush this chassis and get a new one, i think. I need to take it for a quote or two. I'm not looking for any awesome finish work, just solid metal. I can do the rest myself, since i'm probably going to let my inner ricer out and put sideskirts on anyways.

Looks like it's soft at the front, too. Don't care about fender, i can get another one.

Why not just do it yourself?

In Ohio, that is a "rust free" car! If you can weld, that is a $20 fix. If you can't, don't throw it away, use it to learn. Take your bodyshop budget, buy a MIG welder, $20 sheet of steel at Home depot, and have at it! Even buying the welder you will be ahead!

I had one spot (not as bad as yours) cut out and replaced last year. It cost $370 at a local shop and came out very nice. They cut out the rust and put in some fresh metal from an F series door they had. Of course it's on the side of the car that just got banged up.

Details of my original problem and the solution are in this thread: http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/found-a-rust-spot-starting-how-to-proceed/74615/page1/

In reply to EvanB:

Can't weld, don't have a welder, zero fab skills, could probably swap everything to a new shell faster than I could learn and do this "right."

Taught myself to weld on this exact project. Doesn't take much "fab skill" and feels great to look at fresh metal that you welded in yourself. Having done this to 5 cars now (10 sides.) I seriously doubt, even with the learning curve, that you could swap everything to a new shell in less time.

Option #2 .... find GRMer in your area that can weld ... bring beer!

Swank Force One wrote: Were yours that bad? At a grand, i'll just crush this chassis and get a new one, i think. I need to take it for a quote or two. I'm not looking for any awesome finish work, just solid metal. I can do the rest myself, since i'm probably going to let my inner ricer out and put sideskirts on anyways.

I'd say at least that bad. But, at the time, it was just the rears. Since, I've have to have one of the fronts re-done as well. The truth of it is, if yours isn't a primo example, its probably not worth having done if you can't do it yourself. The main reason I decided to put the money into mine was it was an M Edition with a clean interior and 80K on the clock. Otherwise, it probably doesn't make sense to have someone else do it.

Swank Force One wrote: In reply to EvanB: Can't weld, don't have a welder, zero fab skills, could probably swap everything to a new shell faster than I could learn and do this "right."

Poppycock

In reply to kazoospec:

The only thing worth money about this particular Miata is the parts bolted to it. AMS built motor, turbo, seats, roll bar, hardtop, Megasquirt, big brakes, suspension, 6ULs, yadda yadda yadda.

It's a 95 that had... every option except for leather as far as i can tell. With 147k miles on chassis.

I have a blue 93 roller i could swap everything over to that i was saving for F2T swap, but i suppose i could use this driveline to get the rest of the car dialed in before tripling the power? Who knows.

Sofa King wrote: Option #2 .... find GRMer in your area that can weld ... bring beer!

I mean... you're only a little over 4 hours away and you clearly have experience with this job.

I'm a crappy welder, but great with a grinder! I could certainly help talk you through the process.

I'm closer to you. I'll fix the rust in exchange for the engine in the car.

EvanB wrote: I'm closer to you. I'll fix the rust in exchange for the engine in the car.

That seems like an awful deal.

Here is your answer:

Rust in this area is quite common in MGBs. A few years ago, people who did not have welding resources started using this stuff to install repair panels.

The purist are still howling, but the perpetrators have been driving their cars the whole time. Actually makes for a more permanent repair since it does not create the backside rust along the weld bead like conventional welding.

I assume you can figure out how to cut tin, drill some spot-welds and smooth putty?

I'm pretty sure i could handle that pretty well.