pasting a copy of this I put up on another forum...
'Jan 9 2006, 01:33 AM' post='10592'
Well,
I was hoping to POR-15 inside my rockers and doors tonight, but first gotta fix a few things...might want to look over your rear seam sealed areas- found a bunch of spots that were missed on my car, wouldnt doubt its typical. heres a bunch of pics- the stuff behind the rear wheel on drivers side is pretty bad, one spot behind shock mount on passenger side was missed too, found one spot behind passenger rear wheel where seam sealer appeared to be too thick, and shrunk/cracked at corner. Now I regret not doing this before driving it 300 miles- just couldnt wait though...
I'm sure the galvanizing didnt let any rust start yet, but still, theres dirt in places that cannot be cleaned- and that dirt has salt in it...will POR-15 as deep as possible in the gaps before adding some 3m 'fast and firm' seam sealer...
One thing that really worries me- in front of both rear tires, you'll see a 'flap' pinchweld- with a 'scoop' like hole at the top, about 1/4 inch wide, an inch long- that hole goes directly down into the rocker. Hate to sound too cynical, but my Mark VII had some odd 'drains' too- and when I cut the rockers out on it (originally was going to cut a quarter sized area out where paint was blistering- started cutting and entire panel was shot) found a 1/4 inch of mud/salt/road crap down in the lower pinch welds.
Any way, back to that area...at the bottom of same 'flap' the pinchweld has gaps too and no sealer- I could push a piece of mig wire loosly thru it and out the rocker drains farther forward. I dont know if I might 'prevent breathing' in the rocker, by sealing this 'flap', but I AM GOING TO SEAL THESE UP. The side/bottom drains are nice- at the pinch bottom/wide open, look fairly easy to flush out compared to some others Ive seen, but still the areas between drains have that little 'vee' where outer panel radiuses down to the pinch, and dirt always wedges into that gap. I am going to drill a couple holes under my sills to POUR some POR-15 down inside after taping up drains, then jack car front/rear to let it run along the 'vee' and fill that in to keep crap out of it. might be paranoid, but I tend to keep cars for decades, and hate rust.
Heres some pics of areas missed- first the drivers rear- swiss cheese here...passenger side was fine
heres the only spots missed on passenger shock mount area- drivers side was fine-
heres that 'flap' I was talking about- sealing(lack thereof) is identical both sides- the top hole goes right to the inacessible inside of rocker panel-
heres the passenger side- way my cameras made I could get 'in' further and you can see the pinchweld has zero sealant behind the 'flap', due to undercoat wand angle- already had a lot of 'sand' packed in mine on both friggin sides-
heres the seam sealer shrink crack on the passenger side- area is rear where bumper meets wheelwell. Sealer looks to be almost 1/4 inch thick...Ive seen it shrink/crack before when I used too much on my 65 when I had the body off the frame.
if you plan on keeping your car, I'd really consider taking a few hours to go over it underneath. I hate to say it, but in my opinion: I 100% honestly believe the 5-10 year rocker is a intentional design.
If you live up north, how many explorers,arostars,mark VIIs,tbirds have you seen from the 90's in perfect shape except for holes in the rockers- from inside out...nice paint right up to the point where the metal disappears...
Hey, if they lasted forever, why would ya ever replace it... just my 2 cents...
in any event, my car was definitely not sealed properly on the drivers side...sealant behind wheels is not even up to the gaps in places...somebody missed.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: ford4v429 on 1/10/06 10:55am ]</font>
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