Realistically is this a lost cause?

[u/jalopycollector]

I’m willing to attempt to fix this myself (seems both inner and outer rockers are shot and part of the floor)

The car is really sentimental but I also don’t wanna throw more money at it (buying material to fix it) if it’s a complete lost cause

I was thinking of cutting the pinch welds out and the rockers and welding square steel tubing in its place and then welding sheet metal in place and fabricating my own rockers

[u/Cool-Blueberry3603]

If you love it and have the time! I can’t tell how it looks, and how’s interior! If you have a garage to work, make it your hobby project.

[u/jalopycollector → u/Cool-Blueberry3603]

Interior is mint car runs and drives fine

Sadly shop is out of the question

[u/bondovwvw]

Why not try to get the pieces off another car and section them in. The way you're planning on doing it sounds way too hard and I'm pretty seasoned body guy.

[u/jalopycollector → u/bondovwvw]

I’m in the rust belt

Every impala in the scrapyard is rotten so salvaging rockers off cars is pointless…since all are rotten

[u/Relative_Figure_1715]

It’s dead.
Would require thousands to put right.

[u/Primary-Feedback2296]

Well, the rockers are relatively shot.

Weld in square tubing is not a solution. It will not rise stability and in several years it will separate from the rest because the cars structure have to be flexible to prevent breaking. The tubing is strong and not as flexible. It will break out near the weldings

Thats why a rollcage ist mounted to zhe structure with screws and very large plates. To spread all force over a larger area.

Well, the rockers can be fixed. Cutout the rusty areas and bend and weld in some 0.8 or 1.0 millimeter sheetmetal.

You can straighten the long edge by using a thicker material. A 2.0 or 2.5mm is good.

The sketch shows how these parts are build on most cars at a unibody.

The rusty thing is the outer, thats widely only a cover to prevent flooding water and to have a nice and clean surface.

The structural metal is that thing that must be stable and rustfree. Ist widely just a straight and even sheetmetal that makes the structure stable. All other parts are welded to it and these compounding makes a strong body.

So the work is to bend new sheets and connect them to the inner again.

If the inner is rusted too much then just weld some new sheetmetal on it.

Its not rocketscience. Its just many hours of bending and welding.

First cutout the rusty areas but left over enough to weld new metal on.

Then bend new metal. Put it on to check its fit.

If all fits in then weld it into the old. Make some weldingspots around the edge and at the corners. Eait a minute tp let cool down. Then make weldingspots between the first ones. Wait a minute. Make weldingspots between the others.... repeat.

A distance of 15-20 millimeters between the weldingspots is good. Grind them down a little after welding is finished to make it cleaner.

Precaution, grinddown paint and zinc at the edges where you have to weld. If the metal is zinc-plated then its nearly not posdible to weld. It will burn holes while weld it.

Caution, the car can burn down. There are wax or oil inside the structure. Everytime have a firedistinguisher beside. If there is a area without big holes where you can watch inside, then drill some 30mm holes with a stepperdrill.

Trust me. Its important. It burns extremely fast.

After all is finished then put on two or three layers epoxyprimer with hardener. Just with a brush is okay. Then apple polyurethane sealerglue (its windshield glue) to the edges. Then put paintable antigravel on.

From inside put Fluidfilm AS-R (spraycan) into it

Finish.

[u/HillWilliam53]

The rust you are seeing is only 10% of the rust that is actually there. She's gone.