Took some pics First two are from the outside, looking at where the front meets the fender, then third is the rear quarter joint, and the others are after I peeled away the stripping and the underside of that panel inside the car.

After looking at the front joint, it looks like there might be some rust on that corner of the fender. It looks like I'm going to have to strip the paint on the car to see how bad it is.... hopefully I don't find too many surprises.

If you have a small digital camera, pull up the vinyl on the inside of the rocker and stick the lens into one of the holes so that the camera faces front of back. If your camera is like mine the flash and lens are on the same side. Then take one picture inside the rocker facing forward and one facing back.

The "front joint" is actually just the overlap of the front fender over the rocker panel. As such it isn't a joint at all. The rust you are seeing is undoubtedly from the vibration abrasion of the fender to the body, exacerbated by the pound or more of debris that's undoubtedly sitting inside the fender area and resting on the ledge that Jon mentioned. That's where the cowl drain tube empties.

You'll need to remove the fender(s) to see just how much crap and damage is there. Then you'll know if you have damage in the forward part of the rocker panel.

The "rear joint" is a true seam joint between two pieces of metal. The small amount of rust visible there is normal to an unmolested rocker panel. (i.e. one that hasn't been opened up and other than a repaint, straight from the factory) However, you really need to look inside that area as best as you can. There are a couple of holes on the inside part of the rocker where with a flashlight and an inspection mirror you should be able to get a good look in there and asses whether it's rusted on the inner part.

Take a look at the pictures jmortensen put on HybridZ to see what a poorly addressed rear rocker /dogleg turns into (the half-assed repair the old man did) and what you eventually end up doing if you don't address it properly NOW. Not saying that what you end up doing now, may not end up being what Jon did, but that you may avoid having to do it again, as Jon had to.

2¢

E

Hey guys, took a look through the holes and the inside of the panels look perfect. this was only with a flashlight since I don't have an angled mirror yet, but I will find out soon what it looks like back there soon