Ways to Spot Rocker Rust Repair

[resqguy]

In my pursuit of a relatively rust free S2 Spider, I was wondering if the experts here could help with identifying problems or repairs in the rocker area. The ideal would be a factory original, but I don't have a referance car to look at.

Can I assume that the rocker area should have two seems - one directly below the leading edge of the door, and the other about 3 inches forward of the trailing edge of the door. Can I also assume that neither seem was ever filled from the factory?

If both (or either) seems are not visible can one assume that a rocker repair was performed? Do the replacement outer rockers follow the factory lines?

A car that I am looking at claims to be rust free and has solid floors (we have all heard this before), but I cannot tell if the outer rockers look factory from the pictures. I'm worried about rust repair since the car does not have original paint. If any rust repair was done I want to make sure that the inside rust was abated as well. My thoughts are that anyone that would take the time to make the repair look factory would also do whatever was necessary.

[jarrington]

Quote:

Originally Posted by resqguy In my pursuit of a relatively rust free S2 Spider, I was wondering if the experts here could help with identifying problems or repairs in the rocker area. The ideal would be a factory original, but I don't have a referance car to look at. Can I assume that the rocker area should have two seems - one directly below the leading edge of the door, and the other about 3 inches forward of the trailing edge of the door. Can I also assume that neither seem was ever filled from the factory? If both (or either) seems are not visible can one assume that a rocker repair was performed? Do the replacement outer rockers follow the factory lines? A car that I am looking at claims to be rust free and has solid floors (we have all heard this before), but I cannot tell if the outer rockers look factory from the pictures. I'm worried about rust repair since the car does not have original paint. If any rust repair was done I want to make sure that the inside rust was abated as well. My thoughts are that anyone that would take the time to make the repair look factory would also do whatever was necessary.

[vf31rhill]

Tried and true methodology. Apply a good magnet to 100% of the rocker and lower fender panels. If the magnet fails to attract at some point, it has bondo or fiberglass repairs. Under lip of the front overhang, spare tire well, and arch over the rear wheel openings are other key rust prone areas to look out for. Floor boards under the foot wells and under the sets are also rust prone areas, but hard to catch if the factory applied rubberized soundproofing is intact. They will rust out under this black soundproofing and you have a hard time catching it unless it is really horrific. My 1988 had some cracks in the soundproofing of my (so I thought when I bought it) "rust free 1988". When I noticed some brown dust in some of these cracks I chipped up the soundproofing and discovered a 2 by 8 inch hole right through the floorboard and through the top of the box member under the floorboard. From the underside none of this could be detected. Several weeks later and $200 poorer, but wiser, it is now properly repaired.

Good Luck, Robert
1988 Black Spider Veloce - more or less "rust free"

[resqguy]

Thanks for the good pictures and advice. I use a paint thickness guage when I can inspect the car. Unfortunately, I have to rely on pictures most of the time.

The latest candidate is 600 miles away. Here are some picture of the underside that the owner sent. The car has been undercoated and I have cropped the pictures to highlight the worst areas. Does this look like surface rust? The floor pans look great from up top.









The rest of the underside looks like the clean part of the picture.

Should I run away or does this look like a manageable repair.

[vf31rhill]

Give those jack sockets a good testing before you lay your money down. In 1967 I was a lot younger and a lot dumber than I am now. I bought a 1959 red 1300 Spider from IL. It had a fresh paint job and looked great. I had to change a tire and when I hooked up the jack in it's socket and started to jack the car up, the jack socket pulled off the underside of the car and the jack went through the side of the fender. It was a total rust bucket. All the rockers and lower fender panels were made of newspaper and bondo. All the jack sockets were held on with rust and a prayer. Ended up buying a solid wreck and cutting up the rust bucket for panels to repair the wreck. Total repaint inside and out and total swap over of everything including wireing harness. Moral of the story, look at a rusty Alfa really closely before you lay your money down, and be prepared to walk till a better one shows up. They are out there, you just have to look and be patient.

Robert
1988 Black Spider Veloce

[Tifosi]

Pic #3 looks like the floorpan has seperated from the side rail aft of the jack point.
Pic #4 looks to be wanting to get that way forward of the jack point.

[resqguy]

Quote:

Pic #3 looks like the floorpan has seperated from the side rail aft of the jack point. Pic #4 looks to be wanting to get that way forward of the jack point.