The tripmeter reset knob goes through a short cable from the Speedo to the bottom of the instrument panel. Push and twist to reset.
The rocker panels are below the doors. There are three:
1. Outer Rocker (what you see and is painted). Not structural
2. Middle sill
3. Inner sill (Structural)
New metal for outers is available and a good body man can weld and blend them in pretty easily. The inners are structural, and along with the flooring, literally connect the front and back half of the car, since it's a convertible. Badly corroded inner rockers are very expensive to replace. Unless the car was relatively rare (old Duetto), it's probably not worth it to pay someone for. As a '77, as a practical matter, rusted out inner rockers would probably relegate the car to a parts donor, especially since the rest of the car probably matches the rockers in corrosion and wear.
Do a search on the BB. Lots of previous discussions on rockers.
See this link for a cross section of a Spider sill.
http://www.alfaparts.net/105_115sill.htm