2004 Toyota Echo rust repair - rocker panels - pics!
 

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1478735462

This summer, I picked up this $1k Echo to use as Winter Beater 2016/2017.

The car's biggest problem is rust in the rear rocker panels. The car actually looks OK from normal standing human eyeball height, but from squirrel eyeball height, it's pretty nasty... and/or an enticing place to hide beech nuts!

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1461627811

Time to get out the cutting discs and find out how far away good metal is!

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1478736154

Pretty far away. :( That pretty much tripled the size of the hole.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1478736154

Above: this is a bit more than just a cosmetic repair. (I knew that when I got the car.)

The rear trailing axle is bolted to the unibody in a sort of 3-sided box, one side of which used to be made up of the rocker structure.

I used heavier gauge metal than original to rebuild that corner.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...6&d=1478736154

Above: looking up from underneath. Don't laugh at my welds here. I went back and made it (somewhat) better.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1478736154

Above: the rocker has ... had! ... 4 layers. 1 outside, 2 sandwiched reinforcing layers, and 1 inner (axle attachment side).

I could only rebuild one of the 2 sandwich layers. Saving both would have required me to open the side of the car up much higher.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1478736258

Above: spot welded a bunch of puzzle pieces together to approximate the shape of the rocker, the lower flare of the wheel arch, and wheel arch lip.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1478736154

Just today: I ground things smooth, and epoxied over the seams of the puzzle pieces to seal it up tight.

All that took me the better part of a week, spending an hour or so most evenings.

Next up, rebuild the other side!

Then body filler, paint, undercoating & rustproofing.

Wouldn't life be easier if you'd just kept the Insight? ;) Nice work.

Ha! The steel bits were starting to rust on the Insight too! :D

Fasteners, fuel/brake lines (see Tim's recent Insight drama). I never even got a chance to inspect its spark plugs because the coil pack bolt heads were a corroded mess.

No joke: the last Insight to disappear from this neck of the woods actually had bubbling in the aluminum door skins & rear fenders. Even AL will corrode given enough time and horrendous conditions!

I've heard Arizona is nice this time of year, and they don't have to worry about their cars dissolving before their eyes.

How much salt to they smother the roads with in the Northeast? Cars in Northern Utah definitely get rusty, but usually nothing like what I've seen out of the NE. Maybe our winters just aren't as bad. Glad my Prius spent most of its first ~11 years in Texas, the rest of the car should be pretty well shot by the time rust becomes an issue.

I dunno, but around here, 12+ year-old cars typically die of rust, not mechanical issues.

I'd be surprised if the auto industry didn't fund the road salt lobby, if there is a road salt lobby.

B side
 

Got a good start on side two last night ... the B side?

It's not as bad as the driver's side, but that's typical. More road salt & grit in the center of the road than the sides, I guess.

Safety first!

And so far on this job I have only set my clothes on fire once while welding! That's one way to stay warm sitting on the floor of an unheated garage in November.

B side welding done!
 

Just in time, too. Forecast says winter arrives next week.

Saturday looks like the last of the mild weather - a.k.a. bondo weather!

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1479404040

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1479404040

finished
 

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1479996069

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1479996069

The paint isn't a perfect match - my parts store doesn't carry that hue. So I eyeballed what was available on the shelf and got some GM blue that's just a hair darker.

The car is now at the mechanic getting inspected & e-tested.

Perfect is the enemy of what? :D

Happy American holiday, neighbor! :)

Happy turkey day to you too!

We feasted a while ago.

strong like bull
 

I forgot to post this:

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1480638653

The reconstructed "pinch weld seam" (or whatever you call it) along the bottom of the rocker panel is good & strong.

Strong enough to do what it was originally designed for: jack point for the back of the car.

Compared to when I got it:

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1461627811

Thanks for the write up on this. I'm going to have to do something similar to My Echo but I'm hoping I can limp it through till next summer. Tried to jack it up to install the snow tires and the jack points caved in. Mine has the body kit so I didn't realize how bad it is. One question though, why all the little pieces?

Bummer!!

I do like the look of the RS (?) sill extensions I see on Echos around here, but whenever I see kits like that on ANY car, I always wonder how bad the rust is underneath. Out of sight, out of mind!

The area I rebuilt is FULL of compound curves. It was just easier to recreate the original shape with a bunch of smaller puzzle pieces than to try making it with bigger chunks. My metal forming tools are: vice, hammer. :)

Nice work, Darin. The jacking points on my Outback are starting to get a little soft -- they creaked and groaned and pushed in a little when I mounted the snow tires in December. While the car has passed the 20-year mark and doesn't really owe me anything, I'd hate to junk it over not being able to jack it up anymore, so you're giving me some inspiration to try patching/reinforcing that area in the spring. :thumbup:

Thanks.

It's criminal how many vehicles go to early graves due to rot!

I don't know if you followed the other thread about the car, but it's sold now. And the guy who bought it told me he does body repair, so he got a full & frank explanation of all the repairs I'd done. So in hindsight, I'm glad this was an "all metal" repair job. It could have been done much quicker if it only had to look pretty.

Fortunately, he said the first thing he planned to do to the car was full rust prevention spray.

Next time buy a car from out where I am.
My Camargo was from the south, was almost 20 years old when I got it and only had one spot of rust in the rear wheel well.

Yes it was. And I didn't even get to enjoy it by driving the car afterward. We all love driving some fresh rust repairs, don't we!

---

Oil pan, if it made any financial sense to bring pristine old beaters up here, that's what I'd have done. Believe me!

War_Wagon (in British Columbia) sent me countless leads on cheap, rust-free economy cars in his neck of the woods. The math just didn't work out to go and fetch them.