alright, i need to do some cheap body work on my 92 XL extended's rocker panels, i need some good pointers and hints... i filled in the rocker panel area (i used insta-foam home insulation already). I need to fill in the rest, i need to sand, paint, everything.. ya know? i need what to get, how to do it, how much it costs, and how i use it.... EVERYTHING...

 

I'm not sure what your intent is, regarding bodywork. Are you interested only in the least expensive methods or something on the order of a good DIY job? There is a separate forum on Bodyworking that may be of benefit to you.

If you haven't already done so, look on the Motorhaven store site here. There are replacement sheet metal panels available for the Aerostar at very good prices. Here's a link: http://www.motorhaven.com/customer/home.php?cat=153

If you have never done body work, panel repair is good place to start. 90% of the work can be done by most people, but that last 10% separates the amateurs from the pros. It just never looks as good as you would hope, but at least with rockers, mistakes are not as noticeable as on other paner repairs.

 

I can tell you what I did and what my success wasn't. I have a 91 shortie that had holes where the lower rocker panels were supposed to be. I used construction foam to fill in the entire void. Then I trimmed the excess ( from the 3X expanding ) with a sharp knife. I covered all of these areas with bondo containing long hair fibreglass strands. I used an angle grinder to shape this into the correct shape. This involved a couple or more layers depending on how big the holes were. I then used regular bondo to finish it off and probably used another 3-5 coats of this with the angle grinder between each coat. Once the shape was correct I used a palm sander to finish the job to the desired smoothness. Bondo is a funny mixture to deal with as it goes from soft putty to as hard as a rock in an instant, so beware. After that I sanded down the entire area below the body panels and taped and primed with a spray can from Canadian tire. Then I used those instant match spray cans to get it to the correct color. The van looked fabulous for about 6 months but now the rust is already coming back in the areas that still had metal on them. In hindsight I should have bought the expensive paint and primer and used the air compressor sprayer to provide a thicker more consistant coat of paint. It would have been better to replace all of the metal but that involves a lot more time and money. In all I spend under 80$ and it took one saturday from start to finish.

 

I have been in the field of.. before. It is difficult at best to get a very good result. it depends on your level of skill, what you have for tools ie air compressor, sanders, primer gun, paint gun, shop to do it in, very good ventilation that doesn't **** off your neighbors or get the city after you. Then the big key to any body work/paint job is detail, detail, detail. If you don't put alot of attention into the prepping of the panels and body filler and primer your paint job won't look good and will haunt you. Now you can do some of the prep work yourself and have a shop paint it for you. Or depending on the amount of work needed spend anywhere from $500.00 to $5000.00 to do it yourself. So for the most part look at what you have for tools, place to do it. Go price the tools you will need, the cost of body filler, metal prep, sand paper(several grits needed) primer(about two gallons + thinner) spot putty or glazing putty( a couple of tubes) squeege, paint(about 1.5 - 2 gallons), hardner, reducer, fisheye eliminator, compressor, fresh air hood( the chemicals in the hardner are toxic). Overspray and dust damage to anything in the shop. So it ends up being quite an endevor.

 

A word of advice for anyone else contemplating this repair. The use of foams and similar packing will only aggravate the situation. As pointed out above, a nice looking job is ruined by continual rust formation. The panels initially rusted away because moisture was trapped within the rocker. Packing the rocker area will only further hasten rust formation as there will still be moisture present and absolutely no way for it to escape. Result - more rust. Whatever your method of repair, be sure to leave some weep holes to drain that moisture away. Several coats of heavy, Rustoleum Red Primer (the kind you apply with a brush, not the aerosol version) to inner surfaces of the rocker will really slow the oxidation of the remaining metal.

Rust on rockers is ALWAYS a more extensive that what you see. A dime-sized rust spot on the outside is silver-dollar sized on the inside of the rocker. You will wind up cutting away a lot more than you initially think. For that reason, I would highly recommend the use of replacement patch panels. They serve as an outline for cutting the old panel - which can be cut away with a mini-hacksaw or air driven cut-off wheel. Leave a few tabs on the old metal. Use a pair of pliers to lightly bend the tabs into a shallow L shape to hold up the new panel. Adjust the tabs until the new panel butts smoothly against the adjoining old metal. Once aligned, drill and pop rivet the panel at a few of the tabs to temporaily hold the alignment.