Cutting out rocker panels?

[Law Dog]

Found a truck that’s going to get crushed soon I’m stripping the good parts off of it a 92 D50 4 cyl. I noticed it had solid rocker panels on it just wondering the best way to cut them off of the truck for future use. Most repairs don’t require the whole panel for repairs, the bottom seems easy since it’s out of sight on the vehicles. It’s the sill cut that is the tricky cut I’m wondering about and blending it in for the repair.

My thought was to cut it vertically at the bottom then the next easiest cut would be to cut where the rocker meets the sill. The other extreme option would be to cut the floor at both ends.

Im not a body man so I’m just spit balling here from a mechanical angle mostly. Any ideas are welcome.

[Law Dog]

Found a YouTube video on it, looks like you cut out the inner and outer together then separate them later I’ll give it a shot when it warms up.

[Law Dog]

Cut the drivers side rocker off by drilling the floor pan next to the rocker panel with a 1/2 inch drill bit then elongated a couple holes to get the saws all blade in to cut easier. Not a major deal just ran into a few double thick supports, long and short blades have a place one size is not ideal. No gas lines involved I had to move some wiring to have some work space no biggie.

Just keep in mind the bigger of a piece you want the more time and hassle will be involved, cutting out a small patch piece would be a quick task by working the middle of the door out. I’ll take the spot weld cutter to it and see how that goes next.

[Law Dog]

Got the one rocker I cut out home it was not as good as it looked on the truck starting to go from the back and bottom some is salvageable but not as big a piece as I was hoping for. I’ll have the guy flip the truck on its side and see what the other side looks like plus I can pull the trans and drive shaft at the same time. Plan on getting the hood and back window out then I’m done.

[Law Dog]

Well lesson learned don’t just check to see if the seams good some of what I cut out was rusting from the back and under floor seam. Some is useable but not the size I thought I would end up with.