Need advice - how much of this long can be saved., UPDATE Options

[mbseto]

Hey all. Would like to get some advice from the 914 surgeons. I've started on the driver's side long, hoping that the damage here would be a little less than the passenger side. Cut out all the PO's previous repairs and got my first good look up into the inner long, behind the suspension consoles and engine mount. It's not as nice as I'd hoped. These pics may not be the best to go on, but need to make some decisions about how much to cut out and how much can be saved.

So here it is - we are on the driver's side, forward looking aft. The section under the door sill has been completely removed and we're looking up the resulting hole.










OK, so the optimist in me has already been taken out behind the shed and beaten with a tire iron. Then we handed him a bottle of whiskey and left him there. From what I see now, the engine mount is going to come off. We'll decide whether to keep it or get a new one based on what it looks like on the back. At the same time, I think we'll decide how far up the long to cut after seeing the portion under the mount. I believe the inner console is solid. You can see a mouse nest in the outer console - that's giving me some heartburn. I'll be trying to vac out all the bits in there and then borescope it. I'll be elated if the consoles don't need to come off.

Let me know what you think. Don't pull any punches.

[saigon71]

Sorry to hear about your findings. After fixing the hell hole long area, I looked closely at the drivers side. It was nearly as bad as the passenger side due to a mouse condominium that was constructed inside the long and holding water.

It sucks, but I'd recommend that you remove everything that isn't just surface rust and replace with new metal. Wire brush the remaining section and treat it with rustproofing.

Maybe this will help, start at post 162:

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...amp;hl=saigon71 progress&st=160

Keep us posted on your progress.

[mgphoto]

4 years ago I asked the same questions, overwhelming response was the chassis was toast.
I look at that issue now and I know with the right process and a competent hand there is a solution.


One comment I remember was, "do it yourself, you will be proud of the accomplishment" , I would say "spot on."

[marksteinhilber]

I'd suggest:

1. Support the front and rear trunk or bumper sections even though you have the door braces. Your removing most or all of the longitudinal and I can see the angle of sag showing on the bottom edge of the rear quarter. I used adjustable hydraulic jacks and kept the doors in place so I could check gaps using the door frequently.

2. I suggest that you fix the inside or outside half of the long, then remove the floor and fix the inside of the long from inside the cabin and the engine compartment. Then tie in the inner and outer firewall lower repairs. Your repair sections will need to be bigger and you will most likely need to remove the engine mount and maybe the inner suspension console. You might be able to arrest the rust with ospho and then get creative with some flat bar inside the long at the console. Then plug welded the console all the way through into the heavy flat bar. This will restore the strength in the bottom of the box and may be stronger than original. A couple pounds of flat bar here isn't gonna hurt! I have no fear of jumping up and down on my door sill now and I'm 230! Oh yeah, I also added a third layer (overlay) on the inner long and also inside the cabin, engine compartment, and wheel well, both sides of car for track use. Quarters stayed on, but door sill and latch panel were partly removed for access.

3. Small flat bar can be used inside the corrugations on the inside panel for aligning the repair. I used an internal flat bar as an internal weld backing plate for closing the bottom of the long. It is also used to tie the suspension consoles, engine mount, and the longer straight section of the longitudinal. This helps carry the load, and reduce stress on the bottom skin of the box longitudinal. Sorry for rotated pics, but I'm used to welding upside down.
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[amfab]

you know the inside of these things better than most of us from doing the other side.
How does the bottom of the firewall look? these picts look almost exactly like mine and I am now replacing the firewall.

-Andrew

[bbrock]

That looks pretty similar to how mine looked a year ago. It was a lot of work, but I was able to rebuild everything and make the car solid again. I fabbed the inner reinforcement sections using some simple hammer forms and a lot of sweat. The fun starts about halfway down this post: http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?s=&...t&p=2515579

Others have repaired worse and there is lots of inspiration in the build threads and links already posted here. Good luck! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[mbseto]

UPDATE: I'm going to post additional pics in my build thread to avoid double-posting. I went ahead and removed the engine mount to see under it and to peel the long back a little more and get a look further up. Then reviewed once again the threads above (saigon71 and bbrock, I've looked through both of your builds many times as I work on my own!) and busted out the borescope again to look inside the consoles. I think I'm going to cut the whole thing out and replace with new RD metal, instead of trying to do a partial replacement.

I think the kicker is that the rot extends up into the area between the inner and outer console- so to really fix it, one or both need to come off. And if you're taking one of the consoles off, it is really not that much more work to just replace the long completely.

In addition to that, since the entire passenger side long was replaced, it will be nicer to have a completely new driver's side long as well.

Thanks for the replies as always.