Rocker covers. I'm a bad, bad boy!, The crud chronicle Options

[Pat Garvey]

Could have posted this elsewhere I guess, but thought it might be better served here.

In 1974, I decided that it made good sense to annually removed the rocker covers to clean out the accumulated crap that absorbs moisture & causes rust. Did so fervently until 1990 (the last time they were removed until today).

My 914 has accumulated a total of less than 4k miles since 1990, being relegated to "queen" status.

So, today, being bored, I pulled them. Not an easy task for an old fart in a 44 degree garage!

Good thing my 914 hasn't seen water since 1974. Don't know where the crud came from, but if water had been added to the mix I'd have had a problem.

Be warned guys, this accumulation can cause MAJOR problems when left to stew. Couple of screws, couple of driven out rivtets & you can be faced with ugly stuff.
Pat

[Tom_T]

OKAY, this is a "Riveting" thread now! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

Although... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/newhere.gif) ...but I think I see how this Forum stuff & all works here! It's like asking a room full of attorneys for an opinion! ...ya know, ask 2 attorneys their opinion & ya get 20! ...but on the other hand......

And then you end up just going out to your own car with a drop light, tools, camera, etc. & figure it out for yourself, then come back & post it for everybody else to opine over! ......ooops - there's some of that legalese! ...argue & debate over - how's that!? (No - I'm not a lawyer, just had to deal with them!)

Well I saw this chain of lunacy just before dark, & went out & took pix of mine as posted below & in the following post. But first, let me fill in the ownership & history background.

I believe I'm the 2nd owner, bought the car 12/26/75 - 38+/- months after it was first sold according to Cal. DMV "first sold/reg." date of 11/9/72, and was supposedly built in 9/72 - which sounds correct, since it's an early VIN 4732901954 with an early 2.0 engine #GA000424. Sounds to me like the 424th 2L built & 1954th 73 914!?

The car was originally L80E Light Ivory (white), but changed to a Tan or Gold color by the time I bought it in 12/75. I had it repainted twice: #1 in 8/76 to the Metallic Copper out with 75/6 914s; then again #2 in 5/80 to the 911/930 Anthracite Grey Metallic (thought it would blend into the pavement better for stealth against the CHP - it helped!). I'm almost positive that the Rockers weren't off for either one of my repaints, since the paint on the detail pic below of the passenger side threshold, rivets & rocker shows over-spray!

Ergo - IF the rockers were removed during it's first three years before I bought it (11/72 - 12/75), then they were re-fastened with the correct period rivets available at that time. It was NOT a fresh paint job - perhaps at least 2 years or more old, & already showed some early signs of paint failure when I bought it, which was why I did the 8/76 repaint.

Ergo, I also suspect that it might have been a customer requested or dealer initiated repaint from white to the tan or gold, and suspect that they didn't remove the rockers/threshold & rivets either! When I take them off, I'll try to remember to post if it shows otherwise under there!

So what's on my 914 now is most probably still OE, and if not - then it's probably still period correct, since the Pix of the LE above & other post-73 914s ALL seem to use the Black plastic rivets at the threshold.

The pic on the following post shows 2 white plastic rivets at the threshold - 1 is partly hidden under the inner rubber door seal, with aluminum, tin, pot metal or another soft metal "silver" rivets in the top of the Rocker itself. I'm 90.7% sure that this is correct for my era 914......or at least that's my story & I'm stickin' to it! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

PASS. THRESHOLD & ROCKER JOINT DETAIL SHOWING OVER PAINTS