found some rust on the backside horizontals Options

[Downerman]

You know I have been all over this 914 the past couple weeks getting it ready for paint and a bunch of other stuff. This car amazes me with the lack of rust but I did manage to open a small pandoras box yesterday. Noticed the black coating on the seat pan was pealing up where it met the support bracket (left side of car to right side). Managed to get all of it off with a chisel and noticed the rust. pretty good up the side, maybe a 1/2" of that support piece in about 60% of it's length. Pan was definitely weak. Passenger worse than drivers but dang.

So, I chiseled a good 1" of so back and away from the area and found perfect metal. I did some serious recon and found nothing else in the way of rust. Why in gods name did they have that area lower than the rest of the pan. Perfect spot for moisture.

Anyway, decision time and because I'm not prepared to do a total restoration and in light of the rest of the floor pans being solid, I have come up with something I believe will give me the strength I need and provide many many years of solid service.

1.) I just sanded and cleaned the areas super well.
2.) Hit it with the first of three coats of POR 15
3.) After it's all dry I will fill the area with a pliable sealant that's pretty thick
4.) will Weld the angle iron to the great metal on the pan to the side of the horizontal piece.
5.) looks like the seat will not interfere with the angle iron...it's 1.5 X 1.5 so it's below the top of that horizontal piece.

This being a renegade 914 I need strength. So, four eyes are better and two and more are even better. I welcome your thoughts and comments.

Dave

[r_towle]

get underneath the side to side member and poke at it with a screw driver to make sure its solid.

It might be a good idea to test all around that prior to welding that steel in there.

You will have a very hard time getting that angle iron to weld onto the thin sheet metal.
Might work out much better if you make a piece of angle out of 18 or 20 gauge steel (Home depot has small sheets)

If you are not going for show, get some relief under there so you can blow rust converter in there, and also keep it from happening again by providing drainage.



rich