Complete bare metal restoration. Or not?, Opinions? Pitfalls? Options

[stevegm]

We are getting ready to have the little bit of rust in my '71 914-4 fixed. There isn't much rust. The car is in pretty good shape, and was complete when we bought it. Here is the build thread - http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=242895

Just curious on your opinions/experiences:

Should we do a complete, bare metal restoration. (i.e., remove every nut, bolt, wiring, etc.). We would do a complete media blast of the entire chassis, which is attractive.

or

Not remove the suspension, dash, wiring, and work around it. In other words, leave the hard to remove stuff in. With the latter, we would leave a lot of the original paint in the nooks, crannies, etc. But, it would be a lot easier.

I know that many say that you should not do a complete tear down restoration, because most people don't finish them. But, I have the time, and want to do it right. The car isn't one I am planning to sell. It is a keeper.

Opinions?
What are the biggest reasons you see people not finish their complete tear down restorations?
How long did you restoration take? What were the biggest slow downs?

[boxsterfan]

If you don't replace the floor panels and get into the cowl area (besides really getting those longs and making sure there is no rust, spraying a rust convertor, etc...) then you are leaving rust behind in the chassis.

I know I saw a video somewhere of it (Restoration Design?) where they had what looked like a VERY clean 914 chassis but when he took off the floor panels, there was rust all in between them and the rest of the chassis. This is of course driven by our non-treated steel and poor seam sealers used back in the day.

[stevegm]

If you don't replace the floor panels and get into the cowl area (besides really getting those longs and making sure there is no rust, spraying a rust convertor, etc...) then you are leaving rust behind in the chassis.

I know I saw a video somewhere of it (Restoration Design?) where they had what looked like a VERY clean 914 chassis but when he took off the floor panels, there was rust all in between them and the rest of the chassis. This is of course driven by our non-treated steel and poor seam sealers used back in the day.

The pans on this car are good (we striped out the tar). Cowl? No apparent rust. We have looked quite a bit. But, any advice on where to hunt it down would be greatly appreciated.