More rust repair...how far should I go?, for a 75 driver, not race, not CW??? Options

[cha914]

Ok,

Its time to start on my Dad's "nice" 914...its a 75 with the strange gold color option and white interior. It was a 1.8, but we yanked that out and are putting in a 2.0 that has "all the goodies" but thats for another thread...

The car has been basically sitting for the last 2+ years, the last one outside (I know, I know)...we finally pulled the rockers and interior this weekend for a full rust inspection...and it has more than I thought it did...big supprise I am sure.

So, this car is going to be a driver, i want to fix the rust as fast as possible, but I don't want to be a DAPO for the next guy, so how do I fix this rust without doing a full resto? It has the beginings of long rot, but its not bad yet...ok...here are the pics:

The overall picture:

[Deano]

I am just finishing up a similar repair job. Mine wasn't quite as bad, but I had to do basically what I would reccomend for yours. I bought a cheap mig welder and started practicing on scraps. When I was ready to start on the car, I cut out all of the rusted metal. I then treated everything with Ospho and then Por15. I cut and bent all of my own pieces (except jack posts). It wasn't as hard as I thought and I only spent about $50 on sheet metal. The results have been better than I had hoped for. I've been at it about a month or so and I am having a blast. Already contemplating my next project.
About the welder: Everyone on this site will bash cheap gasless welders, but I have found it to be just fine for a project of this size. If I go on to do other larger projects, I may upgrade, but for $100 (on sale at harbor freight) I'm pretty happy. Hope this helps. I don't think there is any cheap "short cut" to fixing your problems without becoming the DAPO