Hellhole and Longs Inspection when looking at a car, How to inspect the Hellhole and Left/Pass Long? Options

[J-Gaz]

I've been reading up on 914s for the better part of 2-3 years. Maybe longer.
I've been shopping and looking at them locally here in the Puget Sound for over a year now.

Lots of cars seem to be really rusty... and bondo'd or repainted [AKA covered up] under the battery, in the hellhole, in the rear trunk, the lower Bulkhead etc - the usual spots people tell you to look for.

I even saw one where someone bondo'd up the hips where the longs, floor pan, and bulkhead meet - underneath the car... and coated with an undercoat - but the bondo was clearly flaking off, and they did a piss-poor job with their putty spreader, leaving tool marks everywhere.

I still haven't found a 'good way' to inspect the Left/Pass Long. To me - that's the actual 'HellHole' as the battery tin isn't as difficult to get to. But when it starts to leak down into the long, and eat it apart - that's the crux of it.

No one seems interested in removing the rocker for me either, and even when I squeeze my head to attempt to observe the jacking point, I can't see much.

Plus, there doesn't seem to be a good way to inspect inside the left long when I'm out looking at these 'projects' - because all of them seem to be, no matter what price point I look at... a project.

Any tips or tricks to help inspect these areas when I'm meeting people to see about a purchase?

Should I get a cheap borescope? IF so, where can I access the long to insert the camera?

Really appreciate it.

J.

[Cairo94507]

@J-GAZ - I never use the jack port on the rocker. I always jack up from the jack points under the car - the round circles on the underbody. If a seller is serious and has nothing to hide, they should have already pulled the rocker covers off and taken pictures to post with the car ad. But, I would still like to see and poke them. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[J-Gaz]

@J-GAZ - I never use the jack port on the rocker. I always jack up from the jack points under the car - the round circles on the underbody. If a seller is serious and has nothing to hide, they should have already pulled the rocker covers off and taken pictures to post with the car ad. But, I would still like to see and poke them. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I've found that most 914 sellers aren't really 914 guys - and they really know nothing about their cars aside from tertiary info. A lot of them don't even know if they have a tail shift or side shift, or what year it changed.

Even on BAT, I see sellers commenting, "We did not take off the rocker cover, not sure what you wanted to see with them off, but hopefully the photos and videos are enough to answer your questions." Pretty consistently.

One guy said something to the effect of: "I'm not taking them off, the bolts are rusty, and I don't want to fuss with it or have it cause an issue trying to put them back on."

That said, hoping this helps me find a gem... But so far, mostly guys asking too much for rustbuckets that look like one hard corner will fold them in half.