Need some experienced advice, One last obstacle before paint Options

[Phoenix914]

Hello, group. This is my second post here, the first being in the "How did you get into 914's?" thread. I've been mostly lurking for the past few weeks since signing up on 914 Club just before the time of troubles. Today I'm appealing to the collective for advice and possibly real-person help with what to me is a big problem. I'm so close to sending this car to the paint shop, but one obstacle is in my way. The original owner at some point had the front turn signals filled in. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/barf.gif) I wish to un-fill them. I thought it was maybe just body filler, but you can see below there is some steel welded in place below all that bondo.

I'm not good at any kind of body work. I don't have the expertise or tools to cut this metal out of my way. Can any of you guys give me some advice or assistance to get this problem fixed? I know one of my problems is that I live in southern Delaware. Don't know if anybody is close to me or not, but I'm willing to drive to someone's place. It would also be nice to just have one of you more experienced guys take a gander at this car, since I've been working on it for almost four years now with almost no help at all, and nobody who knows anything about 914's.

Well, take a look and tell me what you think...

From the side


From the front


From under the fender


The other side


Thanks for any help you can offer. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer.gif)

Bryan Greenly

[Phoenix914]

Thanks for the fast response, George. I've bought 99% of my parts from you during this resto effort and always appreciate the advice you've given me on the phone and through email.

If I'm to do this myself, I'll need some tool advice. I can fix almost anything mechanical, but working with metal is a new endeavor for me. What kind of metal saw and/or grinder should I use? I can borrow a nice sawzall from a friend of mine. Is this an appropriate tool for the initial cutting? What kind of blade and what kind of grinding wheel?

Thanks again.

And just for fun, here are some pictures of what I've done to the inside:

Before (floor at pedal cluster fixed)


Coated with POR 15 and new tar on driver side


Painted original Marathon Blue!

[dr914@autoatlanta.com]

Thanks for the fast response, George. I've bought 99% of my parts from you during this resto effort and always appreciate the advice you've given me on the phone and through email.

If I'm to do this myself, I'll need some tool advice. I can fix almost anything mechanical, but working with metal is a new endeavor for me. What kind of metal saw and/or grinder should I use? I can borrow a nice sawzall from a friend of mine. Is this an appropriate tool for the initial cutting? What kind of blade and what kind of grinding wheel?

Thanks again.

And just for fun, here are some pictures of what I've done to the inside:

Before (floor at pedal cluster fixed)


Coated with POR 15 and new tar on driver side


Painted original Marathon Blue!

I would use a three inch cutoff wheel to cut through the welds. (fits to the die grinder) if you cut the welds in half at the joint between the scabbed piece and the original fender the piece of metal should be easy to remove and then get a small grinder disc to clean up the area.
You are doing a fabulous job congrats!