Wheel Well Coating, flaking off, want to show car....what to do? Options

[swm914]

My '74 has 52M original miles. I assume the undercoating which is also in the wheel wells is a rust proofing is some kind.(??)

The undercarriage coating is very intact in it's coverage, that is very little paint shows through, I suppose due to the lower miles (?). In the wheel wells however, it has about 50-60% coverage with the paint showing through in splotches. You can flake it off with your fingers it some spots and in others areas it still bonds very good.

Since I'm going to show it for the first time next month, I need advice and opinions as to what to do with the wheel wells. One guy told me he'd take it off. I think I've seen pictures of really original cars and seeing the paint in the wheel wells. Then another guy told me not to do that because the paint will be unprotected, subject to chips and then rust.

Before I talked to the 2nd guy I totally cleaned out one well thinking it was the CW thing to do. I thought at a show it would look better than the splotches and that show cars show the paint. Do they? Now I'm not sure what to do with the other three ( or how to redo the one I did for that matter). The 2nd guy told me to spray rubber coating on all four. How's that fly on a 914 show car?

I want to keep the car as original as possible but still drive it and have fun and go to an occasional show, again for fun, but given the condition overall of the car, with a decent attempt to win something or have it be recognized in some way.

What would you guys do? Feedback appreciated.

[Pat Garvey]

One thing first - Ziebart did NOT coat the F & R trunks. My '72 was Ziebarted by the dealer, without my consent, which caused him to have to eat the cost (you think car dealers are scum today? Wrong! Step back 35-40 years, because, they were scum then. Most today are just guys trying to make a living, not rape you & your sister). I will have to say that the Ziebart treatment has probably kept my 914 from being a rustbucket, because it sorta worked. Only rust I've ever had was from inside the sail panels, which is the one spot Ziebart didn't do. So, when the body guy redid those panels in 1979 (after removing that horrible water-catching dense foam inside) was spray the insides with a Ziebart-like compound. Never a problem since.
Attached are pics of my F & R trunks - 100% as delivered (except for carpet).

Now, as to the "stuff" they sprayed on the fenderwells. Another thing I've never had a problem with, though I am admittedly anal about my 914. It was really sticky for about 5 years. Then I noticed that it was hardening, and I feared stones making thier mark. So I began re-softening it, on an annual basis, by reintroducing a softening agent - in this case WD40. Every year I spray it on a rag & wipe the fenderwells down. Keeps them just soft enough, yet after a few days no longer extremely gooey. Do the same with the belly pan & it only takes a couple of hours. When I get an occasional chip on the pan (for some reason it only occurs on the pan), as when I see red paint, I touch it up with 3M Body Shutz. The Ziebart goo is NLA for some time.

I do envy the guys who have paint showing in the wells & on the pan, but only for as long as it takes me to recognize what a gravel road can do to all that. Yes, I HAVEdriven on gravel/dirt roads.

If I were you, I'd replace it, though with Body Shutz because it's more resilient. Think it's hard to remove that old stuff from a front wheelwell - try a rear! Keep it!
Pat (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif)