1973 914 was/is my first car, Beginning of a restoration journey Options

[doug_b_928]

I just had a look. There appear to be 3 spacers on the left side and 6 spacers on the right side. The car is higher on the right side. Does this given any indications as to whether the problem is a bent suspension vs a bent chassis (I realize it could be both)? I find it odd that there are more spacers on the right and the car sits higher on the right. I would have thought that the extra spacers on the right would be compensating for the car being lower on the right. But I don't have an understanding of how alignment would work on a bent chassis.

[doug_b_928]

Bump for any thoughts on this.

[Eric_Shea]

Something amiss. I'd look for some fairly obvious body damage with that many shims.

[jimkelly]

I will simply say this - don't UNDER ESTIMATE the time and money rust repair can require. some have spent up to $10k on rust repair alone.

I would say, if you find substantial rust, do yourself a BIG favor and find a good tub and move all the parts over.

chances are you will be replacing or rebuilding far more parts then your currently realize.

and I will say this, IMHO, any full or mild resto should begin with a completely stripped down and sand blasted (or soda blasted) tub.

all the best.

jim

[rick 918-S]

Suspension pick up points are set with fixtures when the chassis is built. Shims are still required when the suspension is installed but only as a function of tuning the alignment. Over shimming one side is likely due to chassis damage but sometimes due to trailing arm twist. Also bushings and the inner mounting holes wear. Instead of fixing the worn bushings or mounting hole shims sometimes become the repair of choice.

When taking the car apart examine all these. It will make a big difference when reassembly takes place.

[jimkelly]

hole - yes

[rick 918-S]

I was referring to the inner mount and bushings Jim but that's interesting. Is that trailing arm kinked just behind the nut?

[doug_b_928]

Poking around this morning I found all of this....



...in the left rear wheelhouse longitudinal. The whole thing was packed full. I thought I had removed everything last summer but this was missed. I needed a coat hanger to yank all of it out. There are about a dozen dried mouse carcasses in there (IMG:style_emoticons/default/barf.gif) . I'll take the pressure washer to it this afternoon. Hopefully I now have most of the mice remnants out of the car.

[saigon71]

Sorry to hear the news about the left long Doug. I ran into the same thing on my project after completing the passenger side...the mouse nests and carcasses held a lot of water and caused a lot of damage.

On the bright side, it can be fixed...just took more time as the drivers side wheelhouse is not available from RD.

Good luck & keep us posted.

[doug_b_928]

Thanks, Bob. It's good to hear from someone that has gone through it successfully.

[mepstein]

That's a very rusty car. You will spend thousands of dollars to be get it back. That's doing the repairs yourself. Buying a less rusty running car will be much cheaper. Btdt. Best of luck.