Rusty bucket into Solo toy, Some highlights of my budget autocross build from rust to rocket Options

[Han Solo]

Back at it tonight. I revisited the passenger side inner clam shell. I cut out a 29" x 1.5" strip and welded in fresh metal. It looks like all the interior sheet metal that joined the floor pans, 1" - 2" along the bottom will have to be patched. I suspect that pools of rain water sat in the floor pans of this car for extended periods of time. I just keep cutting and patching...

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[mepstein]

Door beams, bracing?

[Han Solo]

Although recommended by many, I'm not using bracing. All this work is being done with the car jacked from the bottom, level and with the doors closed. Frankly, if the chassis shifts slightly, perfect door alignment is not a priority. It's a race car (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Door beams, bracing?

[Han Solo]

More welding shots. Getting better at this (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

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[Han Solo]

Moving on to the drivers side inner clam shell.

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[Han Solo]

Great progress today. I got the drivers side inner clam shell patched and moved on to the front firewall. This is where it gets a little odd because so much of the bottom is missing - how tall should the patch be? I saw some remains of the bottom of the rear firewall and that gave me a pretty good sense of where the floor pan mates with the front firewall. I cut 1 1/2" strips and bent 1/2" for attaching to the pan. I can modify that attachment if needed. On the drivers side I notched out for the parking brake tubes which are in fairly good shape. There's also a bit of a bend where the firewall joins the inner clam shell. On the passenger side the rust had migrated further up in that bend and I added another 2" of sheet metal to that area. Of course when I was wire brushing some more holes opened up a bit higher Oh well, that's going to be happening a lot with this poor beast and I'm just going to keep patching (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

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[Han Solo]

I had a couple hours this evening to move on to the area of the drivers compartment. I decided to tackle the tunnel (or what's left of it).
I just reviewed TRs posts on his rebuild here... I've joined the ranks of the 914 club.
Our Aussie friend did have bit more to work with but the the same principles will apply to my poor beast. Followers will note that earlier I removed about 1" of rusty material the whole length on both sides of the tunnel. First step tonight was to remove the remaining sound deadening material. My AC operated vibrating cutting tool is excellent for this purpose. I'm leaving the wiring harness in place as long as I dare just because I'm not sure how much of it I'll actually use. I removed the shifter and heater switch (discarded the heater cables, no use for them). Also cut out the dangerous nylon fuel lines. I'll definitely be replacing those with steel tubing. After scraping off the bulk of the sound material, I followed up with a wire brush. Final chore of the evening was to remove the remainder of the cross member. I ground off the welds and popped it off with a chisel. There was more rust under the cross member and I'll have to at least add more patching to the passenger side. That's a rather complex bend in the tunnel so I'm thinking of rust kill and then adding a strengthening layer of sheet metal over the top that wraps all the way over the tunnel where the cross member attaches. That could cause dimensional problems when I weld in a replacement cross member later though but I know I can make that 20 gauge sheet metal conform to the tunnel snugly. Undecided at this time what to do there.
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[Han Solo]

Another few hours of tunnel fun this afternoon. I decided, "What the heck?" and just cut the offending rust area out that was under the cross member. Being careful to not mangle the cut out section - I used that as a template for a patch. Bending the new sheet metal with a vise, nylon hammer and handy piece of angle iron. I got it as close as I could and then started welding it in using magnets under to hold it in place. On small area had a different bend but I was able to hammer the metal close enough to bridge. It's not pretty but everything will get rust kill and sealed with POR 15.

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[914itis]

My hillbilly car lift before dropping the engine and transmission.

Forget everything else. The four post wooden jack is the coolest part of your project .
Love it !

[Han Solo]

My hillbilly car lift before dropping the engine and transmission.

Forget everything else. The four post wooden jack is the coolest part of your project .
Love it !

Thanks. It has actually worked pretty darn good. And I haven't ripped the roof trusses down yet (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

[914itis]

My hillbilly car lift before dropping the engine and transmission.

Forget everything else. The four post wooden jack is the coolest part of your project .
Love it !

Thanks. It has actually worked pretty darn good. And I haven't ripped the roof trusses down yet (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

Awesome !

[Han Solo]

Despite the extreme cold in the garage, I'm back at the tunnel today. First step was to try a figure out how much material to add. Taking a straight edge and laying against areas known to have attached to the floor pan - that gave me a reference. This section was from the patch on the passenger side forward to the foot wall. I sub-divided it into three segments which made cutting the new sheet metal, fitting and welding much easier. This is all become rather routine to me now. I have a small segment on the passenger side of the tunnel left and then it's on to drivers side. Oddly, I'm just now using up the first sheet of metal purchased two months ago. It seems like I've hacked through a dozen.

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[Han Solo]

So I'm cutting back towards the firewall from the center tunnel patch and I've found that there's a second layer of metal around the seat belt anchor point. That makes for some slow cutting. It's fairly decent metal so I get my trusty chisel and peel the outer thin layer off and leave the thick metal. I also made notices in the 1/2" flange on the patch. That keeps the strip straight when you bend the flange (something anyone that had shop class would know). With that patch in, the complete passenger side of the tunnel has been replaced. I've got another hour before lunch and what the heck, let's do another . I'm all the way in the passenger footwell and that section joins part of the metal that's curved under the fuel tank. That tank area was chock full of crap when I got the car but surprisingly not completely rusted through. Cutting out the vertical section of the footwell allowed good access for a wire brush and that bottom tank area cleaned up pretty good. It took the welds nicely but it was extremely difficult the grind the welds down. I've got one section left in the passenger side. That's the odd piece attached to the wheel well. I'm not sure what purpose it serves but I'll patch it also. The wheel well (the backside is part of the footwell) is in good condition on this side. In fact, that's the only area on the passenger side that contacted the floor pan that I'm not having to patch!

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[Han Solo]

A bit more progress last night. That little odd shaped area that's behind the wheel house appears to be engineered just to support the fuel tank. Perhaps there's some additional structural benefits but I patched it anyway. I noted that the bottom of the wheel house will need a patch. At least the seam is still there to help in the fabrication. With the passenger side of the interior floor pan connecting metal done - I'm moving back to the drivers side. There's some real challenges there as not much is left of the foot well area and when I looked closely at the underside of the tunnel - there additional structure associated with the pipes that will complicate the patch. I've got a plan and it's much like TR did with his tunnel.

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[Han Solo]

The plan on the drivers side of the tunnel is to lap on long strips of sheet metal rather than butt weld. This will make it much easier to keep the joining edge to the pan the correct elevation and I won't have to cut into the shifter supporting metal. You can see that structure in my shot from under the tunnel. I will have to clean, rust kill and prime with weld through before lapping. That's going to be really messy with the car on blocks and keeping those chemicals off clothing and skin will be important. I was hoping to do all the treatment on the longs, firewall, foot wells and tunnel all at once but I'll need to get the original metal on this side of the tunnel taken care of before I lap fresh metal on top. The last photo shows the first strip I've fabricated for this side.

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[Han Solo]

I started the morning off with marine clean and then rust kill. Having sheet plastic down kept the mess factor low. Then I sprayed the underside and driver side of the tunnel with weld through primer. I'm not priming the whole tunnel because I'll cover it with POR 15. The first long segment was drilled for spot welds every 1 1/2". I clamped that on and started with my first series of rosette welds. That went quite nicely so I followed up with 1" seam welds every 3 or 4 inches. I then fabricated the last segment and had it welded in pronto. Followed up with wire brushing and grinding welds. The grinding process goes SO much quicker with the spot welds. Although the net result doesn't look as original as the butt welded patches I used on the passenger side - I think this side is much stronger.

The last photo shows what I'm dealing with next. There's A LOT of sheet metal missing in the drivers foot well. That area is going to require some complex fabricating and extensive patching. Anyone following this thread that can post a photo showing that area without the peddle assembly in place, just the original sheet metal - that would be most helpful.

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[Han Solo]

So I'm diving in to this last area of floor pan attaching sheet metal. There's not much left here to help me fabricate replacement. I'm starting with the backside of the wheel house and using the passenger side as a template (they appear to be mirror image). There's a sliver of the folded seam from the factory where the wheel house joined the floor pan. Reproducing that exactly far exceeds my skills at this time so I'm just using right angle flanges. I've left those a bit longer than the usual 1/2" so I've got extra metal to work with when it comes time to put the pans on. The bend in the wheel house is a little complex, almost an S curve but it fabs up pretty well. What is handy is being able to weld both sides. This should add strength in a high stress area. Next I'll tackle the front metal behind the peddles and tunnel. I haven't look really close but I think this can be done with one large strip. I'm also thinking that I'll overlay the new metal on treated old with spot welds. That way I'll have the brake master cylinder mount in the exact position (it's still there but barely) and I'll have a better sense of the gentle curve from "firewall" to floor pan. All this is subject to change of course.

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[Han Solo]

And indeed I did change my plan for this troublesome area. After looking hard, I determined that trying to lap one long piece was going to be really difficult. I couldn't figure out how to really do that with all the little bends and the fact that the mount for the brake master cylinder is a little half box. I watched this YouTube video by Restoration Design and that really helped me get a good idea of what was missing... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kMOMNhxg-A
So, I cut a 4" x 22" strip and then trimmed a right angle space where the tunnel joins on the right side in the old metal. The new strip was then cut four times to make flaps. The narrow flap on the left (bent up) passes between the suspension mount and the brake cylinder area (bent down). There's a large notch for the suspension mount and then a remaining flap on the extreme left to join with the wheel house. After welding this large strip in place, I fabricated a half box to lay over the brake cylinder mount. I marked the the two bolt holes, the large hole and cut those out. Then I trimmed off the sides, fixed that into place with a couple nuts and bolts and welded that in. Continuing to work from right to left, I welded around the suspension mount (front and back) and finished by tying in the wheel house and this new piece. That was the most complex with three different planes all joining and a odd curve in the wheel house. I'll do more welding and dressing in that area when I put the floor pan on. Many of the welds were impossible to grind off due to the tight quarters. I was able to weld much of the top joint front and back which should add strength. You'll see the original cylinder mount still in place behind the new metal but I should be able to carefully cut that out once I confirm correct master cylinder positioning. Interesting thing about the area is it is a part of the floor pan. The Porsche diagrams show that from the firewall forward to the front of the front trunk (including the bend over the steering rack) is ALL floor pan.
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[ThePaintedMan]

Looking good so far! One thing I noticed - the pedal cluster sits in a bit of a 'trough' in front of the MC hole. Currently you have it going straight across. You may have significant difficulty getting the pedal cluster to fit if you don't leave enough room. Might check some other posts here for a good picture. Keep it up, lookin good! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[Han Solo]

Looking good so far! One thing I noticed - the pedal cluster sits in a bit of a 'trough' in front of the MC hole. Currently you have it going straight across. You may have significant difficulty getting the pedal cluster to fit if you don't leave enough room. Might check some other posts here for a good picture. Keep it up, lookin good! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

Yeah. I noticed that today looking at Restoration Design videos and a restoration thread on Pelican. There's a peddle cluster support bracket that locates under the pan. I left quite a bit of extra sheet metal and had planned on trimming the excess when I put the pan on. Thanks for the heads up (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)