found some rust on the backside horizontals Options

[Downerman]

You know I have been all over this 914 the past couple weeks getting it ready for paint and a bunch of other stuff. This car amazes me with the lack of rust but I did manage to open a small pandoras box yesterday. Noticed the black coating on the seat pan was pealing up where it met the support bracket (left side of car to right side). Managed to get all of it off with a chisel and noticed the rust. pretty good up the side, maybe a 1/2" of that support piece in about 60% of it's length. Pan was definitely weak. Passenger worse than drivers but dang.

So, I chiseled a good 1" of so back and away from the area and found perfect metal. I did some serious recon and found nothing else in the way of rust. Why in gods name did they have that area lower than the rest of the pan. Perfect spot for moisture.

Anyway, decision time and because I'm not prepared to do a total restoration and in light of the rest of the floor pans being solid, I have come up with something I believe will give me the strength I need and provide many many years of solid service.

1.) I just sanded and cleaned the areas super well.
2.) Hit it with the first of three coats of POR 15
3.) After it's all dry I will fill the area with a pliable sealant that's pretty thick
4.) will Weld the angle iron to the great metal on the pan to the side of the horizontal piece.
5.) looks like the seat will not interfere with the angle iron...it's 1.5 X 1.5 so it's below the top of that horizontal piece.

This being a renegade 914 I need strength. So, four eyes are better and two and more are even better. I welcome your thoughts and comments.

Dave

[r_towle]

get underneath the side to side member and poke at it with a screw driver to make sure its solid.

It might be a good idea to test all around that prior to welding that steel in there.

You will have a very hard time getting that angle iron to weld onto the thin sheet metal.
Might work out much better if you make a piece of angle out of 18 or 20 gauge steel (Home depot has small sheets)

If you are not going for show, get some relief under there so you can blow rust converter in there, and also keep it from happening again by providing drainage.



rich

[Downerman]

Rich, I have poked an awl in and around almost every seam and square inch under that car as well as from the cabin. Rockers are off and I dove into the side tunnels as well. I found the rust and were all looking at it. Yeah I was thinking that the angle iron was a bit overkill but I have some in the shop. I'm getting pretty good at welding these days and think I can use my small torch and nail it good. One thing for sure is it will be very strong. From the purist side of things, if it get's worse over the years (And it shouldn't with all new rubber but you never know) then someone will eventually will want to replace the pans and horizontal piece. My angle iron would be a throw away at that point. In addition, I'm not going to enter the car as concours because they would never allow a Renegade in the mix...LOL 9 Porsche's to my name and this is my first V8. I love it.

[Jeff Hail]

If those area's pass the screw driver test it isn't necessary to install such heavy gauge reinforcement. That area of the floor really doesn't aid in stiffening. Many full tilt race cars actually remove the crossmember and some the center tunnel altogether. Unless the car is caged stiffening that area can make cracking worse in the middle of the inner long because of the design. The tunnel and crossmember are 1/3 the height of the long. All the factory needed to do was keep the floor from sagging in the middle. What they should have done is make the tunnel the same height as the longs and fully connect the front and rear to the bulkheads.

[mskala]

If those area's pass the screw driver test it isn't necessary to install such heavy gauge reinforcement.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif)

Just bend an 18 or 20 gauge piece and weld that in.

[Jeff Hail]

If the flanges are toast on the bottom of the crossmember and you have nothing to weld to make something up like these that go all the way across from long to tunnel and then across to the other long.

[Downerman]

Great info.... I had no idea that the racers would actually remove those. I thought it was a critical structural piece. Once again ignorance is bliss I guess. I'm chucking the angle iron and getting the smaller stuff. Thanks again for all the great comments.

Dave