puzzling body twist Options

[emoze]

your first instinct was the best

unless you have a jillion $$$ to "invest"

I know I should abandon any hope of restoring it, and it may well become my parts car, but it keeps sucking me back in.

[rick 918-S]

your first instinct was the best

unless you have a jillion $$$ to "invest"

I know I should abandon any hope of restoring it, and it may well become my parts car, but it keeps sucking me back in.

Sometimes it's not about money. Prime example was Buttercup.

[doug_b_928]

Very unfortunately no jillion here. That's why I'm trying to figure out a way to save the car doing as much as I can myself. For me it's not as much about having a 914, it's about having my 914. It still may end up becoming my parts car. If I'm able to do most of the rust repair myself, I think/hope that will make saving the car feasible.

[Gunn1]

Very unfortunately no jillion here. That's why I'm trying to figure out a way to save the car doing as much as I can myself. For me it's not as much about having a 914, it's about having my 914. It still may end up becoming my parts car. If I'm able to do most of the rust repair myself, I think/hope that will make saving the car feasible.

Depending on how far gone it is, how original you want to keep it, and how much time and money you want to invest in the car.

I have a 72 914 that is pretty far gone but I am tempted to fix it .

One option I was considering was to construct a roll bar/support that would go from the top of the sails to the window frame on the left and right sides

[doug_b_928]

Took the 914 to the farm this weekend to do some of the messy investigational work. It was really interesting to see what was under the filler in the suspicious places.

Both quarters at the rear are mangled at the side and bottom of the taillights. But, when I removed some test patches of paint from the tail section it isn't mangled. So, it looks like the car was rear ended and they replaced the tail section but not the fenders.













And a where the fenders stick out at doors is at least partly due to someone having scabbed on a rust repair panel rather than cutting out and replacing the metal.





Would the best/only way to address this be to completely remove the rear fenders and replace with good ones from a parts car? Recall that the right rear is 1.25" higher than the left rear. So, if the fenders were removed completely, and then the rear floor pan removed for replacement with a new RD piece, would that be a time to pull down the right rear side so that it's level with the left side, then install the new rear trunk floor pan and then put on the new fenders? If the fenders and rear trunk floor pan are off, is there anything left holding in the tail section?

[JoeDees]

For what it's worth:

My car was way worse than I thought when I bought it (there were some incredible artists in the conceal issues game), I had 2 cars to choose from and picked the wrong one. I've done a ton of rust repair before finding that the car had a more serious wreck/repairs than I would guessed. Theoretically it should have been parts, but I'm already vested. But now the silver lining: I'd been really torn about painting it the original color or my "idea." Finding my car's "issues" has kinda been liberating in that I know it will never be a top dollar sell no matter what I do, it will never meet concourse standards or survive the minutiae of a serious car show's judge. So now I can just do my best work and do whatever I want to the car and enjoy it. I figure if the Porsche train keeps rolling the way it is, I'll be able to get my money back out of it down the road if I so wish. No big profit unless something goes crazy, but my ratty car will allow me to live with gaps that are slightly off, improper lines, a non-factory color, and whatever bastardization I do. Though this liberation and realization has clamped the budget a bit...but I was broke with a small budget to begin with.

[doug_b_928]

Agreed. I know that no one else would save this car so whatever I do won't hurt it. I would like to paint it back to Ravenna green but was just last night trying to convince the boss on this. She insists that it become 93 Iris Blue. If I end up with the blue it will be less painful for the reasons you described.

[doug_b_928]

Paging Rick Ollah.... Curious to know what your approach to this would be Rick...

[rick 918-S]

Watching the fireworks show. I'll get a look on a computer screen tomorrow.

[doug_b_928]

My bad Rick....You'll have to forgive a Canuck for forgetting it's your Independence Day. Have a good one!

[rick 918-S]

Great American day. Had a 3 day weekend that went by entirely too fast. Anywho...

Looks like your getting someplace now. My suggestion: Take it back to base line and start over. The tail light panel may be savable depending on what they welded it to and if it was welded on straight. I'm doubtful but hey... A little optimism never hurts.
The quarter panels have had it. Garbage in garbage out right? Get a parts car with good quarter panels. That means look for a car that is showing original paint and no, I mean zero rust thru on the back corners and door jamb. Quarters are not hard to change compared to front fenders. I had a complete rear clip here twice, actually three times but no place to store the stuff in a city yard. Someone should be able to help.

[doug_b_928]

Thanks, Rick. I'm glad you had a good holiday; if far too short of one. The rear end is crooked, so I'm guessing the tail section wasn't welded on straight (because the fenders aren't level). I'll still hold out hope that the tail section can be re-used; I'm originally a farmer so I'm inherently eternally optimistic (can't take the farm out of the boy--and why the hell would one want to (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) ).

Parts cars are rare up here, and when they come up they are so badly rusted that there isn't much that can be reused. I'm glad to hear that it's not as difficult to replace them compared to the fronts. What's a fair price to pay for good quarters?

[doug_b_928]

Oh yeah, I was also curious as to why the welds that they made are brass in colour. Is that some kind of brazing?

[injunmort]

gold welds=brazing. should be eliminated before welding again.

[doug_b_928]

How do they get eliminated? Cut out or heated with a torch to melt them out (like lead). Is the gold stuff dangerous?

[Jeff Hail]

Nice bench.

Now we have 6 in the US, would have been 7 but my old pal Wes Vann's rack vanished into thin air when he passed away along with his 914. 2 in England and 1 in Canada. Its a great day.

On your car: typical hit it low and cover it in space age microspheres repair method with a few cuts and splices thrown in. Seen worse. If it was repaired in the 70's or 80's brass was pretty common. I would take rear body panel and the qtrs. off at the lock pillars as one outer skin assembly, remove the rear short floor and see what you have to work with.

[doug_b_928]

Thanks Jeff. Yes, as I mentioned in my email correspondence, I'm a huge fan and I literally study your thread over and over. I would not have considered taking this on without it and your sage advice.

I followed your plans for the bench and fixtures. I also followed Wes's transmission fixture for the back and used his post in your thread about employing a laser level to get it true. I didn't know that he had died. I had emailed him and now I know why I didn't get a reply (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) .

Here's the bench before making fixtures (I subsequently put non-swivel castors on the front so that I'd have more control when loading and unloading from the trailer):




And the latest fixture I made this summer for the suspension mounting points:



and in situ:



Yes, that repair would have been done sometime before my ownership, which began in 1985, so brass makes sense.

When you say to take the quarters off at the lock pillars, do you mean to cut below the sail panels? Sorry, I'm a total novice and don't know the language (in way over my head, but eager to learn).

[doug_b_928]

Hey guys,

I was away for most of the last half of summer (family obligations overseas) and am now able to start thinking about the 914 again. I was going to begin with the rust repair in the longs, but I think I'll heed Jeff's advice and first remove the rear trunk floor and then the fenders and tail section as one piece. That way I can get a better assessment of the extent of remaining twist in the body without the bent panels on.

Question for those who have experience removing and installing rear quarters: Given that I don't have new quarters yet and so don't know exactly what I'll have to work with, I'm planning to leave the sail panel areas in situ for now. So, in case I'm not able to get complete quarters with sail panels (or by some miracle don't need to replace the sail panels) and so have to graft some in, where is the best place to cut to make installing a new fender as easy as possible?

[Claus Graf]

Agreed. I know that no one else would save this car so whatever I do won't hurt it. I would like to paint it back to Ravenna green but was just last night trying to convince the boss on this. She insists that it become 93 Iris Blue. If I end up with the blue it will be less painful for the reasons you described.

You should check out the 914 I'm saving. (the build thread is in the Pelican Parts website)

[doug_b_928]

I checked out your thread, Claus. Holy ingenuity Batman!

That pic of your sail panel has me worried....

For my fender removal, I'm still thinking to try to leave my sail panels and cut below where the 'door catch' (can't remember the correct term at the moment) is. Is this a good plan?