Your thoughts on this hellhole?, Fix immediately, or drive this summer and fix later? Options

[mbseto]

Knowing whether or not the door was ajar in that first pic makes a difference. I think a bunch of people assumed that's what it looked like when closed. I'd post the same photos you just recently posted with a person sitting in the passenger seat...

[burton73]

When I sold my 76 914 to Dax in Belgium a couple of months ago, I send a video of my car jacked up from the standard jacking post on the right side opening and closing the door with the right side of car off the ground. That is proof of a strong car without rust with stock parts in place. No need for a heavy guy. See how much the car flexes.

Bob B

[Rand]

Knowing whether or not the door was ajar in that first pic makes a difference. I think a bunch of people assumed that's what it looked like when closed. I'd post the same photos you just recently posted with a person sitting in the passenger seat...

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif)

[bbrock]

When I sold my 76 914 to Dax in Belgium a couple of months ago, I send a video of my car jacked up from the standard jacking post on the right side opening and closing the door with the right side of car off the ground. That is proof of a strong car without rust with stock parts in place. No need for a heavy guy. See how much the car flexes.

Bob B

From one of the old Mid-Engined Views:

[MarkV]

You could just pull the passenger side valance off and look at the condition of the jack point and long. Seems more scientific to me. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/shades.gif)

[EdwardBlume]

I'm living in a...
Hell Hole!
Don't want to stay in this...
Hell Hole!
Don't want to die in this..
Hell Hole!
Girl, get me out of this...Hell Hole!

I meet her each weekday, each velvety cheek day, you know what I mean...

[EdwardBlume]

Dad's car was way worse but that doesn't mean anything. Pull the rockers, look hard at the dog ears, etc.

It doesn't look that bad, but these cars can fool you. Just make sure its safe and then enjoy. If you're not sure, take it to a body shop and have them evaluate it.

I bought a rusty rocket and turned it into an AX car. Nothing lined up after welding in a roll bar but it was solid after 3 paint jobs and moving the battery to the rear trunk.

[98101]

As promised, pics of what Rich/914werke found during the passenger side rust inspection. All photos from the passenger side. We did not inspect the driver side.

In the wheel housing, some kind of foam seems to have been used to cover a gap left by a sloppy weld. I'm guessing the intent was to prevent further water incursion from the road and wheel. Has anyone ever seen this before?




Also other rust holes in nearby sheet metal that didn't show up properly in photos.


We discovered the jacking point had been repaired at some point, but we didn't find any obvious deterioration.

[98101]

There was no visible rust at the suspension console.

As noted earlier in the thread, the passenger door doesn't close as nicely as the driver door because it sags a bit. I put my finger over the top door gap while Rich lowered the car from the jack, and I was able to feel the gap tighten by maybe a millimeter or two.

We measured the top and bottom door gaps with the passenger seat empty, and then with Rich sitting in it. I was not able to detect any difference.

I'm guessing that the car is OK to drive this summer, and rust repairs to the wheel housing and passenger side long can wait until the driving weather is over? Please let me know your opinions.

Top door gap, empty passenger seat.


Top door gap, passenger seat occupied.


Lower door gap, empty passenger seat.


Lower door gap, passenger seat occupied.

[98101]

There is some rust in the rear trunk, and some holes below the trunk release mechanism. Since my car has the rear reflector instead of a trunk release button, and the pull-cable release mechanism isn't 100% reliable, possibly someone made those holes to get the damn trunk open, and water leaked in to cause the rust?

Also noticed the rear trunk section was a orange, instead of yellow (my car's original color), suggesting repair to rear end damage.

While I'd like to fix that trunk rust eventually, I'm guessing it should be lower on the list than the potential structural issues on the passenger side. But let me know your opinions please.

[bbrock]

I'd drive it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

They all like to rust back there on the trunk and it's possible yours was already replaced for that reason once. The donor piece might have already been heading that way when it went in. I think you could treat it with rust converter and paint to hold you over until a proper repair could be made. Might want to figure out where the water is getting in and stop it. I'm sure smarter people will give better advice, but trust me, it could be a lot worse (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[MarkV]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif)

That's not bad at all. Looks like the jack points were starting to rust and someone made repair pieces for the lower half of them. I think I would clean those up real good and prime and paint them. The piece behind the battery tray is available... I had to replace it on mine.... think its called upper wheel house. The hell hole could be repaired by plating the top of it. It looks like maybe the engine shelf is okay.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving-girl.gif)

[98101]

In case the wheel house and related parts turn out to be worse than they look from the outside, it seems a reasonable chance we'd have to cut the exterior sheet metal and mess up the paint. The current paint is shiny but not well applied over the original yellow, and already flaking off in places.

[MarkV]

The wheelhouse shouldn't be a problem to fix without messing with outer body panels. Painting the repair from the inner fender side was difficult but your car is black and you could use a spray can to get in there.






Its really hard to do a color change without completely dismantling a car. To prep the paint and get it to stick on inner parts with limited access without removing everything is impossible. It doesn't look like its flaking on the outer body panels. You could just touch up the places where it has flaked off.

[98101]

I'm curious about this strange foam material we found. It was about as heavy as styrofoam.

[rhodyguy]

Insulation/gap filler in a spray can.

[bbrock]

Insulation/gap filler in a spray can.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif) And a really bad choice for that application because if the skin is broken like it is there, it holds water like a sponge.

[98101]

I'm curious about this strange foam material we found. It was about as heavy as styrofoam.

Maybe it's this stuff?
https://youtu.be/TZ7k_DzpDBM?t=2m53s
"This is obviously not the best way to do this, but if you don't know how to weld, it'll work. I mean, for at least a couple years. So ...."

Even though the rust doesn't seem as bad as some of the predictions, finding this foam has me a bit worried that the other metal repairs may not have been done properly.

[bbrock]

Maybe it's this stuff?
https://youtu.be/TZ7k_DzpDBM?t=2m53s
"This is obviously not the best way to do this, but if you don't know how to weld, it'll work. I mean, for at least a couple years. So ...."

Even though the rust doesn't seem as bad as some of the predictions, finding this foam has me a bit worried that the other metal repairs may not have been done properly.

Yep. The most common brand I've seen it sold under is Great Stuff. That guy has a follow-up video with a totally lame "test" claiming it will not absorb water. I use this stuff a lot for what it is intended for, but also for building backgrounds in frog terrariums (yes, I know that's weird). Trust me, it DOES absorb moisture once you cut that skin that forms as it cures, or after UV light deteriorates the outer layer. I've wrung water out of it like a sponge after it has been sitting in a high moisture environment for months. It's basically the same stuff the factory sprayed in the sail panels that makes them rust. So yeah, I'd want to revisit previous repairs to make sure they are done right, but I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. Enjoy driving it for the summer. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

[Andyrew]

Drive it and fix it while you gather the parts. Try to improve the gaps when your working on it, but it looks like a great drivers car. Better than 50% of the cars out there not in california..