Went to change a broken clutch cable, discovered car has cancer, bit emotional at this moment. Knew it was coming, didn't expect the scope |
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Went to change a broken clutch cable, discovered car has cancer, bit emotional at this moment. Knew it was coming, didn't expect the scope |
davebrossi |
Sep 8 2018, 04:39 PM
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#1
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Member Group: Members Posts: 52 Joined: 6-December 11 From: Idaho Falls, Idaho Member No.: 13,868 Region Association: None |
Hi All,
I prefer most often to lurk, but after a spin to a nearby autobody shop about filling in some rock chips on the rear fender flairs of the clown car netted me a 13,500 estimate, I've been a little on edge for rust. This morning I set out to change the clutch cable which had snapped last weekend. As I was getting myself situated I noticed some of the undercoating seemed more...flaky than usual. I moved my finger towards it, brushed it and off it came! along with another small piece. I was now staring in disbelief at a mixture of pink body filler and carpet. OK! I told myself, this seems relatively minor, let's just clean the area, I can fix this, maybe not the best way, but I can!. That was five hours ago. As I worked I realized I needed to see where the damage was on the interior, so I removed the carpeting. Once again, I spied a familiar orange tinge... under the urethane installed at the factory. I started working with a chisel and hammer. What was a small hole was in fact a seam running along and right up to the driver's side right seat bracket. The concrete below glared at me menacingly. The clown car (my 914-6) was the result of an venture from a forum member offering turnkey restoration of 914s. I have no interest in flaming or anything mean, so I will not say who, and that's not a challenge either, since frankly all of this was beneath urethane, and said individual cleaned, primered and properly painted surfaces all the way to the old urethane on the floor pans. but it is worth mentioning because rather than spiral down the inception styled road of 'oh god I'm doomed, DOOOOOMMMMED!' I sat back and thought about what they -had- restored and what I had to go back and work on. The interior of the door panels was rusty, I sanded, sealed with POR15, clear coat has a craze to it, but stable and looks fine. Small side sail bumps. Originally thought body filler, probably tin worm, but unlikely to fail while driving and drag me half out of the bottom of the car. Longitudinals, hell hole both extensively reviewed during restoration, both are clear. I don't see bubbles all over the car, and the 13500 was with a note saying "we don't serve yer kind round these parts try these guys since they do antiques" from a shop filled with classic american muscle cars and more of a 'get lost' message, which I understand because scope creep is real. I want to believe this is one of those typical stories where I don't wind up with the Porsche 914 equivalent of "you have died of dysentery" on the Oregon Trail PC game, but I also have to face up to the fact that I will have to acquire new front and rear floor pans. Happily they can be ordered from Pelican without much fuss (the available weld in panels for the 914 is really REALLY a reason I love them in an odd sort of way.) I know I have to invest in a welder as I lack the skills. I want to prepare the area as best as humanly possible because A.) I believe in being a good steward and B.) I'm afraid while I'm happy to pay for their services, I am cheap and would prefer to do the prep work myself. Advice (maybe prayers?) is/are appreciated, but I will be searching threads and educating myself accordingly as I know I need to. in the meantime, here's some NSFW Porsche Floor pan gore; the initial discovery and early cleaning The point at which I realize I should probably look at the top end of things. because regrettably I am a millenial, I wanted to show off my PPE for working with fiberglass and sanding. The moment my heart sank, the colour drained out of my face, and I had to go have a little sit down. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/barf.gif) This is the extent of the rot. You can see the garage floor clearly a menacing glare fixed on it's eyeball-less face :E! I wont blame the consumption of Hubert's lemonade, wait, no, yes I'll blame it for the rust after all! The start of (and at which point I realized that the floor pans were toast on both sides) the surface rust on the other side. I'll admit it was heartbreaking to discover. I wanted to give up and throw it all away, sell it and be done with it. But then again, new front and rear floor panels are made for a reason, and the last undiscovered country (Star Trek) both my father and I were starting into was body work in the last couple years. I'm hoping I'm not right thinking this will require the selling of one of both a kidney and a lung, frankly I have no idea, though (in a phrase I use talking with my employers often) I look forward to the opportunities it will afford me moving forward. Bonus points here in how my dad managed to cause the usual reaction that always happened when there was a setback and he had to tell mom one last time. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/chair.gif) |
burton73 |
Sep 22 2018, 04:16 PM
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#2
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burton73 Group: Members Posts: 3,515 Joined: 2-January 07 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 7,414 Region Association: Southern California |
Dude your car really is not that bad. Something you should get a look at you clutch tube inside the tunnel as that may lead you to do some pan work if the welds are broken inside of the tunnel. It can be fixed in different ways but opening up the bottom is the cleanest way to get full access It seems that most cars if driven enough over the years have this problem. A design flaw from Porsche. Not a rust problem but a stress problem on the welds holding the clutch tube in.
Looks like you are having a fun time with your 914. Bob B |
davebrossi |
Sep 22 2018, 11:14 PM
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#3
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Member Group: Members Posts: 52 Joined: 6-December 11 From: Idaho Falls, Idaho Member No.: 13,868 Region Association: None |
Dude your car really is not that bad. Something you should get a look at you clutch tube inside the tunnel as that may lead you to do some pan work if the welds are broken inside of the tunnel. It can be fixed in different ways but opening up the bottom is the cleanest way to get full access It seems that most cars if driven enough over the years have this problem. A design flaw from Porsche. Not a rust problem but a stress problem on the welds holding the clutch tube in. Looks like you are having a fun time with your 914. Bob B Hi Bob! I may have gone overboard and bought a 5000 watt A/C Inverter with the intention of using my random orbital sander to get as much gunk out as possible. A dustpan and brush wouldn't hurt at this point too. Ultimately the extent of the rust on the upper and lower portions of the driver's side means I could A.) source just those two sections from a donor car, which would possibly lead to a new weld seam (which means nothing, I'm a layperson with welding, it'd just be different than the design) or B.) put in Restoration Design upper and lowers and have that small pin hole in the firewall stitched shut. Focus for me now is to try and tidy it all up. I'm leaning towards B specifically because of the concern over the weld points on the clutch cable tube, and also because I'm wanting to see what else might've gone wrong in there. The cross member between upper and lower pans and the tunnel the clutch cable and assorted items pass through are both in great shape, and I still have high hopes for the longitudinals. I'm also hoping this 5000 watt A/C inverter with marine battery will power my compressor. It says it's rated to a 1.5. hp compressor, I've got a 2 hp. It'd mean no relay race to power an angle grinder. Lord knows I could've bought the two new pans for the price I paid for the inverter (IMG:style_emoticons/default/barf.gif) |
bbrock |
Sep 23 2018, 03:26 PM
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#4
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914 Guru Group: Members Posts: 5,269 Joined: 17-February 17 From: Montana Member No.: 20,845 Region Association: Rocky Mountains |
Dude your car really is not that bad. Something you should get a look at you clutch tube inside the tunnel as that may lead you to do some pan work if the welds are broken inside of the tunnel. It can be fixed in different ways but opening up the bottom is the cleanest way to get full access It seems that most cars if driven enough over the years have this problem. A design flaw from Porsche. Not a rust problem but a stress problem on the welds holding the clutch tube in. Looks like you are having a fun time with your 914. Bob B Hi Bob! I may have gone overboard and bought a 5000 watt A/C Inverter with the intention of using my random orbital sander to get as much gunk out as possible. A dustpan and brush wouldn't hurt at this point too. Ultimately the extent of the rust on the upper and lower portions of the driver's side means I could A.) source just those two sections from a donor car, which would possibly lead to a new weld seam (which means nothing, I'm a layperson with welding, it'd just be different than the design) or B.) put in Restoration Design upper and lowers and have that small pin hole in the firewall stitched shut. Focus for me now is to try and tidy it all up. I'm leaning towards B specifically because of the concern over the weld points on the clutch cable tube, and also because I'm wanting to see what else might've gone wrong in there. The cross member between upper and lower pans and the tunnel the clutch cable and assorted items pass through are both in great shape, and I still have high hopes for the longitudinals. I'm also hoping this 5000 watt A/C inverter with marine battery will power my compressor. It says it's rated to a 1.5. hp compressor, I've got a 2 hp. It'd mean no relay race to power an angle grinder. Lord knows I could've bought the two new pans for the price I paid for the inverter (IMG:style_emoticons/default/barf.gif) One deciding factor for me would be if my replacement patches needed to include areas around the edges that attach to the bottoms of the longs or under the rear firewall. If not, then the welding could be done from inside the car. If they do, then you will need to get the car up high enough to work from underneath, or best, get it on a rotisserie so you can turn it on its side. At that point, I think it would be easier to install an RD floor. Here's a great video installing one to give you an idea of what is involved. Notice that you still end up with two butt weld seams. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kMOMNhxg-A |
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