Howdy all,

I have taken apart my car and am working on the rust, dents, dings, broken welds etc. I added the Engman long kit. I also added the rear stiffening kit. I think I am getting closer to primer and paint but wanted to see if there are things I should do before putting it back together. Some examples I have thought of...

1 - Cut a hole and check the Clutch tube and make sure its not slipping or breaking loose.

2 - Change out the plastic fuel line for a solid steel one.

Anything else you all can recomend? I am on a very tight budget but can do labor all day long. = ) Cash poor labor rich?

Thanks.

Eric


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I sorta recall a thread where CFR welded in a piece of tubing behind

the rear shock mount to tie in the top of the long and cut away a piece

of sheet metal hiding the unwelded vertical section of long-to-firewall

in the engine compartment corners. With the rear kit, you're boxed.

If I had a car at that point I would add some sheet metal at the hell holes to prevent crap from getting down in the corners. Just weld some light gage metal in at an angle so water drains away rather than into the corners.

Rip out all the sealant, tar, & other shittage (all the places water/rust can hide) and seam weld the chassis.

When you say seam weld the chassis.... Do you mean welding all the points where two joints come together? Do you have any pictures of what you are talking about? Do you think it adds more strength or do you think it just prevents water (rust) from getting into the joints?

Thanks. Good idea.

Eric

Have you ever seen this done before? Got any pictures of it?

Another good idea.

Eric

It does add strength to the car. It also prevents them lousy spot welds from cracking out. It's the first thing a professional shop does to a chassis when prepping a chassis fo racing.

I have lots of pics...here 2 quickies one of the front & rear trunk.

Great looking car. Can I get a few more pictures? I see the welds. Even the top along the seems get welded... Are the edges pushed down and welded or just the ends welded? So like along the bottom of the car. There is a seam that runs around the outside bottom edge of the car. Is that bent down and welded or just the edge welded?

Nice stuff. Great color on the car. I was going to do Yellow and Black on mine. Did you powder coat the car or is it just regular paint?

Thanks again for your help.

Eric

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It does add strength to the car. It also prevents them lousy spot welds from cracking out. It's the first thing a professional shop does to a chassis when prepping a chassis fo racing.

I have lots of pics...here 2 quickies one of the front & rear trunk.
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How do you attach your front and rear hoods? I dont see a pin in the corner of the front hood... Intersting.

Also, how about pictures of your engine area? Did the cut out all the crap in there? Whats left? Can you remove the engine skirt?

Thanks again for your help.

If anyone else has pictures of there AX or race car where work has been done, I would love to see it. = )

Eric

Sorry I don't have pics and really have never seen it done but I have aways thought it would be a good idea. Don't know if anyone has ever done it or not.

The only problem I see with that is if water does manage to get in there it will never dry, and your car will rust without you ever being able to see it.

While it is a cool idea I'd rather see the pooling water than not see the potentially pooling water.

GREAT point. I had the frame sand blasted and still see little sand particles falling down from those seams.... Yeah... If you sealed them, the sand and water would be trapped.

I can imagine doing the seams near the suspension points.

What else has been done to your car? Anything you -wish- you would have done?

Thanks again.

Eric

Good welding, seam sealer and primer and paint. No problems.

Volume 8 (Body) of the Porsche 914 workshop manual notates certain
areas where the factory added weld beads for reinforcement when
replacing damaged sheet metal.

The text and pics cover mostly the front area of the car, but nothing
around the rear suspension/enginebay. Still a good reference though.

Some areas to weld that would be a snap while you have it up.......but a bitch if you do it right side up. Rear suspension ear & area.

The outside edge of the ear cracks ...usually starting at the out side edge. Weld up the 2 pieces of the pinch seam & smooth out the fillet.....same with the whole pinch seam at the wheel arch.The factory welding on the doubler plate at the very top of the pic is horrible.....I ground most of it out & rewelded it.

That'll keep ya busy for a while.

Or, you can do this to the ear.

I added the rear stiffening kit. I even extended it about 12 inches so it covers the entire rear tranny support support. = ) Also I put a steel channel along the tranny support just to give it some more strength. I added the foot bar for the passengers side. I do need a dead pedal. Anyone got any pictures of things they have done?

Anything else? I love the pictures of the support for the rear trailing arms. Cool.

Eric

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Areas than I have seen cracked....the ear always starts at the fwd side edge. Been know to come off entirely. At the wheel arch...usually at a spot weld that overlaps the edge of the seam. Front side of the shock tower at the botton as marked. There is no/little holding the tower to the long & rear fire wall....behind that little angled piece of the firewal.

Would you weld that seam the entire length? What would you do on the first photo? Run a weld beed down it? Do you happen to have pictures of yours and how it was done?

Thanks for the thoughts. Greatly appreciated.

Eric

Tell us more about the final goal of the car, and more help is sure to follow.

JP welded the entire seam of almost every inch of that chopped, dedicated AX race car, and that thing runs big sticky slicks that would cause most 30 year old cars to tear in 2 from the stress.

My 914 is light and low on power, but with Hoosiers on for the weekends is not entirely humiliating to race PCA AX against 911s and such. I dream of the day my shell gets all that TLC!

At this point, would you want to add race seats and those special brackets?
Running a beefy front anti-roll bar that needs welded re-inforcements or bearing mounts?
Want to upgrade the shift bar interface at the firewall, or weld in a universal joint to the shift rod as some have done.
Need tons of neg camber and want to grind the top strut mounts?
Go extreme and raise rear suspension mounts?
Chop off extra metal like that muffler heat guard under the rear trunk?

Use the SEARCH feature or blog links for URY and JP's wealth of old photos. That'll keep you online for days

Sorry, I just found this.

Mine cracked out the welds of those thin, smallish steet metal brackets(?) right at the red line. Frankly, hose bits are so thin that seam welding them without any reinforcement may be an exercise in futility. It was while I was adding down tubes from the cage that I found the cracks....the engine was out & I was crawling around under the car....hello, what is this shit?

When using stiff springs, the bottoms of the shock towers rip loose as they are not tied in well to the longs. Welding the verticle seam between the longs & the towers would be good thing .....the seam is behind the angled bracket on the rear fire wall (both sides).& cannot be accessed with the bracket in place.