that's pretty cool- i could see if you wanted black, to do that in a gloss black.

Where is the shop in N.C. ? i'm down in S.C. , and eventually need to do the same with mine. (except i have some extensive rear long and jack point work to do.)
I have not found an experienced 914 body person here is southern SC., might be willing to transport, SC to NC not too far to do that.

enjoying the thread, please keep updating as work is done.


Phil

The guy's shop is in Leland NC. On the web at capefearpowdercoating.com (no affiliation, just seems like a good guy).
There's a Porsche resto guy up this way, but his reputation is spotty. Knows his stuff but has been a rob Peter to pay Paul kinda guy in the past and I'm just not sure of him. I have so much going on right now and the car is in such good shape, I'd love to find someone to hand it off to to restore properly for me (at least body and paint). We'll see. So far I've owned the car two years and am now just getting to a workable state and now I have no time for it like I did when I bought it!

I'll keep the thread alive, don't worry. I'm inspired and educated by those here and some of the amazing work I've seen, will do my part to carry the torch

I'm curious about the powder coating. Your guy powder coated over the seam sealer, covered up the paper and foil tags and then placed it in the oven? Then he's doing bodywork and paint over the powder coat? Never heard it done like that.

Once you smell powder burning while welding, you will rethink.
My local powder coater does everything , but the exterior panels . They simply blow it off before baking. Tags and such are masked and then unmasked before baking.

He told me the coating would not stick to the sealer and it seems that it hasn't (so far as I can tell). All tags have been removed and will be replaced as well as the ds jamb tag (with color code - new rivets await it's reattachment). The rear production date sticker has been removed (a new one has already been purchased and date stamp mimicked- can't tell original from new). The only tag left was the windshield vin (masked for blasting) and the ps fender vin stamp (masked before coating).
The oven temp was low enough not to melt the heat tubes in the longs but hot enough to properly bake the coating.
Its a really nice job! Will need a sand and prep for paint but not to much. As for bodywork, coating is removed before the work. The coating was for the sake of saving the remainder 75% of the car while the rest is worked on. Flash rust from the first guy's blasting was covering the car and I wanted that to stop while I worked on the problem spots. Should be no issues with painting over it. If I can keep filler out of the body, I'll coat the car the factory paint color too!

So I'm going to revive this thread for everybody...

Chris, 993inNC, brought me the car to do all the repairs and get it ready for paint! He dropped it off yesterday and I started to tear into it a little bit today.

The powder coating on the car is pretty awesome. It even makes swiss cheese look good and swiss cheese it has! Overall it is a pretty solid car with a lot of little rust in lots of places.

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The longs have a little bit of rust which is going to be my first concern. I started off by removing what was left of the inner lower firewall.

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I need to pick up some sheet metal for the long work so I started to work on the firewall in the meantime.

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And I made up a panel to replace the area. That's all I got done today. Tomorrow I'll do some clean up, weld this piece in, and get some door braces in before I start the longs.

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Please get some mild steel 18/20 gauge sheet metal for your patches. that thin galvinized metel (likely 28 ga.) will not weld very good and will posion you.

I know nothing about metal but when I looked at that patch I thought "that looks like galvanized metal and it looks really thin". Then I read the next post and went "whew". Someone that has to know more than me saw it too. I am looking forward to seeing this restoration done. I know it will be done right.

The metal I am using is 20 ga. Not the thin stuff. I do need to pick up some regular steel though.

somewhat
I was told a while back on this forum to use 18GA for structural repairs and 20GA for non-structural repairs on these cars.

Keep it going and save that teener!

Update: Here is the corner of the firewall welded in. I lightly coated it with a primer to keep it from rusting.

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I next moved onto the pass. long.

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Top layer of bad stuff cut out...

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I didn't get a picture but I also cut out some of the substructure and welded in a new piece before welding in a new formed piece so everything is doubled-up for strength

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Next came the driver's side long which was not as bad...

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Bad stuff out...
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New stuff going in...
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Finished
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And for the record, I used 18 gauge steel. I'll be using 20 gauge for non-structural repairs such as the firewall.

Wow Doug, looks really good! Can't wait to see more!

Got a little more work done today. I finished replacing the entire clutch tube and got the new floorpans fitted and tacked into place. Couldn't find the camera so I snapped two quick shots with the cell phone...

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You rock Doug.

You replaced a lot of metal. Do the doors still fit correctly?

Yup. The gaps and body measurements checked out beforehand and I braced the door openings before I started the long work. Everything still measures correctly.

The floor is done, the center tunnel welded in, cross-members in, inner lower firewall in, driver's side engine shelf and firewall are repaired, and a new engine lid latch tube is in.

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Before...
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After... I need to remember to replace the ground stud
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New tube installed
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Patched a small area on the front of the long...
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I also went ahead and removed the jack points. They will need a little work before new pieces go in.

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And I started prepping to work on the hell hole...

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keep going Doug, you are doing great.

Thanks Chris


Got all the bad places cut out for today...

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HOLY CRAP
You've been busy (disregard the first half of my email!) Looks great, I may have to start working on cleaning up the suspension parts. You won't be much longer at that rate and I haven't even started getting ready for a rolling chassis.

Yeah, get to work

Yes Sir

Update:

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My welder broke last weekend so I haven't made as much progress as I would have liked. I got a new welder am back in business. I received a package this week from Restoration Design so I was able to get some work done today.

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More to come...

Awesome work!

I used your thread to find the correct placement of the new tray!

Got some more work done today. I got the jack points installed on both sides. The sub-metal needed to be replaced before I could weld in the new pieces so it took some time.

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I cut out a small piece from the door jamb to gain better access to the top.
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The story was the same for the other side...

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Ohhhhh, so that's what a long is supposed to look like! I didn't recognize it without the brown holey stuff???

I got the seat hinges in today

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I also spent quite a bit of time prepping the replacement rear fender. There was plenty of extra meat around the edges from where it was cut off the donor car that I had to remove. Just a little more trimming and it will be ready to go back on.

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Lookin good man!

Like the idea of cutting a flat access panel in the jamb to get at the top of the jackpost.

Update:

I've been working on a lot of little things lately. The front weatherstrip channel needed a little work so I took care of that.

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The front trunk floor also has some thin metal with small pinholes. Welding them up wasn't an option so I fabricated and replaced a small section.

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I did some work on the lower firewall too.

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Also installed the front donuts.

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I still have one small piece of the lower firewall to replace on the driver's side and then the jacking triangle and then I will be done working underneath the car. I will rotate the car and begin working on the exterior bodywork. I already spent some time on bodywork but am waiting to finish some of it before I post.

Oh and who says there aren't enough spot welds on a 914...

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looks great Doug! Is the rust on the pass lower fw flash rust from grinding away the powder coating? It's not embedded rust under the coating is it?

Post 95, picture 2? That's rust that was under some of the seam sealer. That whole lower edge though was replaced.

Cool, what's the other side look like? Hey BTW did you ever get that ground bolt back in on the driver's side wall just above the engine tray release tube?

No I keep remembering I need to do that and then I forgot to put it on the list. Consider it done!