1000lbs?? hmmmm....I had to put a bare chassis on a trailer by myself, I drug the damn thing up onto it. I should have had some help or at least a come-along, but I was stubborn (no wheels, no suspension, just a bare chassis)

of course this could explain my lower back problems (which flared up again last weekend picking up a Boxster S motor with 3 other people at the Partsheaven swapmeet)

nice work as usual Chris

Mueller,

I don't think Morrisey would make a good president, but Henry Rollins (Black Flag) would.

Nice work and Good photos. Which brings up a question I have asked befor but never gotten an answer for. On the Muffler heat sheild on one end ther is a notch cut out ...Wat the heck is that for.
Its must be OE as Ive seen it on many cars

Spent most of the weekend trying to clean up the rear trunk seam and floor area. Discovered the seam sealer by the taillights and latch was holding water like a sponge and causing rust. This is a chunk of the seam sealer after it has been pealed out and flipped over. More crap to remove. Everyone, what is your best technique to get rid of the seam sealer?

I'm sure my techinque is a little different, I used a big, sharp Gerber knife (really sharp and strong blade) and just pealed this seam sealer stuff out like putty. Then I hit the seam with the wire brush. Here's the worst area where the water leaked in from the rear tail lights.

I can't believe how thick this crap is! In the corners its about 1/2 inch thick or worse. Can imagine tackling this without the rotisserie.

I've learned that any place on the car with POR15 black paint is a problem area. Wire brush and scraping around this area revealed minute penetration thru the floor at the weld at the reinforcing piece. Racer Chris, what's the best repair here? Lay down and weld over these pin holes?

Here's the same area from the other side. Racer Chris, please PM or call me with your recommendations.

Question for the group: how far should I go in removing this seam sealer? As you know it is everywhere. Most areas seem good, but I am now worried what is under this stuff. After about 2 hours here is what the trunk area looks like now.

I'm looking William.
I'm surprised to see the perf ahead of the tranny crossmember.

Since the weather was good, I also took the time to degrease the area around the gas tank and the front trunk. These areas really cleaned up nice.

I say remove as much sealer as you can in as many areas as possible, unless there is really no chance of rust hiding behind an area.
As far as the trunk, wire brush and clean the area so no paint or rust is left around the pinholes. If they don't get much bigger then filling them with the mig is the best approach. I can use a backing bar of copper to help control the heat and fill the holes more easily.
Looks like I may be making a house call.

Front trunk springs are easy. Get a ViceGrip or pliers and grab them. They're not very tight. You'll be surprised.

The rear are more tricky. I haven't found a great way yet myself. Stick a block of wood in its path or it'll bend the metal up real good.

Here's the front trunk.

I also cleaned inside the pedal box area. This was a real mess because the master clyinder was leaking hydralic fulid inside the car. Does a number on the sound deadening crap. Also dissolves paint.

Here she goes back into the garage after another fun filled day.

Racer Chris: House call, house call! Let me finish scraping and wire brushing this trunk floor and get it all ready for you. I was thinking about using a wire wheel on a drill to clean it up, but I like the control with a small stainless steel brush. Don't want to be too agressive if it is not needed. The seam sealer looks OK everywhere else in the trunk. I'm exploring the area under the gas tank next. Glad to know your keeping watch.

6/14/04 at 8:18 p.m. EST: Racer Chris: After we talked today I decided to get very aggressive with the trunk floor to expose and remove all the rusted areas. Spent over an hour with a 3 inch coarse wire wheel to remove as much paint/rust debris as possible. Not really any big changes in appearance all though a few more small pin holes opened up. Here's a group of pictures taken from both sides.

Pin holes don't vizualize very well inside the garage. Much better view from the inside.

Another view from the bottom.

Here's the last one from the inside of the trunk. Let's go ahead and plan for you to make the repairs. Bring your gear and lunch is on me. Early Saturday would be good. Call me at the office tomorrow.

Re saturday,
I think I can get to your place before 11. With luck we'll be finished by noon.
I'll call you Tues. am to discuss.

Chris Foley drove over 110 miles one way to come weld up my rusty trunk floor. He spent almost 2 hours with his MIG welder to give me a nice solid trunk floor. Guys here in NE, Chris Foley is our HPH. Support him with your business. Here's a view of the bottom.

As you might imagine, when Chris put the MIG welder on this rusty floor, more and larger holes opened up. He stuck with it and saved the panel. Lower view which was a much worse area.

Damn, forgot to attach the picture. Duh

Here's another view of the same area. Needless to say, this floor sorta looked like swiss cheese.

Here's a view from inside the trunk. Compare this to the earlier ones.

Another view from inside the trunk. What a big improvement!

So my next project has been to remove the undercoating so that I can inspect the bottom of the car for any hidden rust. Scraping this crap off is a slow job.

I haven't tackled the wheel wells yet. It is really thick in there. The suspension ears were also heavily coated. Took a couple of hours for these areas.

The good news is that the floor pan is absolutely solid. This is the proverbial california car.

The front trunk area was a real bitch to clean up. Undercrap was very thick here. Chris also welded up to small tears in the floor pan where some idiot tried to jack the car up under the tow eye.

Here she is ready to roll back into the garage. I'm going to tackle the large plugs next. Anybody know what these are for? Should I remove them? Brad? Chris?
Talk to me people.

remnants of the tooling process i thought....

Drains for the extra paint to run out of after they dipped it in the really big vat o' paint.

Ken

My 914 buddies have speculated that the holes were used by jigs to hold the panels in place when the body was assembled. Does anyone really know?

I'm not sure why those plugs are there but I recommend leaving the sealer alone unless it is already peeling and rust forming underneath. It's a royal PITA to clean all that stuff off.

Now, this car is going to be media blasted, so I assume the media will eat this sealer crap off and then get down to the plugs. So, before the final paint work, what product should I use to replace/reinstall the seam sealer? Brad, when you guys out west take the cars for the acid dip, what do you do about the seam sealer?

Several different companies sell a sealer that closely resembles the factory stuff (we even use a applicator/sponge setup to semi dupe what the factory did) I dont have the name here at the house. I'll have to call the body shop tomorrow and get the name of the product.

Lookin good Use a 4 inch hand grinder and a wire wheel attachment to RIP through any undercoating or seam sealer. It whips it off in minutes. We have to remove it all before the acid dipping.



B

Brad: ThaNKS for the kind words. This project has moved along thanks in large part to your help and advice, parts from HPH and the welding from Chris Foley and CFR Welding. Hope to have the car ready for media blasting in another week. Will post pictures when stripped and before we shoot the primer. So, what the hell are the plugs for any way and how are they removed (what wrench or what the hell do you use to remove them). TTYL, William

You have to remove ALL the seam sealer from around them. Once you get it all away.. they twist out fairly easy. I use a large pair of channel locks AFTER I get them moving with a small blunt chisel/hammer setup.

Honestly.. I'm not sure why you want to remove them. They can blast them place. The only thing I would be worried about is the undercoating. Remove it all.



B

Anyone in the southern Ohio area with a rotissere to barrow or rent.

Thanks

So today I found time to attack the globs of seam sealer around the six mystery plugs. Per Brad's suggestion, you really can cut right thru the stuff with a wire wheel. Here's the front end.

Took about two hours to take car of all six plugs. The seam sealer was about an inch thick. But as you can see, basically virgin metal underneath. This was what I was looking to find.

In case you ever wondered what these things were (I sure did) here's a good close up look. As you can see, there are three ears that can be rotated to grooves to remove them entirely. I'm gonna leave them in place for the media blasting.

Damn, I'm running out of stuff to do with the body. Guess the next project will be to decide how to move it on a trailer (while still on the rotissiere) and not do any damage to the body. Chris, let me know when the pieces for the door jams might be available to borrow. Well, I'll just roll her back into the garage for now.

It looks like you forgot to do the big plug in the rear trunk! You're not done yet.

Obviously the sign of someone in denial. This is a 914 right?

Seriously, good work. Keep the pictures coming.

Rick

Hot Damn, I forgot one, now I have something else to do. So Chris, what about those braces for the door jams? Might you have them available soon? PM or call me. Thanks, William