Hello- I just completed an inspection of an auction 914 and need some timely guidance on rust. This car is all original and low mileage and shows well taken care of but there is some rust that concerns me in engine well area down low on either side of engine compartment. On driver side I could probably bring up a half a hand full of loose rust scales and on passenger side I can see same area rusted but cannot get my hand down there due to battery etc. in the way. These areas are not holed through that I can see and the adjacent underside of chassis and body panels are not holed through in these areas as far as I can tell. Is this critical? Is it unsafe? How should this type of rust affect the value of the car? I would very much appreciate some guidance on this as the auction is soon ending.

Unless you can weld and the car is dirt cheap, pass. You can find lots of cars in CA without that problem. it is a 2.0 with a lot of nice parts, send them to me.

Hi and welcome Without pictures of the areas it's hard to tell if it's bad or just surface rust.

you should read THIS artice for inspecting a car for rust.

"not bad" could turn out like this.

they are. but if not cleaned sporadically, the drain holes will plug up with leaves and the such.

if it's just surface rust, you'll be ok as this is something that can be taken care of fairly easy.
if it is all out cancer, run for the hills.

you need to take a screw-driver and poke around, especially on the pass. side under the battery tray (AKA "the hell-hole").
years of battery acid dripping down there usually leaves the top of the frame-rails perforated.
if you can poke through there, i would pass on the car unless you know how to weld and are willing to invest a fair amount of time, $$$ and frustration.

if you can PLEASE post some closeup pics of the rusted areas here ...

in the pic below, the green line shows you where the drain hole is located (same on drivers side), the blue circled area is where you need to poke and see if it's rusted through.

Andy

Many thanks to all those who replied and especially for the pictures. I have driven and owned 10 different air-cooled VW’s over the last 25 years and owned a ‘72 914 about 15 years ago (slope nose—see avatar). About a year ago I sold my last air-cooled—a ‘76 bug 1.6L FI—I used it as a daily driver for over 10 years. I currently drive a ‘90 2.1L wasserboxer Transporter and am looking to get into another 914 as a second car.

John