I've just spent about 18 hours glazing and finish sanding my rear deck lid and one (passenger) door in order to get it smooth and true. I have only done this on American cars in the past but have never seen so many low spots, ripples and deflection in the sheet metal. The back (left side) of the trunk had a bondo (pink spots) rust repair and so did one spot on the door just below the door handle but I never thought the rest would be so uneven. Sanding on the deck lid was even more difficult because any pressure on it would push the sheet metal down. I would hate to see what would happen to a finished product if two people tried to get romantic on it. (maybe that's why it is in such bad shape)
If this continues for the rest of the car, it will take about 200 hours to do a good job.

Uhhh... I can say that two people "getting romantic" on a hood is definately difficult to repair.

In fact, I can guarantee it.

-Rusty

Thanks Tracks...


Now people will stop asking me why our body shops get 5K for complete paints.

Your pointing it out nicely (and doing a good job)


B

Ok then I guess this is normal? I can see dings in the doors from carelessness but the deck lid seemed to rough for me. Then I figured Porsche might be trying to keep the cars light by using thin materials. Don't know the truth though.

Welcome to 914's.

I normally throw away lids that are that bad.. finding rear lids that are decent is becoming more difficult. People slam the trunk lids to shut them with both palms in the middle... they are almost always dented here.


B

I know fiberglass lids had balsa wood ribs to support them. Do you know of any "nice" way of supporting metal lids?
Are the front trunk lids as bad as this? I start that one this week.

The front trunk lids are generally in good shape. I rarely find them jacked up.

I havent seen any kind of bracing for steel deck lids... I'm sure somebody has done something.

B

WOW! nice job...lotsa labor. doors almost look like camoflauge rear trunk lids are really thin, and have like no ribbing underneath- prolly to save money

Looks to me like it was in a hail storm. The trick is to not push down so hard, but, duh, you already know that. I use polyester primer and build it up with about four heavy coats. If you shoot it up with enough catalyst you'll be sanding inside the hour.

Weren't these cars put together by Karmann? I know that my Ghia (and other Ghias) uses very stout sheetmetal - by today's standards. I've heard stories that the paintless dent repair guys won't touch them because their techniques are only effective on thin sheetmetal.

Karmann made some 356's, and some of the early 911's as well, and it was my understanding that they also made some of the 914's - but I'm not certain about that - and I don't know if thick sheetmetal is a hallmark of Karmann, or the coachbuilding process in general - probably more of the latter.

only true for '72 or earlier.
VW changed their sheet-metal in late '72 from "the good stuff"
to "made out of recycled scrap metal". i don't know how that
effected the 914, but you can tell on any other VW

Andy

Karmann made all of the 914 chassis.

I cut up an original-looking '70 door, and there was a HUGE
amount of filler (white) in the middle of it. I'll try to find a piece to
take a picture. I don't know what was going on in these
factories back then, probably soccer games.
Mark S.
'70 914-6

As I continue to cut up my car (more pictures coming soon) I keep finding the white factory bondo/filler everywhere. There was big globs of it inside the wheel wells where the fenders and cowl meet.

My rear lid was the same way-looks like someone sat in the middle of it. You can sit on an American car's trunk, but not a 'teener.

Paul

Paul,

I *think* that is seam sealer you are running across. They sprayed the cars with this stuff everywhere... Usually over foam.

B

The ribs on the underside of the deck lid have between 1/16" to 1/4" gap. Now that I am finished the sanding I have put a bead of seam sealer in the gap to add a bit of stiffness to it. Nothing wrong with a little stiffness.

Here's my door pic. It is in the area of 6 inches from the rear, and
6 inches from the bottom. You can't really tell from the mic, but
the thick part is 0.085", and the door where there's no filler is
0.038". It's crazy. This was Dave M.'s door from the '6 that got
whacked and had it's parts moved to another car.
Mark S.
'70 914-6

WOW that's alot of filler. Was that original or was the car refurbished or in an accident. I have heard of body shops using a trowel to put putty on but that looks pretty thick.

I don't have the history of the car, but these are my observations: seems only
one layer of paint, I don't know if anybody uses white body filler other than
factory, and if there was a wreck, what would cause the thing to be SO slightly
dished. (There is no evidence of a dent being pulled anywhere.)
Mark S.
'70 914-6

just talked to the guys at the body shop and they told me that my doors are the same way. full of white bondo. they actually asked me if i had another set of doors, because it will take a lot of their time to get them done right. very strange ....

The early doors have NO support in them. Lean against them and they buckle.

I have some other early and late doors for you Andy.


B

B. i certainly don't need late doors

are the early ones any better than mine?
if so, can you drop them off at Scott's?



i'll probably come up there tomorrow, if you're around ...

Andy

I'll be around all day and will head south on Thursday.


B

very cool!

btw. do you know if SQL Server 7 runs on Windows 2000 Advanced Server or do i have to get a copy of SQL Server 2000?

and if so, do you have one i could "borrow" ?

Andy

SQL 7 runs fine on W2K server. I do have a copy around here somewhere.

B