I am doing my first 914. The under side and wheel wells of my (originally gold) car has a lot of black paint on it. What is considered original when repainting a car of this make. The car above the engine and tranny is all gold but the belly pan and wheel wells seemed to have been painted black. Was this from the factory?
Post here or e-mail me.
Tx

It is paint, or undercoat ("shmutz")?

I am one of the unfortunate ones to have an undercoated car. The stuff is a nightmare to get rid of. It does come off, but it takes a lot of time and energy. The car originally came down from Oregon to Calif in the mid-70's and somebody inflicted this crud on it.

It appears to be too thin to be undercoating. It looks more like paint. All pictures I can find on the net don't appear to have color matched wheel wells. They all look too dark but it just might be the pictures.

All 914's were painted the same color all over except the LE's of course. Somebody painted 'em.
Geoff

HUmm... I had a orange one:

Ha ha.. I forgot to add the pic.. 73 2.0 "Julius" This was just soap and water.. I later removed the yellow looking crap.

Same experience here, the cars were painted body color inside, engine compartment, and in the wheel wells. Underbody too, I think.

Anything else (paint/undercoat) was either done by a PO or is just DIRT.

Here is the pic of the cars being built, note the wheel well color.
Geoff

I think all the undercoating and crap was "dealer installed" much like they try and stick you with extra crap nowadays. But.. sir you need the extra protection...NO I dont.. the factory did a fine job.

B

Hey Brad, see why there are so many orange 914s.

So Brad, are you suggesting that if we have undercoating to remove it? What's the best way of doing that? High pressure spraying?

Geoff,

sorry for going off topic here. I tried to email you directly and it bounced back...

but since were talking paint... I love your paint scheme in you "avatar".....

do you have pictures of the side and rear.
I've got an orange car and have been looking for a nice 2nd color... cool...

brant

The reason I would remove it (undercoating) it hides rust. Water can get trapped behind it and can cause rust in funny areas. Most of it flakes off. Poke around.. look for loose undercoating.. if you find it loose, get it off the car.

I would rather see the rust starting than to have it hidden (ala tar paper on floorboards of car)

B

Man I'm glad I saw this post. I recently purchased a 72 that was stripped and re-painted the original color. The underside was painted black. I was thinking of undercoating the bottom and wheelwells for protection. I never thought of the stuff hiding rust! Thanks for the input

When R&Ring areas of the body, don't be afraid to remove the seam sealer if you have the time / patience. I've noticed that as the seam sealer cured (or aged 30 years) it has receeded from the seam and can hide rust just like undercoating and the tar flooring.

Jon

Its easier to keep clean if its bare paint with NO undercoating. Our forefathers did a great job of preserving the cars for us.. now we just have to maintain them.

Another body shop trick is too use undercoating to hide seams that have been redone.

Some undercoating.. ok If you see a lot.. run.

B

Thanks for the input guys. Love the pix of the assembly line. Where did you get it? Any more of them?
I guess my car was undercoated but most of it has been pressure washed away now. Now I know to piant the whole car the same colour and not to paint the wheel wells and underside black.

Well that's only if you want it to appear "factory". I'm painting my wheel wells black to help hide dirt and tar. I'm painting my underbody and engine compartment white to help track leaks.

I'll probably paint the trunks black too. Didn't the GT's do that?

Jon

Brant, That is a pic I pulled off the net years ago, its not my car. I have always liked the two-toned bumpers that the factory did too. Why they did it I don't know but its cool. I can't say I would do it on a street car but on a track car hell yes, its very retro! I don't get too turned on by all the rice paint schemes.
Maybe DD will recognise the car in my avatar, he seems to have a photographic memory for the odds facts...
I know I can't change the color of my car (Nepal Orange) as Monique loves it. She says its Dutch orange what ever that is. Maybe Jeroen can fill me in????
Geoff

I think it's one of the Marathon de la Route cars, but without numbers. Or a replica of one.

The bumpers were painted different colors for the same reason that the mirrors on the current Audi race cars (the Le Mans winners) have different colored mirrors. So you can tell them apart at a glance, without having to check the numbers.

Not sure why they picked particular colors, and not sure why they went half-and-half on the bumpers.

--DD

Speaking of pictures, I can't figure out how to add a picture along with my ID to the left of a post. Anyone able to give a tutorial?

go to "my controls" at the top of this page, then to "edit avatar settings" on the left. you can hit the "browse" button to locate a picture on your computer to upload. the max size is 125x125. if you don't specify what size your pic is it'll make it 125x125, which can look distorted.

He may not be able to do this until he hits 10 posts. I forget what I have it set at.

B

Thanks Vortrex and Brad.
I'll make ten posts, probably before I get a picture to use.

Jim,

have you heard from Craig ?? I know he has some 914 parts that people on this list where asking about. I am trying to support his parts sales, but I need him to be more active here and semi follow along.


B