And the story goes on.
removed the batterytray today. The PO purchased a new on and welded it in like crap . I hate PO´s!! It took me 2 hours to remove the tray, and when iz was out i saw that shitty welding. sory no pic of it.

next step was cutting out pieces of the engine shelf

the firewall was also infected. The first replacement sheet is fabricated.

wr

thats for today.
did i tell you that i hate rust? more than PO´s?
I will be happy when this is finished and the car is on the road again

Have a nice Weekend

As much as you're scarin' the sh*t out of me, the more you're givin' me hope this can be done.

Damn - you do beautiful work
I don't weld, but I definitely need to learn. My '73 needs hell hole repair & I want to do it myself
Awesome post!!! Great pics!!! You have no fear
Now I have got to go to nite school & learn to weld. That really looks like fun. Just curious, how long did it take for you to be able to weld like that???? I've seen a lot worse

during study i worked one day per week in an metall shop. There, i learned and practice welding, and some more helpfull skills. But that material was much stronger than the sheetmetal of an car.
You can burn a hole in the metal very quick , so you have to be carefull.
Practise is the key to success, but it is not so hard to learn!!

I like that forum very much, unfotunatly no comparable in germany.

That's no lie! I was practicing on some scrap 26 Ga I had laying around figuring if I could weld metal this thin, then the 22 Ga would be a little more forgiving. Blowin' holes like I was wielding a shotgun! I've got a flux core mig welder, think I'll have any sucess with it? Or should I start shopping for a gas type mig?

Kevin,

Don't waste your time welding on a 914 with flux core wire, get the gas set up. The G in MIG is Gas, so if you don't have shielding gas then you aren't really MIG welding. You will also have the best sucess using a welder that has infinite heat and wire speed adjustments.

PK

ps How nice of your wife to pose for your avatar!

If that was my wife I wouldn't have time to play with 914's....."what's that honey?"..."Oh, it's only a picture of.... "

The flux core seems to do a dandy job on thicker metal, but I can't turn it down far enough to weld the sheet metal. Not much control over the voltage and feeds (min., max., high, low). I wonder if there's some way to wire potentiometers to replace the two position switches

I think I'll take your advice on the Gas MIG...I'll just rent one for now and see if I can't get some better results.



Michelko, how do you say "You've got balls!" in German?

Some flux core welders are upgradeable to mig for not very much cash. That's what I use, and I'm pretty happy with it.

Fluxcore really is a pain in the ass - my welds have gotten a lot better since I went mig.

Hi Special_K

"how do you say "You've got balls!" in German?" don´t know exactly what this means in english and I definitfly don´t know how to say it in German.
Give me a hint.

I am using a MIG welder, works just fine

It's English/American slang for "You are one brave man to take on a task like that!", it's a compliment more or less.

fiid: I'll see if they make a conversion kit for my welder, wonder if they make a "universal conversion kit" that'll work on cheap-ass 110V welders.

Oh, if you haven't noticed I believe this is a classic (thread). Also Michelko, in the beginning that tar stuff the PO used I think maybe was an old halfass fix it solution. My car seems to have the same garbage.

Michelko, I assume you're going to "sandwhich" together the inner wheelhouse sheet metal to the exising piece. Would one POR15 both pieces before welding together to insure the rust wont occur in between them????

I don't know about michelko, but I'd "weld-through" primer the area to be welded, prep the welds and surrounding area affected by welding with an Ospho/Metal Ready solution, and then POR-15 it. I friggin' hate rust.....and I just noticed that the forum colors have turned that color....very funny! <_< Or maybe I've just seen so much of that color lately....

I am not worthy

How did you bend the metal? Do you have a break, if so what size?

How did you cut the metal? What gage are you using?

How the hell did you bend the metal with the 90 deg. Lip?

I am attempting this repair and am getting very frustrated. I appreciate any tips and your posting of this thread.

You do great work.

-Pete

I use rustconverter (fertan) on all old stuff and then paint it with some epoxy rust preventive paint called ferpox (both are german products, known for good results in restoration).
The welded pieces will also primed with weldable primer (don´t know the name).
After all work is done, all the caverns will be flushed with protective wax.
This should work for the next 100 years, cause the car will not see much rain in future(hope so)

Fabricating the new sheetmetall is realy not so hard. You need some special material. Think you can get it at your flaps. This material can easily be stretched and bent and has a coating that should prevent new rust.
next time I will take a Pic of the tools i used to fabricate all the stuff.

:gerflag

On the inner wheelhouse when you take off the wheel "thingy-a- ma-jingy" that's what goes in those two holes!?! Correct me if I'm wrong but you could possibly replace this piece without an engine drop? Plus you could conceivably replace this piece without cutting into the fender?

Also instead of jus' a PO do we have POSPO???

The story goes on, ....slowly but steady .
Did some cleaning and fitting the repair panel into the hole.
The suspensionconsole is fresh sandblasted and primed.
It is a little tricky to find the right position for the repair panel, because its position is realy important to find the right position for the suspension console.

nother one

from the inside

nother

I wil have to do some more cleaning till i can wels the pieces together.

I hate cleaning and i hate rust

But i can see light at the end of thre tunnel

Jus' in time my man! I was jus' 'bout to post this question:

I'm looking to get the inner wheelhouse sheetmetal panel to "sandwhich" flush. It's jacked up some an' the wheel is off. Looking at it there seems to be several things in the way. These or this would be the bracket for the rear suspension console (ear) it seems? It creats a "hump", I believe Brad called it "scab" metal??? Is this thing (growth, "what not") spot welded in or something??? The controling arm goes from the hole in the ear towards the outside to the fender. This is also where the tiny bracket (that little piece of flat metal) from the fender to this area connects. If you look you see it creats a "hump" for lack of a better word. If someone has put the wheelhouse as a solid piece flush I believe they understand my convoluted question.
The "ear" will have to come off as well, so this might be that whole section. I don't know. Also can one put the "ear" on without cutting the engine shelf?

Sorry no images (the irony here is that I've made a living for more than a quarter of a century in photography but the only camera I currently possess is a 4x5 'n' that won't do for this.).

However, that hump is the "ear" isn't it??? Can you slid up the ear (support console) without cutting into the engine shelf??? Plus no need for pics there they are, thanks.

somewhere on the forum there is a thread from Brad Roberts i think. He managed to replace the ear witout cutting the engine shelf. Unfortunately don´t know how to find it . The thread also contains pic´s of the process. Maybe you contact him directly and ask him about.
That "scab-metal" is MIG-welded, in my opinion.

Here's Brad's thread where he replaced the ear without removing the engine shelf. Hope this helps.

Thanks, I appreciate that!

Here we go. Some progress pics.
Fitted the outer rockerand primed the inner.
Some new parts arrived today. Think i am now complete with the parts.

blabal

primed area 51

front

nother

and the new parts

can you count the number of paint jobs?

and some more new parts and a bottle of fuel

i also received last week engman´s stiffenig kit.
This is realy a awsome piece of art. very good fittment and the transaction was very quick and smooth

Just a little note on "weld thru primer".

The outfit I worked for did a lot of work on this back in the early 80's......and I was involved. We found that the thickest
it could be aplied was .75 to 1 mil. Above that, weld contamination/porosity became a problem. Dunno what strides have been made in the last 25 years tho.......

Why does a bottle of German beer in Germany have "Germany" written in English on the label?



Andrew

don´t know why
but it is a fine brew

This thread, forum is inspiring! Proof that 914's are worth saving. Great work, I love all the pic's! Keep them coming!

Geologic paint rings!

Man you are doing a nice job. Love the progress pics. Looking forward to the finished product. (Bet you are too!)

-Jeff

Wait, there was supposed to be a pic in that.

My only question is: When can you take delivery of my car?

Absolutely inspiring job!!!

well i know how you all feel about rust and holes under the battery here is my winter driven east coast 75 914 after i removed the engine self to give a little more room for the suby, not to mention it cleans up the engine bay a bunch


scott thacher

Great to see it waaaayyyy over there. Very glad to hear the fit on yours was the same as I have seen and heard here in the states.

You have done a very nice job with ALL of your metal work. Please keep us posted on the progress - it inspires me!


Mark

Beautiful work michelko!!

Good thing Engmans stiffener kit wasn't painted beige, you'd never see it.

Hiho Mickelko,

really very nice work !!

In the next weeks i have to do pretty much the same work on my car.

It will be partly sandblasted next week and then i have to breath the smell of rust ...

BTW:
Did you bought the engine tray from Mittelmotor ? If yes , how much is it and how much did
you paid for the german customs when buying the frame stiffening kit ?

Aircooled greetings from Berlin

Benno