Our BMW club has many members that own other German marks, including Porsche.

I don't know if the 914 ever had any or all of the body built with either galvanized steel and or Thyssen steel, but I think it is an interesting topic.

I read with interest a thread on this board that referenced a Pelican Parts forum post:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911...1s-history.html

However, the post is specific to the 911, not the 914 - or all Porsche models.

From what I've been told by one of our local Porsche experts - no 914's came from the factory with either galivanized or Thyssen steel bodies.

It is hard to find any information on this subject that is specific to the 914, so (for me) it remains a mystery.

None were built with any form of long lasting metal. Sometimes it seems like they used steel that encouraged rust. No wait, I think Chrysler Corporation cars of that era had that market pegged, though Karmann body works certainly gave them a run for their money. Porsche went to galvanized bodies on the 911 in 1976, though some parts of the 1975 model 911s were galvanized.

Always wondered, if you went through the process of having a car acid-dipped before restoration, would there be any way to galvanize it at that point as well? I know nothing about that process, just curious.

Lsintampa, whereabouts are you located? There are a few us in in the area, you know. I'd like to get a get-together going at some point, possibly a lunch and drive. Shoot me a PM, would like to meet ya.

-George

Your local expert is right. Porsche didn't start "hot dipping" for rust treatment until the 76 MY, & the last 914 was actually built in 75 at the Karmann plant - so none were rust treated/etc.

Well, not at the same exact time - the two are separate, but related electrochemical processes. I did a fair amount of research and reading on this topic after my car started going through the protection phase of its mild-rust-oration [EDIT/CLARIFICATION: the rust level was mild, not the restoration efforts!], and found out I really like electrochemistry. I might try to get into it more professionally some day. So sorry for the upcoming mini-lecture, feel free to skip it anyone who's reading, or jump in if I make any egregious errors.

The acid dip removes the rusted crap form the remaining, "good" steel (at this point ungalvanized), and can even etch or rough up the steel a bit for the application of paint or other treatment later on. Of course, one such treatment could be galvanization, which is basically coating the steel with zinc. Alternatively one can use powder or paint coatings. Advantages-disadvantages exist for each, such as weight penalty of thick zinc and relatively high cost vs. the protection level after something is scraped/scratched to bare metal for paint/powder coat as opposed to no problem with zinc, and the limited life of zinc in highly corrosive environments.

Anyway, "hot dip" galvanizing is a process that puts a fairly thick coating (compared to other alternatives) of zinc all over the steel body. It acts as a sacrificial anode to prevent the steel from rusting, so it doesn't necessarily need to "coat" all the steel, just be in physical contact with it. It also will eventually, given enough time, go away and expose the steel to rusting, depending on how much zinc was put on there and the conditions the steel is exposed to (salt, salt water, etc).

Electroplating is another method for putting zinc on steel. (There's also eletrodepositing, but that's more for applications that only need a few atoms' depth of deposited zinc, like in semiconductor industry). I've read that some modern automotive applications use electroplated steel steel for some body exteriors, but that wouldn't be very practical with a monocoque chassis, obviously.

Zinc plating/coating is good for keeping steel parts from rusting for a while, especially in the desert dry where I live, plus it makes 'em look purty n shiny and all.

I'm in North Tampa (Carrollwood)...

When I did my 1974 BMW 2002, we acid dipped the body and panels. TWICE. Acid dipping not only removes rust (you'll find holes where there used to be rusted metal), but everything else and the car MUST quickly be totally rinsed and then treated - or it will start to rust all over. We had to dip my car two times because it wasn't rinsed good and the rust inhibitor didn't really do much. I'd never do it again. Those of you with body shops and facilities have an easier go of it, but for the home hacks, that needs to outsource body work (like me), I'd take a pass. Unless of course you have very deep pockets or a good friend with a tank and bays.

Here is a link to my 2002:

http://www.classiccarstudio.com/1429/1974-BMW-2002.html

Took me 8 years to build, sold it to this guy that I assume sold it to someone else.

:disagree: (sortof)

71 was the first year they did "Floorpans Only" on 911's. They then moved on to complete tubs in 76.

There is a member here from Wisconsin that dipped his tub. He (obviously) did a full restoration on the car and painted it a beautiful deep blue. He was at RRC one year with the car. I don't recall if it was galvanized or e-coated.

Nice 2002!

Gang hang on here? I welded the rear gt stiffening kit in the rear of mine after media blasting the under coating and paint off, and there was a coating of Galvanizing or something the tig welder didnt like.

It was a light gray coating the walnut shells/ beads didnt take off and i had to hit it with the 2 inch sanding disk to get thur to clean steel. The tig was welding just like is was galvanized?

A have a late 75. So what was the coating?


jcl

I think it was David Darling who said these cars started rusting coming over on the boat from Germany. I think he was joking but many believe it to be true.

I think they all were towed over here on a Uboat.
On a barge that sat low enough to submerge about a 1/4 of the cars alll the way across the atlantic.
Mystery solved.

Wurth body schutz.

IDK, seems like there still is some debate going on. From what I read into all of this is that the 911 started using T-steel and or galvanized steel sometime in 76... KEY is the 911. No one is stating that to be true of the 914 - even the Pelican thread clearly speaks of the 911.

Body schutz seems to have been applied to most all 914's it is just a question of where and on which year models. Most I've seen have it all over the rear shock towers inside the rear trunk (visible inspection). Since I don't own a 914 (yet) or have access to one, my guess is that BS (pun intended) was used on the underside area(s) as well.

Maybe the later models had more than the earlier models.

And no 914 was ever build in '76.

The last of them were build in '75, so your established timeline does not match.