My 914-6 GT / 916 project car started out as a stock 1975 2.0 carbureted 4 banger. I bought it in 1986, by 88 it had a 2.7 six in it with MSDS motor mount, headers and muffler. I also purchased brand new over the counter PMO 40 webers with manifolds for $1000.00. Those were the days!! I bought the tank, oil lines and tin over the counter from Porsche.

In 2000, the 2.7 started pulling head studs, so I replaced it with a 3.2 from a wrecking yard. In 2005 I sold the car and then bought it back 4 years later to the day. I later noticed that the inner wheel well had broken loose. Now starts the project of converting it from a race car back to a street car.

I removed the battery tray this weekend for a better observation.
It looks like battery acid caused the seam welds to rust. Which from racing caused the seam to separate. I bought the Harbor freight camera. I will try to get some internal shots next weekend to look for other rust damage.

Looking at these pictures, what is the best way to repair this?
This is a shot of the crack inside the wheel well.
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The rest of the shots are of the seam on the inside. I will also need to order an Engine shelf. This one is pretty toast. The battery tray is not that old, but was a bitch to get out.
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Thanks in advance for the help!!!!

That looks pretty good actually. Easy fix for the most part. The first picture looks suspect. Maybe some hidden treasures under that under coating.

Wire brush it to see what we have. Looks like some minor patches and a few holes to close.

Thanks!! Actually the first picture is as bad as it looks. A while back before pulling the motor and battery tray, I wired brush this part down to bare metal. There was no rust, just this crack/rip in the metal. All I did at the time was spray paint it so the bare metal wouldn't start rusting.
I will have to use a smaller wire wheel, like my Dremel tool, to get between the seem on the inside. From what I can tell, I just need a new Engine Shelf and a patch where the hole/rip is at. The rest I could probably hammer back and weld back up after getting it down to bare metal. The holes in the wall were where the body shop bolted the battery tray to the wall.

Steve, is the engine shelf that bad, that it needs replaced? (pix don't show the entire shelf)

That coating under the paint may be hiding something. I would get that off with a wire wheel on a grinder first and then re-assess the situation. Can you get an overal picture? one that shows the battery tray, stand, engine shelf, inner fender and frame rail?

"Calling on all Hell Hole experts"

This Thread may set a Record for responses with that request

I agree with most of the suggestions above. If I were you though, and I was looking to ensure that everything was solid here (and I wasn't going to have to do this again in a few months/years), I'd strip this whole area to bare metal. It might be easier to help diagnose if we had a bigger picture that shows the entire area.

Of particular concern is this area - it looks like a typical botched fiberglass patch:

Strip the area all the way, then post pix. That doesn't look too bad......

Thanks everyone!! The soonest I can work on it again is this Saturday. I will strip the rest down and take some wider shots.

I would spray more undercoating on it , replace the battery tray and drive it.

But, I am from the east land of rust.

Rich

Yes to bare metal!!! Especially that snot in the lower left corner of the pic. Just finished my hell hole repair. Some of the stuff in that area looked good until I hit it with the welder , then it just vaporized. Bare metal then go at it with an ice pick and a small ballpeen hammer Pick and tap. You'll hear and feel the difference. Rust does'nt ring! Happy trails

Life keeps getting in the way, but finally worked on the beast some today.

Does anyone have some good pictures on how to prep and trim the engine shelf? I still need to trim the front of the engine shelf, from the previous repair.
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Here's some pictures of the new shelf.
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I removed all the fiberglass and cut out the rust below the battery. I now have a nice hole to spray some Eastwood rust encapsulation into.
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Inside of hole is just surface rust.
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Here's a large picture of the mess!!
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Sometimes I think I am over my head in this mess. Does anyone make house calls?? Otherwise I could put the axles back in and tow it somewhere.

Thanks in advance for the help!!!!

Don't give up, you are just getting to the fun part!

If you've got a big motor and taking it racing you may want to beef up the suspension while you're at it. After lots of advice from the World that's what I did. I've just fit the kit from Tangerine which will strengthen the exact spot where you got the tear - right above the suspension console..

Stick at it..if I can do it 'you' can do it!! Good luck..

Thanks for the replies!! Never give up, never surrender!! I love that line. I don't trust my welding skills. My 20th wedding anniversary is next week. I will wait a couple of weeks and see how much money I have leftover and then pay someone to weld in the shelf, battery tray and scab plate over the crack. In the mean time I can clean and primer the other sections. To me it looks like the battery acid weekend the spot welds on the inner wheel well, which caused it to separate and crack. Running 255 series racing tires probably didn't help. They were rubbing on the inside when it separated. The lower crack was due to me removing the 4 banger motor mounts 25 years ago. I can't remember back that far, but I think there was surface rust around the passenger side motor mount, so I removed the sheet metal under the mount and didn't replace it, which weekend it and made it crack. I also removed the drivers side 4 banger mount, but I left the sheet metal underneath it. Everything on the drivers side looks perfect.

Here's a picture of the crack where the motor mount was. I need to drill the ends of the crack, weld it back up and then make a scab plate to cover it all.
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The bottom is just an extended hole where the drain used to be.

Churchill so liked his brandy.

http://www.worldgathering.net/mp3/churchill_never.mp3

I finally gave up and reached out to Milt aka Zeke on the board.

Took two Saturday sessions, but Milt repaired my hell hole and gave me lots of tips along the way.
1. Cut out and grind-ed old repairs.
2. Made scab plate for bottom missing sheet metal on long under battery. (used to be the 4 cylinder motor mount).
3. Fabricated another plate below the battery and welded it in.
4. Trimmed and fitted the Restoration Design engine shelf.
5. Installed Battery Tray
6. Other rust repair and clean up.

All that's left now is to grind the welds, prime, seal and paint the area.

Thanks everyone for recommending Milt. I highly recommend him. He saved me tons of time. He was a pleasure to work with and I learned so much by watching him work. He taught me how to setup my welder, proper use of tools, etc.
He also makes house calls if you don't live to far away.

Here is a picture of the area he fixed. Sorry for the crappy iPhone shot. I still need to grind some of the welds, prime, seal and paint the area. After that I can finally put my six back in.
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Congrats. Your engine will be in a happy place.

Having Milt repair the hell hole in the 'BB' last year rejuvenated my interest in the car. It was something that bothered me a lot from day one (since I'm not good at welding).

Made me feel better after he looked the rest of car and said all the structural parts were in very good condition

Milt does excellent work at very reasonable prices

Getting ready to install these adapter axles this weekend on my 1986 915 trans.
Early 108mm stub axles and CV's on one end to 1986, 915, 108mm CV's using sway away axles on the other end.

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Next step is to put the oil lines back on, clutch and throttle cables, exhaust and then fire her back up!!

3.2 Euro motor, 916 trans and axles with 108mm cv's done. Need to connect up the cables, fabricate shift rod, install stock heat exchangers and then fire her up. Oh forgot.. Bleed brakes and put oil back in!!
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Nice, Steve. Can't wait to see you behind the wheel and on the street

Thanks Mark!!
My little hell hole transmission project, has taken three years to complete. Family and job keep getting in the way. I'm hoping to get it runnng by March for the Phoenix club event.

It's been almost two years since I updated my thread. I have been driving the hell out of the car versus working on it, so progress is slow.
I will add more pictures later.

Problems I still need to sort out.

1. I can shift into all five gears with my 916 trans, but getting from 2nd to 3rd can be a bitch at times. Current solution is to move to neutral, slide left to stop and then let the Rennshift move back on its own to the 3rd/4th plane and then try shifting into third.

2. Clutch does not adjust for the full range. Seems to work fine. Probably should of used an early pedal clutch shaft versus late. The trans is a 1986 915 gear box, so I used a late model clutch shaft.

3. Still sorting out the door seals and door adjustments, so the windows and doors close better.

4. Need to install oil cooler fans. The engine started to heat up when idling to long in the parade. It's much worse in the summer time.

Parts I added

1. 175 lb 2.5" coilovers from Rebel Racing. The 140 lb Weltmeister couldn't handle the extra weight, so the new triad muffler was scraping the driveway. The tips were actually digging into the street.

2. Bought used chrome bumpers and fog lights. They look much better than the fiberglass Gt bumpers.

3. Redid the temp and pressure gauges to match motor. Installed a 904 type gauge (thanks John).

4. Changed all lights to LED's including GE night hawk headlights and spoke's front and rear tail lights.

This is a picture from yesterday's Laguna Niguel Christmas parade with the PCA OCR club. That's my daughter Sammy on top.
We have been doing this Parade for over 10 years.

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New project!! 1995 993 motor
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Steve your 914 is gonna hall A$$.. Not that it does now but that 3.6 looks sweet. Planning on keeping the A/C system ? Any other upgrades before it goes in?

Thanks!! I'm keeping the AC. Besides 3.6 gauges, I also bought 1 3/4" MSDS headers to try out. I also upped the 3.6 valves 1mm and added RS cams. I will also add a steve wong chip to the DME. Hoping to have it converted by next summer. Hard to find time with work and family.

Ooooooooooooooh Nice

Steve-

You're a MAD man...but I like it.

Here to help if you need anything



Oscar

Steve,

I dont know the story on your 3.2 but if you are looking to sell it I know a local race car guy who may be interested in buying it from you for his 914 race car.

Steve,
Engine looks great! Going to be fun to watch this progress. Glad you resurrected this thread to bring us along.
Very Jealous of 3.6

I will eventually sell the 3.2, but not until the 3.6 is totally sorted. Probably this spring or summer. No hurry....

This should be fun!

The 3.2’s just keep going up in price. Soon it will be a wash for what you paid for the 3.6.