Hello,
I have been trying to find someone who knows 914's in the Los Angeles area.

I had an accident a few weeks ago, damaged the front (see images).
I have been collection the parts for the repair. I have been asking everyone around here for a shop that knows 914's but not much luck, mostly 911 shops.
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Along with the front end damage, I have a few rust issues that need to be addressed.

I found shops that are willing to do the front end repair but not the rust damage.

One of the shops would not touch the car unless I did a full rotisserie restoration. I don't have the funds for that extensive a project.

The rust is concentrated in the outer longs area (see images)

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I am pretty competent with the 914 mechanicals. I have owned this car for 31 years and have been wrenching it myself, (only other person to do any work on the car in 30+ years is the guy I trust to do my wheel alinements).
I am trying to find someone close to the Los Angeles area that has done this before and knows 914's hopefully as well as I do.
Thanks in advance for any info you may have.
Mike

I realize you have owned that particular car for 31 years, but if it were me, I would take the funds from the accident payout and find a better tub and transfer parts. That is a bunch of rust to deal with...

You're in California? Go find a solid roller.

That tub has had it, man. That rust is bad, like car-fall-in-half bad.

Your looking at 5-10k to repair the rust. Thats not including final paint.. (Another 3-5k for that...)

A SOLID roller would be 2k.

That must really flex, I'm surprised the doors still open once you're sat in it. Be thankful it was only a light accident. Beyond economical repair for sure.i can't believe you're allowed to drive something that rotten on the roads

no accident payout, I rolled under a flatbed truck lift gate.

Do you have insurance? Should be a total. If no insurance what are you doing on the road?

I pay a little over $100 a year for $10k classic coverage.

You obviously are from back East and drove the car year round...
Terminal by West coast standards,,
all the little plastic push plugs are from it being treated with anti rust spray, ie Ziebart or similar, It didn't hold up well,
Sorry to see this, Good Luck

no collision insurance but I have plenty of liability, truck driver patted me on the back and said he was sorry it happened, no damage to the truck, he just drove away!

I've repaired lots and lots of rust damage. Sorry, Put a toe tag on that one. Sentimental value will eat a huge hole in your wallet and leave you wishing you never owned that car.

Even if you were in the rust belt you could get a better car to start with for under 3K.

Look in the classifieds here. There has to be a better solution.

Found the problem;



New York City

I bought this car out of Connecticut 31 years ago, the most rust free car I could find, took 6 months to find one in decent condition, paid $3K, worth every penny. 380K miles, driven every day.
I understand that there are a good number of "rollers" out there but anything I have seen is just as bad or worse than what I have to work with. Looking at the rest of the car, there is plenty good left in this car. I have the COA with original engine and transmission. I am not trying to make a profit from this car, I just want to drive it for the next 30 years!

well maybe some brad Mayeur long covers, without having to paint the whole thing..

http://914ltd.com/store.php?c=1384303079



definitely one well traveled 914.. check out the seatbelt up high, in one of the pics, well traveled..

You may have actually done yourself a favor by having the accident as it made you take a real look at the car's issues.

I would agree with the other responses that this amount of rust is terminal. You've gotten a lot of great miles on your car, but it's time to say goodbye. Find another tub and you'll be world's ahead and it will be money well spent.

No going to happen, i'm afraid. I wouldn't touch that one either, i can understand why the shop only wanted to do a full rotisserie repair.

But even that would cost you a multitude of what you will pay for a nice roller here on the west coast.

You should be able to find a good roller for less than $1k. Then move all the parts over and you'll have a great car that will last you another 30 years.

That same $1k will not even get you started on the rust repairs this car needs.

bummer...you ARE lucky. A little faster and...

I was looking at the Restoration Design "clam shells" I spoke with Peter and he said that the longs needed to be repaired before installing the clamshell (they are just to strengthen the chassis not for rust repair.

These look to be something different, I will check them out!
Thanks,
Mike

I've seen enough incredible restorations here on cars that were just as bad if not worse (Search Digging into Hell, or John's (FourBlades) restos), to know that any car *can* be saved. The question for you is what is it worth to do so?

If it's truly sentimental value, you'll throw as much money as it as you feel is necessary to save it, whether the rest of us feel it is worth it or not.

If you are on a budget that will not allow you to take it to someone who can do the repairs correctly for you, your only option will be to read, read, read the many restorations on here, buy a welder, and do it yourself. If you succeed, the sentimental value of the car will only grow and you might be able to enjoy the car for another 30 years as you hope.

That being said, I think the amount of miles you've gotten out of a 3K investment 31 years ago means the car has done it's job and led a good life. If you have plenty of pictures, then you already have what you need to move on to another tub and be happy.

No one here will be able to convince you out of something that you truly want to do, so do what your heart tells you, but make sure your pocketbook can support it.

I wouldn't. Those need something to be welded to and all you have left is holes and rust.

I am in the middle of changing the engine oil so I took a few more photos of the bottom of the car.

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The only rust spot on the entire floor is the throttle peddle reenforcement bracket.
No rust in either side hell hole, original plastic drainage plugs!

All i see is thick undercoating hiding anything underneath and two longs that are completely rotten away front to back.

What your seeing is the tip of the iceberg. $2K in metal, $8K in labor, then paint. BTDT. Good luck.

Very wise advice, unless you have a whole bunch of $ to throw at it.

Reminds me of Veltror's build, the furthest I've ever seen a 914 come back from. -way beyond "digging out of hell" or "bringing out the dead status" on that car. Veltror might have your rust beat.. maybe not though.
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...=84350&st=0

Ship it up to Sonoma to Mark. That might be your best bet if you seriously want to save that baby.

ship it to Colorado! If your willing to spend what it takes ...then the car can be saved.

If you are not willing to spend the money for a full restoration, you will not be able to drive it for another 30 years. The rust you CAN see is only 20% of what is there. BTW, you should not have even been driving that car with that much rust. 914's have been known to break in half.

I have junked better cars than that due to rust. I realize this car is special to you but in my opinion, you need to let it go. It is far cheaper to swap parts over to a new tub. And if you have a build party, you can get many of us to help. You buy the beer and pizza...

Craig's list has plenty of rollers to be had for $1K-$3K.

Here are some examples of too much rust in the longs. If you get in another accident, this could (will) happen...

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Two new longs, inner and outer - $4k. Obviously the rest of the rust doesn't need to be dealt with since you've already been living with it.

Or this roller.

So this was 11 years ago, would you save this car today?

Reminded of the late, great, Brent Brock.

No, I wouldn’t bother with that car. But I wouldn’t have bothered with Brent’s car either and it turned out fantastic. I consider it privilege to have been allowed to drive his car after all the work he put into it!

All just a question of what you want to get out of the experience.

No. It's still a parts car.

I remember taking a pic of the blue car. Stored under a tarp in S Jersey. Mold was so bad I couldn’t get within 20 feet. Seller was advertising parts for sale but buyer had to remove them themselves. I got back in my car and continued on to visit my parents.

Jokes on you

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3 years of body work school, the roof doesn’t even squeak anymore


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Bet on passion every time.

congratulations - that’s gotta’ feel great

I knew you were working on something but assumed this was a second car you were considering.

Front cross panel/fender repair looks good. The longs looked to be the real challenge though. Where they repaired as well?

Unless those longs were addressed I still say it’s still a parts car.

Hoping they were repaired as I’d love to be the brunt of your hilarious joke and learn that the car was repaired correctly, because it looks great in that last picture

I remember the longs being repaired and we compared notes about the inner long seat belt mounting points.

Radical! Congrats!