Hi guys,
I posted this in another thread but did not get any response. Maybe I posted it in the wrong place, so here it goes again.

Hi guys,
Looking at the photos of the beige 914 is humbling, and brings up a couple of questions about my 74 914.
I recently purchased 74' 914 that is in very good condition. No rust that can be found, and it has obviously been well taken care of during its life. The car was originally signal orange, but a previous owner had the exterior repainted in the incorrect "Tangerine orange". The trunks, door jambs and engine area are still the original signal orange but it does have scuff marks and scratches. I want to repaint the car the original color. Should I also repaint the interior areas or should I leave those with the original paint with its patina?
Also, even though the car has no rust on the rockers and hell hole and it does not sag, it was suggested that I weld in a stiffener kit to preserve integrity and prevent future sagging. Is this something that I should do to preserve the car? Even if the car is solid?
Thanks in advance for all comments and suggestions.
Bill.

When I repainted my 74 LE creamsicle I did not repaint the trunks, engine compartment, top of the targa bar & drivers door jamb- they didn't need it. I spent a lot of time cleaning , polishing & waxing them, touching up any scratches, just to keep "the patina". As for stiffening my chassis I have no need w/ only 47k mi. on the car & really have no rust on her.
My 70 is another story & would no doubt benefit from any chassis stiffening along w/ a serious sandblasting

If the car truly is solid and it's only driven on the street, I wouldn't bother with the stiffening kit. If the car starts to sag at some point it's because there's a rust issue that needs to be addressed.

Hi guys,
thanks for the input. My car has 120K miles, but it has been well taken care of by the previous owners. I am inclined to keep the original paint in the jambs, trunks etc... because it is original. Plus there are these little paper stickers here and there that I don't want to lose. Also in the engine compartment there is a sticker just above the relay board that I don't want to lose. So I have been really unsure about painting these areas or not. Your input has helped me to decide to leave these areas untouched, and to really spend some time cleaning the original paint.
With regards to the stiffening kit, I was not to enthusiastic about installing it at this point, so I'll consider it at a later date only if the car needs it.
Thanks again for your suggestions.
Bill.

^^^ Sounds to me like you made a good choice.

My '74 with over 180,000 miles is stiffer than Hugh Hefner with a bottle of Viagra, so I see no need to go that route.

Bill,

PS -
OK, I see what you did before to post this under the O&H's "The Few, the Rare...." nailed topic, which is primarily supposed to be a reference tool. So you could also post this in the Garage Forum where more folks look, and you may get input from the resident paint pros, as well as a gazillion other opines!

If you're planning to do a full down to bare metal "frame-off" typse of resto, then you'll want to definitely strip & reprime/repaint it all over & benefit from better rust preventative treatment.

If you're on going to add to the existing paint to go back to the correct original color, then exterior only may work for you - assuming that the underlying paint is in good shape, but you may want to go on into the jambs and trunk to avoid the blend lines of an outside-only paint job.

A paint pro can advise you on that, and there a a couple of them on here. Hopefully they'll speak up.

O&HForum is probably the place for your question, although I'm surprised that our resident paint & body pros (Scotty B, McMark, Alien, etc.) didn't chime in on the Garage Forum.

Body stiffening is only needed where there is rust or accident damage, and to assess that, you may want to run one of those fiber optic shop cameras down the inside of the longs via the engine bay access points, as well as a good vigorous exterior inspection (see Jeff Bowlsby's classic 914 website for a checklist for buying a 914).



Tom
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Bill--sounds like you made the right choice. Get the outside paint freshened up and DRIVE that baby. You start blasting and disassembling in search of perfection, it will be up on jackstands for the next decade. Really.

As others said, No need for the stiffeners unless rust damage (when then should just be fixed back to stock IMHO), or maybe racing, or both.

Drive. It.

I would suggest pulling the rockers to see what's going on underneath. Especially if you are going for a repaint. Even thought it was well taken care of there still could be globs of stuffed packed in there with that much mileage.

Dave

inspect everything, everywhere. To quote Mr. Young... "rust never sleeps"

Preserve the car? Sell it to me. I'll preserve it at no cost to you, send you photos, and you can drive it once a year. :-)

I have to seriously second the suggestions to take the rockers off. Dirt builds up under them, right by the jack posts. Then the longs rust from the outside under the dirt (ask me how I know).

It isn't hard to take the rockers off. Make sure you don't strip or break the 3 screws on the bottom holding them on, and make sure you use a small enough bit to drill out the rivets, without changing the size of the hole. I think the original rivets were plastic. They are easy to drill out.

Then clean the longs. It is nice to see the original color.

Thanks,
Steve

IF the car is solid, and it CAN be, give up on this "stiffener" thing. That was meant to be at trailing arm stiffener for performance handling.
Look, sounds as if you have a solid performer. Scratch that stupid stiffener unless you are going to compete in driving events.
Are you going to drive in competition events? If not, leave it alone. If so, spend money to make it really competitive. Drive for fun on the street? Leave that alone.
Now, if originality is important to you, I'd recommend respraying the car to the original color.

Now, remember this...those are rocker "COVERS" you've mentioned. There really are no rocker panels on a 914.
When a 914 sags - it's toast. Yours sounds solid. Decide what you want the car to be. Enjoy it for what it is.