We are getting ready to have the little bit of rust in my '71 914-4 fixed. There isn't much rust. The car is in pretty good shape, and was complete when we bought it. Here is the build thread - http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=242895

Just curious on your opinions/experiences:

Should we do a complete, bare metal restoration. (i.e., remove every nut, bolt, wiring, etc.). We would do a complete media blast of the entire chassis, which is attractive.

or

Not remove the suspension, dash, wiring, and work around it. In other words, leave the hard to remove stuff in. With the latter, we would leave a lot of the original paint in the nooks, crannies, etc. But, it would be a lot easier.

I know that many say that you should not do a complete tear down restoration, because most people don't finish them. But, I have the time, and want to do it right. The car isn't one I am planning to sell. It is a keeper.

Opinions?
What are the biggest reasons you see people not finish their complete tear down restorations?
How long did you restoration take? What were the biggest slow downs?

The option is really, should we park the car for a decade, or for three years.

I think three years may be a better choice.

Tearing it all the way down is the best if you're going to change color, but there are so many details and it hard to put a used or worn out part back on that "new" shell so you'll end up hunting parts or detailing the old ones. It is fun.

I kind of went through the same thoughts with my '71. It looked decent enough to just make it a driver but then I decided that once I started driving it I would not want to take it apart down the road if rust surfaced. I ended up going the full blown disassemble and media blast and put it together. We are not to the put it together part yet but all of the rust is now gone and panels have been replaced as needed to make it straight, tight and perfect. Hopefully another year and it is done. Hopefully.

thats why i posed a related question about half a year ago; how long does it take one person to disassemble the car entirely and then give the body to someone else to do the metalwork and paint it, then that lone person later reassembles it. The answer was basically two thousand hours, one-man year, devoting at least 8 hours a day to accomplish the reasembly. so if you are retired and have the right self motivation to work on that car daily basis, 8 hours per day, for at least a year, it is an achievable goal.

Just a heads up... I tore my truck down to the frame, cleaned up the rust on the cab & replaced ALL the other sheet metal & was faced with the issue of putting dirty old parts on the truck. Wound up spending more money than I planned buying new doodads everywhere & screwed up- the truck is now too pretty to use as a truck. Lesson learned

The value of theses cars are going up and in 30 years will be likely showpieces. I would do the full body restoration. Money be damned.

I think your answer depends on your planned use of the car when it is done. If you want a show car or garage queen, then the complete tear down is the way to go. If theres really not much rust and you plan on driving the car regularly, leave the "hard stuff" in place and work around it.

I went with the second option:

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...gon71++progress

I kept finding more rust...so It took me four years, working by myself to produce a solid daily driver.

Keep us posted & good luck!

And buy a second 914 to drive while you do the restoration. Otherwise you'll get discouraged in the second year you'll quit and sell it off for a loss of money and future fun

I have thought about this option a few times! Mine is...well...taken apart right now...

I agree with Sleepin's agreeing with Bill's agreeing with Bob (wait...what?). With one caveat: that's what I'm doing and my daily driver keeps being an attention pig with my time so I neglect my project teener. Some of it is self-inflicted ("hey, I really want to install a CHT gauge this weekend") and some of it is not (e.g., replacing the MC). I guess what I'm saying it's good to have one as a driver, but it can also distract you from the project if you have one that's not really solid to begin with. I guess that's one reason they often take so long

Motivation can be the biggest help. I often find that when I get unmotivated, I need to get a 914 fix somewhere. Once my motivation is back on, it all progresses rather quickly.
I started disassembling mine after RRC 2013. The engine came out, most of the easy stuff came out pretty quickly. Then it sat for 6 months without me touching it. Went to RRC 2014, had some chances to drive and ride in a few, and my motivation came back.
Now it is mostly the money aspect that is slowing me down (new house, 3 kids etc.).
I tore it apart expecting a 5 year build. Not too ambitious, but not a decade. If it gets done sooner, great. If it gets done in 6..well that's just too long. The nice thing about not being in a hurry is that you can shop for deals. The bad part is that I don't have much patience and barely any self control.

That's kind of where I am right now. I better not tell my wife how long this is likely to take if everyone else's experience is a guide...

Took me about a week to break everything down and strip the tub. Got it on a rotisserie and to the sandblaster the next week, got it back in primer from the sandblaster and took it directly to a body guy. He had the car for 2 weeks and it came back to me in paint.

So the short answer is: It can be done quickly...just make sure you have your checkbook handy.

For the above steps, it cost me about $4K. And I think I got one hell of a good deal.

Good point on motivation...and it's the reason it took me four years to finish. I got a bit overwhelmed by the never ending scope of the project more than once and had to step away.

If you don't replace the floor panels and get into the cowl area (besides really getting those longs and making sure there is no rust, spraying a rust convertor, etc...) then you are leaving rust behind in the chassis.

I know I saw a video somewhere of it (Restoration Design?) where they had what looked like a VERY clean 914 chassis but when he took off the floor panels, there was rust all in between them and the rest of the chassis. This is of course driven by our non-treated steel and poor seam sealers used back in the day.

I see lots of stuff to take apart!

The pans on this car are good (we striped out the tar). Cowl? No apparent rust. We have looked quite a bit. But, any advice on where to hunt it down would be greatly appreciated.

Btdt -

Hi Eric,
BTW: BMO went out yesterday.

Back to subject:
I agree, have a 2nd one to drive like Paul B (MI buddy) and plan on,
5-years + to restore to CW condition.
Lots of money & double your estimate.
2,500 min. # of personal man-hours of your time.
Outside services you can't do, budget $5k to $10K depends on your skill level.
Show quality paint is about $15K to $20K in today's market.
My best suggestion is buy one already completed and you will spend 1/2 of what your original budget was.

Personal info.
I did mine about 1990 (completed) when you could buy NOS parts from the dealer, today they are not available unless you use repo parts (good stuff though) so collect the parts first before starting the restoration. I have $20K in my restored 914 and today it would cost $50-$80K in todays costs.
Tom

I did mine in about two and a half years. A total strip and restoration. I did all the metal work, prep, and prime and sent to a shop for paint. The paint took 3 months. Reassembly took about 8 months.

Finally I gave it to Tangerine Racing (Racer Chris and EJM) to sort out my mistakes, and add some bling. I have put about 5000 miles on this summer, from the first real road trip to Hershey this year to learning to autocross.

I am building a six now, but I expect this conversion piece to be about two years as well.

John

That is very helpful. Thanks.

Thank you. All of your comments have been very helpful. It has confirmed what I already suspected. It will take much longer than I thought to do the full restoration.

But, for me, building the car is the most fun part. And, I have other cars I can drive until it is done. Perhaps most importantly, I know that if I don't do the full-blown restoration, as soon as I am finished I will wish I would have. So, it isn't much of a choice. I am planning to do the full shabang.

I am getting the little bit of rust fixed in November. I don't think there will be many surprises there (famous last words, right?). Someone else will do most of the body work and paint. I expect to have the car painted by February 1st. My initial goal was to be done in time for Octeenerfest, which is next September. So, that gives me about 7 months for reassembly, after paint. I know it is unrealistic. But, I work best under pressure.

It seems that reassembly is the part of the project that everyone underestimates (in addition to rust surprises). My main concern is sourcing nuts, bolts, plating things, and stuff like that. The car was complete when I began. So, I have everything, and it is being indexed and organized as I disassemble the car. But, I know I will want new nuts and bolts, plated stuff, etc. Are there sources for this stuff?

Any advice and experiences related to reassembly would be great. I'd love to hear about the things that caused issues in your restorations, so I can try to avoid as many as possible. Maybe I will start another thread specifically for - Full Restoration Major Hurdles.

UPDATE: I started a thread for this type of stuff - http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=244149

Scotty b is doing my bare metal resto, flared conversion car. After a while, I got impatient and bought another 914 to keep me busy. It's a driver that needs some work and will probably be restored once the 6 is done. The 3rd 914 project was spur of the moment purchase but will one day be a subie conversion. Either do a quick fix up on this car or get a driver. It's way more fun to have both than to be onstantly staring at a car on jack stands

Mine was mostly stripped but from the return after media blasting to completion was about 3 years. Nights, weekends and lots of planning.

I have a Boxster to drive (3 days a week or so). I considered buying a 914 DD to play with during the restoration. But, first, my wife may not go for that; and second, I think I might just end up playing around with that car instead of the restoration. I work well with projects with a medium-term goal. So, I will likely just focus on the '71. Unless I come across another car I have to buy, that is :-)

I'll add my 2 coppers, since I have some experience now with this undertaking.

I started my resto planning on fixing the floor pans and the crack in the drivers side long on what I thought was a fairly rust-free car. That was 4 years ago. I'm now in the middle of a complete tear down, handling all of the metal work myself. I'm about to update my thread (http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=115210&pid=1428359&mode=threaded&show=&st=&), but my point is this:

If working on the car is your hobby and not a full-time job, it will probably take you a very, very long time to drive it again. If the objective is just to drive it, maybe you should repair only what's needed. But if the objective is also to enjoy the journey, if, like me, you really like working on this stuff and take pride in finishing it with everything dene just right, go the full resto route.

It's pretty clear mine will take way longer than my most pesimistic estimates, but I don't regret it, since I love working on it.

--Steve