Hi All,

I have just bought a 914 in Australia that has the non-appearance group look, with body-coloured sail area and Targa roof. I am going to add the appearance group vinyl to the sails area and am wanting to change the current smooth body-coloured Targa roof to the matte black look.

Can anyone advise me of the treatment to apply to the Targa roof section to achieve the factory stippled look? Is it stone guard as per the treatment applied to early 911 sills?? Is it just a standard matte black paint or is there a paint code colour/brand?

Cheers

Craig

The targa is made from textured fiberglass. The underside also has some texture but the appearance is smoother in nature. It has always seemed to me that the texture was cast into the piece rather than applied as a coating. If your painted top is smooth, it was probably sanded down and or filled in with bondo to make it smooth. It would probably be simplest to start with a new shell, perhaps more cost effective too. Adding more coatings and finishes to yours would add more weight and maybe even lead to crazing in the future.

A solution could be to use "wrinkle paint" in a spray can. You cannot control the drying pattern except by the spray pattern and a vary warm sun to dry it. You may have to spray it several times to get the pattern you want and in one direction. Experiment to see if you like it.

Prep work is the same as normal painting.

My early Alfa Romeos had wrinkle painted over metal which I liked.

Hope this helps.

Steve Hurt

I have a couple of tops, so I had a local shop (Yeaman's Auto Body) experiment with one. It was a painful process that took six months and at least four different attempts but the end result looks great, not quite perfect, but it's very close to the original finish.

The shop used a Wurth product and also a special gun from Wurth to achieve the finish. You could contact Scott Yeaman and see if he'll share the process ... he's in East Palo Alto, California.

Click to view attachment

Wow, that hat looks great. How much to have Scott shoot one?

If you have a dealer that sprays truck beds, you might consider getting it done that way. Extremely durable.

Here is mine. There is sun reflection in this earlier picture and after a year it has kinda lost its sheen which is good.

I had mine done by Line-X and there is one in Australia but it might too far from you.

51 Brant Road Kelmscott WA
PO Box 66
Kelmscott WA 6991

How flat or gloss was a new roof? Polished shoe polish look is the most gloss I've seen.

Stone guard.

Wurth underbody shutz is the most common aftermarket way to get the proper texture for the top - as well as for the rockers & F & R valences & belly pans/wheel wells - for as close to the factory finish as possible.

No - the targa top was not a rough finished FG (molds were smooth so FG finish would be too), but a "heavy eggshell" applied with the same undercoating rock guard as on the belly pans & wheel wells, rockers & valences at the factory, the satin black over all but the bellies/wells - which were body color. .... & the "shoe polish" finish noted above is too shiny.

Top & rocker/valences finish was a satin to semi-flat finish - never shiny until someone polished it &/or it wore smooth over the years.

There are some older how to posts in Originality & History Forum on getting the finish if you search there - & the rockers/valances method would be about the same. IIRC Pat Garvey had one of the best ones.

... or take Dave's advice & call Marty!

Good Luck & Cheers Mate!
Tom T
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Thanks guys, yes I am more leaning towards the Wurth product that have used on the sills of my old 911 previously.

I have contacted Sierra Madre re: the apperance group vinyl and trim for the sails/rollbar. Where else would you guys suggest? Am in Australia so doesn't really matter what side of the States it comes from, will still be stung heavily with postage big time (and exchange rates)!!!

Cheers

Craig

Hey Craig,
914rubber has the vinyl too.

Where in Australia are you?
Cheers Marty

I believe it was about $250 to $300 ... somewhere in that range, but it's been over a year since I had it done. Call Yeaman's for updated pricing. I had a second top done and it's pretty much flawless, so I think Yeaman's has perfected the process.

Awesome. Thanks.

What kind of prep work do you need to do to the top?

Nothing really. The one you see in the picture had a U.S. quarter size chunk missing off the back edge. Yeaman's fixed that, sanded the finish smooth, and then shot it with the Wurth paint gun. As I recall with this one, the only color they could get was dark gray, so they then painted it black and finally added a semi-matte clear coat over the whole thing.

Scott told me the key thing was getting the gun to spit out the texture correctly and they experimented with several different guns and settings till they found the right combination that worked. Even then, he said the drying process had to be carefully monitored because small "pinholes" would develop in the finish if they didn't get the temperature just right.