Hope everyone had a good Holiday and a good start to the new year.

The new PMB oil cooler and the front screen from SMC have arrived. Did a quick test fit of things. I like how the PMB oil cooler fits vs the Setrab cooler so I'm gonna run the PMB cooler now. I had planned on installing some fans behind the oil cooler and have a mount that fits the Setrab. Looks like I'll have to come up with another mount for the PMB cooler now. Things are tight under the cooler shroud but I should be able to make things fit.

Looks cool, is there an ETA with this project?

Hi John,

Well, my plan is to get all of the major repairs done between now and May/June of this year. Hopefully sooner if things go my way. Then I'll have the chassis blasted and epoxy primed. Once that's done, I'll tackle whatever else that may come up during the blasting. I also need to get on my paint guy's schedule so he can do what he needs to do as well. With that said, you know how life goes and scheduling things with other vendors. Hopefully by the end of this year I'll be installing parts and driving by next summer. At least that's my plan for now.


Stay warm and keep the snow in Buffalo.
We already got about two feet of snow so we don't need anymore here.

Well looks like my work load has grown a little more now. In checking the drivers side long and rockers I found more rust issues. Looks like I'll need to replace the inner rocker, door sill, a portion of the door post (maybe the whole thing like the pass side), jack plate, rear Q-panel, and some other small metal sections.

Started by removing the rear Q-panel. looks rough behind the targa section. I'm glad I'm doing this now vs after paint..

Finished removing the rear q-panel and started digging into the long.

Back at here, I cutout the outer rocker and the jack post. I found a bunch of rust, sand and dirt stuck back inside the long. I'm thinking I may get out my portable sand blasting gun and blasting the inside of the long. I guess it was a good thing that I'm into this side as well. Just saved myself a headache down the road.
I had an old RD pass side section left over from my brothers repairs so I ended up dissecting it for parts. I made a new jack post and inner support. Test fitted things and all looks good. I'll tackle the door post section this weekend. I may end up removing the left front fender and door post as well. I'll sleep on that one for a few days.

Hey Luke
Better to act now than have to go back in later.
Your equipment, energy and determination are fantastic.
Keep up the good work.
Soon enough you'll look back and miss these seemingly endless tasks.

Hi Rory,

I looked at the drivers side for a few days before I took any action. Once I knew what needed to be cut out I just went at it. I have most of the metal on hand to get the repair done. I'll need a left nos targa reinforcement panel which seams to be pretty scarce now a days. I'll have to see if any of the West coast people have a parts car with that good section. As of now I may need to remove the left front fender and door post. I have the replacement panels but I recall how much of a PIA it was to re-install the door post on the right side. I know there's some rusted out sections behind the lower door post so I may not have much of a choice if I want to do this repair correctly.

(See my WTB ad on the targa reinforcement)

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=377329

Cool, you have a NOS sil with the correct triangle supports pre-welded. I was going to offer you a set of left side triangle supports I made. The RD ones are right side only. I made a jig to make a set of left side supports for Ben's 6 when I did his repair several years ago. You car is coming along nicely.

Hey Luke, in response to your PM. Here are are the RD right and the left side one I made.

Click to view attachment

I went through the same thing with a Peterson oil tank and I ran Porsche lines that flow better than AN-12... here is some pics..
Basically buy -12 male with 30x1.5 and cut the taper off ,,and I borred mine to .750... while I was wtf.. I made the welded one, to move forward..
I found the
-12an male - 30mm x1.5 Colse Out $4 a piece..and modified em.. the taper isn't per Porsche ..does seem to seal and be tight.. or you could shorten em and cut correct taper....Im tired..

Thanks for the info. I found a guy over on Pelican that can make me some new fittings.
He has it on his job list to do for me.

ya
I couldn't waite.. but when he comes through lmk ..

Removed the front fender, and door post. Figured this was gonna be the easiest way out of this whole mess vs making and fitting patches. I'll need to fab up a lower patch for the inner fender and get it welded in. First a whole lot of drilling and grinding spot welds.

After metalwork is done, Blast or chemical dip & e-coat or something else? Just curious.

Hi Mark,

I'm planning on having the chassis blasted then epoxy painted.
I'm thinking that I'll have that done prior to installing any of the fenders/Q-panels.
From there I'll fix anything that may come up from blasting, seam seal, then may have the lower section of the chassis sprayed with undercoating or bed liner of sorts. My brother used bed liner on his chassis and it seamed to come out pretty good. After all that whatever the paint guy does which I think is some type of primer/sealer, paint, then clear. I'd have to reach out to him and ask but he's a snowbird and in the south til April/May. He sold his collision shop here and does a few paint jobs a year on the side now. I just need to be all done with my end of the work before I can get on his schedule. When I saw him last fall he already had two cars booked and usually does between four to six and then he's done for the year. I need to get to it and knock this work out as fast as I can. I'd like to be ready for paint by late summer or early fall if all possible. I don't see that being too difficult to accomplish as long as I don't hit any major snags along the way. I have some family stuff going on today but plan on doing a few more things later this afternoon.

I am not sure what you have planned but I would suggest building the car from the fixed panels forward. In other words, back of the car to the front. Once the quarter panels are fitted whether attached with Clecos, drill screws or welded, you will have an easier time aligning the hinge post to ensure a height and alignment to the quarter panel for the gap. Just my 5 cents.

Hi Rick,

I struggled doing that part when I installed the pass side long and post. I have a plan in mind going forward. All panels will go on temperately then get removed again. Just like you said to make sure all the gaps are good. Oh and thanks for the pic of the triangle. I thought that's what you meant. So, I'm running Ben's SS oil lines down the drivers side and I'll need to trim the triangles off anyways. I may just not butcher this NOS part and get a RD part for this side. I'll test fit things then decide. RD isn't too far from me so usually have the parts in hand within four days. What I messed up on was not adding the RD frame stiffener on the pass side when I originally did that side. I plan on adding that to the drivers side once I have everything set in place. I thought about adding the Mad Dog inner stiffener kit but I like the RD version better.

Got a few things done over the weekend and today. Mainly lots of drilling spot welds and grinding surfaces flat. I test fitted some panels which had to be adjusted but fit well now. Threw on the rear Q-panel.... Just for you Rick

Hey man, how do you eat an Elephant?

Love seeing another 914 VIN being saved. Looking good!

moving a pebble at a time

we must really love the #&%@* from these projects

Keep it going Luke, the end is out there somewhere and looking great along the way

Definitely love this!
Man, the fixtures!

If it wasn't for these fixtures and bench there's no way I would've attempted all this work on my own. I would've had to farm out that portion of the repairs. Having the correct tools and knowledge is key in any major repairs. It's still taking forever to complete but slowly getting there. I'm gonna try and see if I can blast the rust off the inner long then spray some epoxy/east wood frame sealer inside. I'm going to try my best to see if I can close things up by end of next week.

Did a little cleaning up and tested fitted the front fenders and rear q-panels. So far everything seams to be lining up just fine. I need to dig out the drivers door and prep that to test fit. I also need to install the NOS front lid which is kinda hard to do on my own but otherwise it looks like a 914 again.

Great progress Luke.

Removed the targa reinforcement panel and cleaned up the underside. Just prepping this area so when the NOS panel shows up I can install it. I tried to sand blast the inner long and man did it start to make a huge mess . I just stopped and decided that I need to do this part outside. The weather here is still hit or miss so I'll have to wait until a nice sunny/dry day is in the forecast. I can drag the bench out and give it another try and see how that goes. Unless someone has another idea on how to get rid of the rust inside the long.

I spayed citric acid using a sprinkler head and a small amazon water fountain submersible pump. Then I neutralize it with baking soda/water.
My acid mixture is mild so the progress happens over the course of 24-48 hours.

The difficult part can be the manage the fluid path and get it back in the bin. I use a blue tarp contraption. It worked ok on the driver’s side. I plan on doing it on the passenger side soon. I also use it to de-rust individual parts.

I have pictures in my thread. I can check my acid/water ratio in my notes later if you want.

McGiver dialed to 11! Yea, this i got to see; link?

I looked at the inner long and inner fender a little better today. It looks like there's rust under the inner support sections. You can see the wavy sections which is rust pushing the brace up. I poked around a little and there's several spots that need attention. So can anyone guess what's next on my never ending to do list.

Hate to be the bearer, but that has to go.

Yeah...

But the good news is you have all of these amazing NOS sheetmetal parts to properly fix it!

Exactly, how can one guy have all this cool NOS stuff?

more than a bit envious

It took years and a lot of work to track down all of these NOS parts. Some parts came from around the States and others from all over the world. As you can see I'm putting them to use and there's nothing better then NOS. I don't want to add up how much money I have invested in these parts but I may once I finish installing them. I did track down a few more NOS item. They're on the way to me and more then likely will end up on this build.

Today we got a little break from this winter weather. It got to 70 and sunny for a whole 4 hours. I took advantage of it and blasted the inner fender. I used up all the sand that I had on hand and just in time for the rain storm to roll in. I'll have to get more sand so I can blast the long section. Once I have all my metal prepped I'll start cutting out the bad sections.

Since the weather is cooperating here I started to blast all of the new metal. The left long, rear inner fender, door post, and door threshold sill are done. Then moved to making up a new patch for under the door post. I'm almost done with it. I need to trim and make the notch at the bottom for the water drain. I should have it done tomorrow.
Then the fun starts, I'll start cutting into the chassis to remove the left long and rear inner fender.

Finished the patch for most part. It'll need some fine trimming when it's all installed.
Test fitted with the door post and inner rocker. Then moved on to cutting out the long.
I stopped before I hit the firewall. I noticed that once I cut the rear inner fender off I won't have anything supporting the targa cross beam or anything to stabilize the left side of the chassis. I'll have to fab up some braces in the morning before I can continue cutting. I know the chassis jigs hold things together pretty well but a few extra supports never hurts. I have a bunch of other metal on order so that's holding me up a little too.

Made the firewall to trunk brace then installed my old cross brace from when I installed the right long. Ready to start cutting now.

can we call this "jigging"

very impressive

Love the “space frame”!

Daily updates, very envious!
Let’s get to the clean metal!

Getting there. I'll have to get into the engine bay and work now.

Quick question for the people out there that have been in the targa area for repairs.
The factory installed what appears to be a foam like material along the seam which I have circled in the pic. That foam seal would keep dirt and whatnot from getting past that lip and farther up into the targa. What have you been using in this area if anything?

Nothing. It collects water. Same with all the other foam injected parts on the car like the rear of the quarters. In theory, yes, it would keep water from getting in but over time it cracked and let in moisture. I’m betting you aren’t daily driving the car or storing it outside. In my opinion, good prep and paint is all you need.

I too like Mark’s approach. Only way for moisture to dry is to aerate. I plan on leaving this area open.
Another area is the front fender to cowling where that rubber trim fits in. I think this should have some kind of drain instead of being “sealed”.

I’m just leaving mine unglued. The (hopefully) rare times that it gets wet, I’ll just pull out the seal and dry it up. Even if you glue it down, the lack of daily driving and leaving it outside will probably prevent any rust from ever forming.

I did one of these repairs a couple years ago, looking back I might consider sealing this area with silicone. Leaving it open could cause issues with crap collecting up there from debris thrown up from the rear tires

Approx dimension of this area? 14" x 1 1/2"

Hi John,

That's why I'm asking. Even though my factory panel was sealed a bunch of dirt and road grime got all up inside that area. When I removed my Q-panel I found it was loaded with all kinds of crap. I just want to prevent things from getting up between the inner panel and Q-panel. I plan to seam seal that area well but not like the factory did.
I want to be able to get a water hose up in there and flush out whatever road grime gets there. There's road grime inside my targa cross panel as well. I'm not even sure how that happened but I know it wasn't from me. There's a few people that I'm going to reach out to see what Kent did on their cars.

Would it be reasonable to leave it open and instead of flushing with water, hit it with high pressure air from a compressor every once in a while. It might not get it squeaky clean but get it clean enough.

Hi Mark,

On my brothers 914 I did not add a seal in this area and still question if I should have. My concern is crap getting up high and into the targa cross brace then down the other side. If one cleans out this area on a regular then it may not be an issue. I would just like to know what others have done. If need be I can add a rubber weather like strip down that section. I'm waiting for some metal to arrive so I can wrap that whole section up. I have sometime to figure it out.

My gut tells me to seal it off and keep water/debris from getting inside the cavity