So back in December just before the first (of many) snow storms I put away the car and decided to pull off the outter rockers and clean the years of road debris. Beneath the 30+ years of dirt there was some considerable rust through. My first 914 (a typical new england swiss cheese car) died a terrible deat from the dreaded red plague. I was determined not to let the same happen to this one! After reading about everyone elses repair project (by the way this club rocks!) I figured that it's time for me to jump in, after all how hard can it be, right? Since the winter is about 6 months long around here, I'll have plenty of time to cut and weld with no distractions (one of the few pluses of being a car guy in the NE).



I decided to start with the passenger side. Here is what I started with.

The more I cut the more rust I found...

This is what it looked like when I finished cutting.

I took out part of the door jam and threshold off to give myself access to the top of the jack support.

While I was in there I figured I'd repair the small section of the floor that was fiberglassed by the previous owner. Well as usual there was more rust than expected... The more I cut the more I found.

At least the hell hole looks good. How many people actuall get to look inside their longs? Not sure that's really something to be proud of though.

At least they looked pretty good. Just a little surface rust.

Got in there and cleaned as best I could then got a spray gun with a long wand and shot the whole inside with por15.

adsfsa

Now that everything was cleaned up I was ready to start making the floor pan sections and patch for the rocker. Expert metal worker I am not. But the sections came out pretty well considering I used the side of my bench as a sheetmetal break! A little and and more much more

Finally I was done. I had to make the floor in 2 sections because I just couldn't bend the entire length.

adsfdsf

Thumbs up dude
You wil have a rust free car in no time.
You rock
Cheers
Joe

Here's the rocker patch I made.

Here's the floor patch and the rocker patch welded in.

The floor section completed. Still have to grind a few more welds.

Thanks for the words of encouragement Joe! It's so tough to find totally rust free cars, especially here in Massachusetts. I can't wait to get her back on the road this spring!

Last one for tonight...

The welds ground and the jack post welded on.

Headed back to the garage tomorrow...once I get this side done I still have the drivers side that's just as bad. At lease I know what I'm in for...I think.

Hopefull this post will inspire someone else to tackle their repairs just like all the previous posts did for me!




-Rob

Nice work! Kind of fun isn't it?

Check my blog for similar work.

It's been a while since I last updated this thread. Here are some of the pictures from a few weeks ago. I have almost completed the drivers side repair (the rust was worse) but unfortunately I didn't photograph that side much at all. It's a lot of work! At least the car will be solid and ready for the summer! I'm really itchin for some 914 driving time now that the spring weather is here.

This pic is of test fitting the jack post support.

Here is the passenger side support prior to being welded on.

Here it is welded on with seam sealer and a quick coat of primer to prevent rust. I have to clean those dirty longs, sand and repaint them.

kick ass dude!! looking great!

I'm about to have to do this very thing... (on the front of the long too) I needed this for a "how to"

what kind of metal did you use for the patch?

how are you going to fix the door Jamb ?

I used 18 gauge sheet metal. From what I read that is pretty close to what was originally used on the rockers. It was a little thicker than the original floor pan material but hey, it's what I had and what went in there.

The door jam, I drilled out the spot welds and used a thin cut off wheel. Just be careful with the parts you cut out cause they are going to go back in. I was able to weld up the spot welds and stich the seam. There was a little distortion but a thin layer of filler fixed that. It was either cut in the door jam or the fender...Glad I opted for the jam. Nobody sees that when the doors are closed anyway.

Good luck with the repairs!