While cutting the damaged rear wall out of my '73 on the rear drivers side I found that the tail light area was filled extensively with body filler and was rusting the metal underneath. Does anyone have any advice on how far forward on the fender I should cut to replace this area. The damage extends to at least the forward edge of the curve of the tail light section.

I have a donor car that I can cut the fender off of as far forward as the area in front of the wheel well, anything forward of that the donor has rust issues.

Please let me know your thoughts

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If you absolutely positively want it done right: http://www.themetalsurgeon.com/

I think what you're seeing there is the foam which Karmann injected into the body cavities of the 914s for sound deadening & supposed rust prevention.

You can find a doc on Jeff Bowlsby's 914 website that shows all the injection points on a body diagram - under his Tech Docs section IIRC.

Most folks pull it out of there & other nooks & crannies when doing a full body resto (or acid dip does it for you).

Have Fun!
Tom
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Your best bet is to grab a sharp screwdriver, a small hammer and just bang away. Wherever you can break through you should replace.

Get the filler off and let's see what your dealing with. Don't be scared, dig it out of there and post a couple photos when your done.

Thanks for sharing the site, Found it interesting that the first photo in the completed projects was a 914.....I will contact these guys.

Thanks for the thoughts guys. I do plan to strip the whole area back to where there is no filler as I know I will get a better idea of what absolutely needs to be taken out. I Guess that will be on the agenda for next weekend after I get back from Long Beach.

I think there should be a seam there that the filler is covering. There are 3 pieces that come together there; the fender, the rear, as well as the inner. Here's a pic of mine to show what's inside, might give you an idea.

Thanks for the visual. Yeah the hack that repaired this one never cleaned it up in any way. That was one of my first clues as to the poor repair was when I found 4 layers of metal where there should only have been 3. I knew the rear wall had been replaced, (very poorly installed). I am able to see where the inner structure had been bent, I believe in a rear end collision, and was never properly straightened, so now I get the dubious job of repairing someone else's crappy repair job.

While I have you though, how did you find all of the spot welds in the channel that holds the trunk gasket? I can't see them from the top and am having a hard time getting at them from inside (underneath) the trunk? I welcome your ideas on how to do this.

Maybe because mine had original paint they were visible as small divots. Sometimes they are hard to see, a piece won't come off. Don't struggle with it, like each weld is imprtant to get. If you do miss one, wiggling the pece out will pull the weld to the pint it will become divoted. Also, if you sand the are, the low spots of the welds should become visible.

I was thinking maybe it would be better that you should cut the donor car so that you can butt weld the pieces in, might be ideal. Plug welding the taillight pieces together could be messy. Maybe get far enough forward so the heat doesn't melt the foam that sits in the corner. like the whole corner welded in as 1 piece with butt welds on the fender, the inner trunk part and the rear as well. Just a thought.

I was thinking of cuttingthe fender at abot the middle of the wheel well and drilling out the welds in the channel although you may be right since there is underlying damage as well.