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doug_b_928
I've finally had some time to work on this sawzall-smiley.gif (It took a lot of planning and thinking; even waking up in the middle of the night designing tools to do the job). I think I have the car straight. I'll know better once I get the donor quarters and tail section from the shell I'm getting from Rick.

I made a jig out of threaded rod and couplers. I made it so that I can bolt it to, or remove it from, the bench attachment that supports the rear of the car. Once I had it made, I unbolted the attachment that supports the rear of the car and bolted it to the trans mounts of the another shell that a fellow 914World member has in the city (Many thanks to 914World member Krank!). Then I set the jig per the shell. Then re-installed the jig on my bench.

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I should have used 5/8' threaded rod so it would be much less flexible and more precise, but it served the purpose for me to show me where my car was off. As you can see by looking at the tail section, which is set by the jig and suspended by a rack that I made (I'll also use it for hanging parts to prime and paint), the right side is correct and the left side was low (see how the tail light area is 1.25" low on the left; also note how the tail section is straight relative to the inside of the trunk).

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So, time to do some bending. I had to make a hold down to counter the force of pushing up the left rear. I used vise-grip pliers, with the adapter from my slide hammer, and made a receiver for the chain hook out of a large bolt with the correct fine threads that the slide hammer has and two washers welded to the bolt and to each other. Then chained and anchored to an existing anchor in the floor. It worked perfectly.

I marked measurements on the tops of the inner fenders based on distance from the trunk seal flange at the front of the trunk where it meets the inner fender on each side. I then used a straight piece of metal with a plum bob hanging off of each end, set the piece of metal on a given measurement on both sides, and measured from the piece of metal down to a straight bar resting on the bench. That way I could check the measurement of each side relative to the true bench.

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Then came the porta power.

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The car is now straight. I put some tape on it to assist with seeing some of the lines, but the tape is sagging. This pic is not perfectly square, but it's pretty close. As you can see, everything looks pretty good relative to the bench.

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Finished off with some hammer and dolly work to smooth out the crash damage.

Before straightening

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After

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I'm not going to weld the crack etc. because there will undoubtedly be some adjustment needed once I get the new quarters (I just hope I don't need to make any major adjustments again).

Overall, for my first attempt at doing something like this I'm pleased with the result. Now that this is done I have to undo some of the poorly done repairs from more than 33 years ago before I can start the undoubtedly long process of making my own rust repairs.

76-914
thumb3d.gif This turned out to be quite the project. Nice job! beerchug.gif
doug_b_928
Thanks very much beer3.gif
rick 918-S
Looks like your on track.
doug_b_928
Thanks very much, Rick. Your sage advice has been important to getting this far. Your idea to locate the tail section with the bumper mount holes was brilliant!
defianty
Well done! Great work.
doug_b_928
I spent the weekend at the farm and finally had a chance to cut the portions of the quarters and tail section from the parts car and do an initial fit onto my car. Here is the parts car before cutting the quarters:

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And after removal:

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It will take A LOT of work to make these pieces acceptable, including making new where they mate to the door jam, but the end result will be far better than what I had to begin with.

I'm also going to need to tweak the fitment, but not bad for simply 'cutting and pasting' (after a lot of measuring back and forth):

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And, it appears to me that the straightening, on which I reported earlier in this thread, was effective since the tail section appears to be pretty straight! Here is the update pic.

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There is a lot of work to do before I'll be able to weld these parts to the car, but I'm relieved that it looks like I'll be able to make them work.
bbrock
Holy smoke Doug! How have I missed this thread all this time? I guess I was too busy up to my eyeballs patching rust on my car. Just read the whole thread. Fantastic work! I don't think I could have pulled that off. pray.gif
doug_b_928
QUOTE(bbrock @ Jun 24 2019, 04:50 PM) *

Holy smoke Doug! How have I missed this thread all this time? I guess I was too busy up to my eyeballs patching rust on my car. Just read the whole thread. Fantastic work! I don't think I could have pulled that off. pray.gif


Oh yes you could. And your result would undoubtedly be better than mine!
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