Of course, I might tap on things a bit more, just to make things more pretty.

Now starting on the rear. Weeks ago, I cut out the badly rusted rear half of the trunk floor, and also the un-rusty rear panel. That was a replacement during a PO repair, not done well. Took some surgery to undo the triple-layer seams on each side.

Here is the left side, looking not bad, except the seam and lower edges.

And here is the lumpy right side. Previous repair work done quickly?

First effort, left side. Almost good.

And right side. Still needs work.

You are a wizard.

Right side done enough for now.

Time to start on the rear panel.

And yes, almost all the work so far has been to repair collision damage that had been repaired before.

Getting back to work, and a real milestone today: actually adding metal (welded the holes and tears in various places before starting to install the front corner splice.

And the first parts of the bracing for the open body. Hoping to get the front and rear done, and the car on the rotisserie by Dec 31.

Completed the interior bracing with some diagonals. Not sure if necessary but my son was having fun with the new TIG welder.

And completed the patches on the right front inner fender splice.

Two steps forward, at least one back!

I knew about this "surprise", with a crappy lap joint in the outer rear fender. I tried to ignore it for as long as possible, but decided to at least see how bad. Only attached on the outer lap with some spot welds and brazing.

Decided to separate, in order to make it right. This also gives me better access to finish work on the inner fender. Pretty easy since the fender was only attached at the lap joint, some brazing around the tail light opening, and one spot of brazing on the top seam.

Yea! Coming along nicely.

Saw your other post about prepping lap welds. Now you've definitely seen the down side of them. Take the time, fix it right with a butt weld.

This has to be a nomination for the worst lap joint. Crude cut left open inside the fender.

My question was more about spot-welded seams, where paint access will be difficult at best.

Here's the front corner mostly welded in place. A few more tweaks and we can finish the butt seam.

Meanwhile, getting started on the rear. First trim and fit for the trunk floor.

And starting the fit for the rear panel. This will need some work.

Right side is looking better, with access after removing the outer fender.

AWESOME
There has got to be some Satisfaction there

Yeah, I do enjoy this. Certainly not doing this for profit!

Got the outer fender cut and fit. A few more tweaks and it should be ready for welding, along with the floor and the rear panel.

And...here's the last dodgy previous repair, where somebody spliced a replacement front panel with a lap joint, just inside of the left head light. Time to fix this.

Only a half-day for xmas, since I want to get as much done as possible during my son's visit.

Working on the dodgy front lap joint, starting with a cut through the overlapping metal.

And a further adjustment and test fit for all the rear pieces--almost ready to start welding. Fits are within about 1/16 inch and alignment looks good with my replacement trunk lid.

Looking better.

My car has been clipped in the front and I'm not thrilled with the way it was done. Unfortunately it won't get done until I decide to paint the car. Too much other work going on right now! At one point they must have been teaching lap welds as the quick and dirty way to fix stuff because I see it done a lot.

The problem is that no one ever saw these cars as worthy of a proper fix and most prior 914 owners back in the day were just too cheap to have it done properly since 914's were NARP.

Times have changed. Keep up the great work.

Thanks. So far, none of the previous repairs meet even my lowest standard. And the lap joint in the rear fender was truly awful, with a jagged, irregular cut along the underlying edge (and nothing to even pretend sealing that inner joint).

Definitely learning as we go, and enjoying having my son do most of the welding.

Got the rear panel and outer fender welds mostly done.

Left side needed a 3/4 inch wide filler for the gap in the raised ridge below the tail light. Looks a bit crude, but will be better after grinding.

Same on the right side, but the gap was only 3/16 inch.

And what was the lap joint in the front panel, now ready for a tidy butt joint weld.

Nice work!

Great to fix things the correct way.

You are making rapid progress.

These cars are worth much more now then they were when new, kind of ironic.

John

Thanks. It is fun indulging my sense of "doing it right", even if my skills are not pro level. And while I do not expect to make money, at least the hole will not be too deep.

Getting the front seam stitched up, along with the horizontal brace (it needs a patch to fill the gap in the center).

Here are the accessory pieces I made for the rear: heavy gauge L-brackets for the bumper mounting holes below the floor, light gauge reinforcements for the holes above the floor, and reinforcing patches for the floor above the rear sway bar brackets.

Bob - you are doing everything right.

It was nice to see the progress in person Friday.

Keep up the great work and let me know if you need another set of hands after your son leaves.

What are the reinforcement pieces for?

John

John, the 1/8 inch thick L-braces are for the bumper mount holes under the trunk floor. They replace original factory braces that were pressed in a design too hard for me to duplicate. I created my own 18 gauge rectangular reinforcement for the upper holes. These have no big hole in the center yet. And the trapezoidal pieces double up the floor above the sway bar brackets that mount on the underside of the trunk floor.

Got the trunk floor welded in, with plug welds all around, and some creative thick beads in the rear corners (these will get ground down).

Lower bumper mount hole reinforcement, using 1/8 inch flat bar to replace the factory L-brace.

And my own additional brace for the upper bumper mount hole, to double the metal and add strength.

And a simple bent strip to bridge the gap between the left and right horizontal braces in the front trunk.

Now the fun part: fabricating brackets from 2 inch square tubing to attache the car to the rotisserie lift using the bumper mount holes. This is the back.

And the front, where greater curvature requires longer stand-off.

Here's the rear, with the horizontal mount from the lift bolted on.

Finally! The car is on the rotisserie lift. This was the big milestone I hoped for, with my son visiting for 2 weeks. His willingness to help, and welding skills, made it possible.

wow @bkrantz you and your son are doing a lot of accomplishment each day! keep up the pace and for sure next summer the car will be on the road. thanks for sharing all the details!

Final steps. First, we detached the suspension--took the front out as one assembly, including the steering rack. Then some final adjustment of the lift, and the car spins nicely onto its side.