Brush or roller?

More work one the trunk lid today, and playing with a new tool kit. This is the pointless dent remover set from Eastwood. It comes with a glue gun, plastic pulling tabs, a hand lever pry thing, small slide hammer (not shown), and tab remover.

Here's a shallow dent in the outer skin, along the leading edge. The inner rib prevents access to the back of this.

So heat the glue gun, apply to tab, stick on to center of dent, and pry away.

Not bad now.

I pulled a few more dents in the outer skin with pretty good results.

I then flipped the lid over and went after some dents in the ribs.

But the hot glue is not strong enough and the pull tabs kept popping off.

I could have done what a PO did, and drill holes for a screw-in puller.

Instead I welded on studs that my big slide hammer can screw on to.

Fist dent came out nicely.

Second dent was going well, and then I pulled too hard!

Got the trunk lid done today. I welded up the hole I tore yesterday, and the old hole from a PO puller repair.

I used the same technique to pull the remaining significant dents in the trunk ribs.

While I had the welder going, I reattached the trunk latch mount inside the rear panel.

Getting close to clearing the list!

On to the next/last bit of significant metal work on the body shell: battery tray and support. Here are the new pieces.

I am still pondering how I want to do this (fully welded, weld in the support and bolt in the tray, other?).

Hmmm. I need to finish my battery tray and engine shelf this week. Was hoping to find some answers to your question too.

I think I am going to fully weld everything. Spot welds around the base.

I am leaning that way, too. I know I will install a sealed battery, and so the risk of acid spill is mush less than the risk of mount failure.

Here are some photos showing how I fitted my battery box.

1) First I welded 3 nuts on some strips and welded those strips to the underside of the battery box. You can then precisely drill the 3 mounting holes in the separate console.
2) The new console can then easily be welded where the old console was. That way you can also weld the inside of the console properly. For the integrity I also made a support to the inner screen.
3) Check whether the battery box can be properly secured with 3 bolts and disassemble the battery box again. Once disassembled both the console and the battery box can be well protected from rust.
Click to view attachment Click to view attachmentClick to view attachment

Thanks--very clever solution. I decided to go old school...

And weld everything in place.

But first I pulled out the battery tray that was on the car. It had plenty of undercoating and other gunk, but the quality of the pressing, the presence of cable tabs, and the red primer makes me think this is a factory replacement part.

The underside is clean, and never welded.

I used some solvent (3M Adhesive Remover seems to work best) to strip off the undercoating.

In fact, this piece was only attached by some epoxy along the edge against the inner fender wall.

I started with the support, with some plug welds into the side of the longitudinal.

And then more plug welds on the side flanges.

Here is the tray clamped in place.

I started with more plug welds from inside the fender through the inner wall into the edge of the tray.

And then finished up with welding the under side of the tray. Again, having the rotisserie to turn the car upside down made this easier.

The list is almost done!

Nice job by the way it’s looking really nice work

Thanks, Tman.

No 914 work today, but when I took my 991 out for a drive before changing the oil, I noticed this view.

I noticed all the bikes on the wall. And bike wheels/tires hanging from the rafters. Ha

I do NOT have a bike problem--maybe a storage problem. Plus S has 4 bikes on the other side of the garage. And we have some bikes stashed at our son's place in Tucson.

I worked on the targa hoop top today, to remove a shallow (max 3/32") dent on the left side. I got out the paintless dent remover kit again. I did about a dozen pulls in different locations.

One more shot of my list.

Your garage door thanks you!

And I don't have to listen to the squealing guide wheels!

And so on to the last big chore on the body shell: grinding all the welds that I left behind everywhere.

Here's a start, inside the front right fender.

Bob, I love your thread and use it daily to guide me on parts of my resto. What is your plan after you’re done with all the metal work? Are you going to have the whole tub media blasted and primed before doing finish body work and paint? If you’re planning to send the car out for blasting and prime/paint, will you deliver the car on (or with) the rotisserie? Appreciate any advice you or others have on these questions.

Thanks, Aaron. I have a plan worked out with a local custom body and paint shop. I will finish up the last metal work, and maybe tweak some of the bent panels a bit more. And at that point the shop with take over and do stripping, and final metal work, final prep, primer, and paint. The shop does want to use the rotisserie, as well as a dolly I can borrow from another 914Worlder (thanks, Mike!).

Happy to help get another 914 on the road here in Durango!

Another bit of progress today. This does not look like much, doing some touch-up welding on the engine compartment rubber seal channel. But this is the last welding job on the list!

Simply amazing! That whiteboard is two years of work and you cranked through it without cutting corners in what... 9 months?

Back to the festival of weld grinding. It does make the plug welds a bit less obvious.

Inside the RR fender.

Along the front panel lower seam.