And then ground then down flush.

Time to fit the replacement strips. I made these from heavier 18 gauge so they better the original double thickness.

Both pieces welded in place.

Ground down to smooth and almost pretty.

The channel is back to solid metal.

Well, that's it. All bent and rusty metal (that I know about--cross fingers) removed and replaced. 3 different lists completed. Here's the last one.

I have been busy with my annual battle with mice in the crawl space under my house, and building a short section of fence between my garage and street, party to screen all the utilities on the wall that is the "front" of the house.

The fence also creates a place to hide junk over-flowing from garage and yard.

Now that those other chores are nearly done, back to 914 work. Coming soon: bumpers!

Good to see your progress. lots of work

@bkrantz What do you plan for the bumpers? Chrome or painting them?

I want chrome. TBD if I can get these refinished.

Working on the rear bumper today.

Here's how the PO filled the towing eye hole, with a sheet metal patch brazed on the inside.

After some grinding to clear up the hole. Looks a bit ragged.

This is a chrome bumper, but the PO attacked it with sandpaper before painting it black.

The rear bumper has a few minor dings but is in good shape overall.

The front bumper also looked pretty good--at first.

The right side has some issues.

How about a custom dog bone--half thickness?

The corner contour looked OK...

But after a big of work with the wire wheel, surprise! That's about 1/2 inch of bondo.

The inside also shows how the fender got crimped.

After removing the rest of the bondo, it looks pretty ugly.

Hi Bob,

I "might" have a set of bumpers for you. They were painted body color when I bought the car - but there is usually a reason they got painted.

Let me know if you want to have a look.

Yes please!

Today, I remember to strip the engine lid (torsion bars, latch peg)--and also made sure it had no surprises.

Spent a few frustrating hours working on the front bumper end today.

Here is how much the end profile is off, compared to the other side.

The inside view shows the severe crimping.

I used my press to try to unfold some of the damage, with partial success.

I got the profile a bit better, but still off.

After an hour with hammer and dolly and other tools. Still some severely folded bits that do not want to cooperate.

This will talk more work to get the profile close enough, and then maybe it can be pretty.

I had better luck working the front bumper today. Lots of twisting and banging, with the bumper braced in different configurations.

The first achievement was getting the horizontal top recess edge, where the rubber cap edge sits, back close to a straight line. The line past the bend will need more work.

Next, I went back to working the curve profile, when seen from above.

First attempt looks a bit better.

Another round with the hammers, and the profile is almost there.

The face is still lumpy, but that will come later.

I took a break from bumper work to fabricate the bracket that supports the center of the rear bumper cap. Here is the layout.

And the finished part. I will weld this on once the car is off the rotisserie, for better access.

Bob,

I got 5 bumpers out of storage. Feel free to stop by and take a look at them. I have 2 unmolested (still chrome) rear bumpers.

Thanks, Mike--very good to have friends, especially friends with 914s (and 914 parts).

A minor detour to work on the 914 dolly loaned to me by Kansas 914. He invited me to add some braces for the posts. I found that the existing pegs on top of the posts did not fit the jack point donuts on my car, so I decided to re-engineer those and make the fit adjustable.

Here are the new post caps with a 1/2 inch hole.

And the inserts that have 1/2 pegs and 3/4 inch pegs (for the donuts). The height of the inserts can be raised with washers.

The pegs are offset so by rotating the distances between pegs on all 4 posts can be altered a bit.

Angled braces for the corner posts.

Finished product.

Nice work on the dolly - well done!

Nice engineering and nice welding (stick, no less).

Right ,,Great Hard Work and Skills,,,Oh... Here have a bumper... and a cart
Workers Matter

The credit for (good) welding goes to my son, who has actual training and skills.

But I get the design credit!