I did not find any holes in the longs, but the rear floor pans and lower firewall (inner and outer) are shot. I removed the tar from the rest of the floor and the front floor pans look good. This pic is the passenger rear floor pan.

tabby

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thats how my floor looked...tore it apart one week (borrowed a car) fab'd panels to repair (with help) and welded evrything together.

Now mostly back together and I'm driving it everyday!

In SoCal that's a car!

Actually it's fairly fixable if the longs are good and solid. Definitely upgrade to the engman kit for added strength, especially if you're repairing the floor near the firewall.

I plan on adding the kit for sure.

do you think I can cut the floor out with those pink scissors? Or are they abit too girly

It doesnt look too bad really, I have seen much worse. They sell replacement panels for that if you really wanted to do it right or you could just weld in some home made replacement panels. I agree on the engman inner long kit to strengthen it.

Nice pink scissors btw, it's very girl like

The problem I see is the upper firewall. That means the hell holes are toast.

Anything is fixable. Just takes dilligence, patience, money, metal and a welder.

Hey it matches my tool bag

Check it out...

see those pinholes?

I could reach my HAND and maybe my face into the hole that was in my car!!!

wow! I got this as a parts car and was hoping it was rebuildable. It's pretty much a complete 2.0L, missing a front bumper and needs a new hood.

I know this question is really open ended, but say you took that car to a local P-car experienced body shop that fixed it the "right" way, how much would they charge?

Say new rear floor, firewall, passenger long, weld in the engman kit.

We talking $1000 in labor or a few GGss.

What gauge metal should I use for the rear lower firewall around where the clutch tube goes through?

i used 22ga...but i welded it up very well....

I have no idea but if you're looking to have that done Yarin give Chris Foley a call . . . his wok is excellent and he could probably give you a pretty good estimate off the top of his head.


Tabby, I'd just cut out the rust and make some patch panels. Or you can buy the rear floorpan section for about $150-200 from RD or a bunch of other suppliers. I'm sure AA has it. Check out the hell hole before you start, my car had that firewall rust but the hell hole was perfectly solid. Like Brit said, the amount of rust you have could be fixed in a weekend with metal and the right tools and then be as good as new (or probably better with an Engman kit).

I'd use 18-20 gauge there probably (maybe even 16, depending on how thick it is). Some people may object to this opinion, but unless you are going concours, using thicker metal on semi-structural parts like that is not a problem. No one will ever know.

You might wanna have a good close squint at the bottom edges of the tunnel while you're at it....and the floor crossmember...and definitely the hellhole. Mine looked more or less like yours in the rear floors, but I wound up changing everything from the pedal cluster back. The tinworm is nefarious. And thorough. Who says cars don't rust in CA?

I can come by one day and give you my opinion on this in person.

I am always happy to help out another 914 owner....

I agree....I wished I had used 16 on those panels too.

I am in the process of restoring a rust bucket that was worse than that. It is doable but mine has been very labor intensive even with the car on the rotisserie. My rear outer firewall was beyond toast. I replaced it and all the tubes in the tunnel. It can get overwhelming. Look at the tunnel and the Hell hole. Do you have any pictures of the firewall? If this is the worst you have defiantly go for it.

Here's the center and the left side of the lower firewall - engine bay side.


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that center firewall is wasted - find another tub - jim

Thanks Clay! I appreciate the offer. I'm probably taking it over to Richard Fisher this weekend and have him take a look.

OMG

that tub is bad even for a east coast standard....

On a positive note, the J boot around the wire harness looks pretty good. Gonna take a lot of this.

Here are the front floor pans with the tar removed and the longs. Very little rust here and on the rest of the car. The lack of rust everywhere other than the firewall and the rear floor pan is why I would even consider taking on this project.

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Maybe find a donor car that has a MUCH better firewall. Cut the bad one out. Weld the new one in.

that looks awesome

I envy you

BTW, it only took me all of 30 minutes to less than an hour to take all that tar out.

Guess how I did it.

Restoration Design Part #13 $125 Part #12 $60
Buy new fire walls for $200 and do it right. From the looks of that car it should be done correct for very little money. If it was really bad then I would suggest making your own parts (like I just did) that car just looks to damn good not to put manufactured parts back into it.

well:

dry-ice
heat
elbow grease
or soaking in old oil

OR lots and lots of carb cleaner

did I win

Heat won. I used a hot plate used for stripping paint off houses.

Nice!

Those tar pads were good at the time, but certinaly cause problems 30+ years later...