Chris,

Great looking work. Your resto thread ranks with the best of them.

Were you a novice at welding before you started? That is a skill you must have to do the work you are doing.

My real question is do you think you should have used a rotisserie? If I were ever attempt a project like yours, I know my back (herniated disc) wouldn't be up to the squatting, crawling, bending, etc. of working under the car. I know a rotisserie doesn't make the project easy, but access is much improved. And once you finish I assume there will always be someone out there that wants a rotisserie for their project.

Charlie,

Are these the new flared factory replicas from Automobile Atlanta that George was telling us about. If so, how is the quality? Straight, square, symmetrical? I haven't heard anyone comment on them yet. Thanks.

No question about it, looking back if I knew then what I know now I would have made a rotisserie. I am too old for this s*** is what I think when I am on my back trying to get things done.

I have the AA flares, they are pretty good although one side is shorter than the other. I need to trim the excess and do a final fit check, will post pics.

I think the aa flares are pretty good but they damn sure don't fall in place. I got my flares and rockers about a year ago. The rockers are nowhere near a good fit with the bulges on the flares. It takes a lot of imagination to figgure out how to make the transition of the steel flare make a smooth joint with the rocker. Under the quarter and bottom of the door is the 45 edge that the flares don't have so it's f*****g magic at the bottom of the flare. The rocker has way too much sticking out to fit the flare of the steel.

I think George covered this on his flare how to instructions.

Thats why they call it sheetmetal work I guess. And fg work.

I find myself now looking at every picture of a flared car I come across to see how that particular car's rocker fit's.

I will be using the same welder on the same part of the floorpans. I have no wire welding experience - so if can pick your brain a little...

Do you remember amperage and wire feed speed? I need a starting place.

Your project continues educate and inspire!

Cheers!

Hi Mike

Hope this is of some use, I wrote some settings down but the scrap of paper is nowhere to be found. For 80% of the time setting B between 4 and 6 will suffice, same wire speed in setting C will be needed to bite into the longs. I occasionally use A on a higher wire speed when the metal gets thin.

For welding upside down you will need a higher wire speed than if welding in a more normal position.

Hope that is of some use, good luck with your project and post pics for the rest of use to see your handywork!

Starting to make some progress again, our track day was a blast and you can see pics here if you are interested. Also tiling the bathroom so nearly done there (or at least good enough to be allowed back into the garage .....).

Got some more parts back from the platers

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Pressed the wheel bearings in, forgot to tell the powder coater NOT to paint in the shock bolt hole ... someone at work is reaming that out and then I can press in the hubs and new bushings

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Talking about bushings I just finished tweaking these to fit, many thanks to Eric for parts and advice as and when needed, awesome service. I rebuilt the rear brakes just need to save up for the V caliper kit

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With the shock bolt holes cleared of powder coat I pressed in the 5 bolt hubs with the use of some 3/8" thread plus nuts and washers. Also placed the hubs in the freezer to assist with the effort.

Greased the bushings and put those in also, I need to drill and tap for zerks but could not find the ones I wanted locally so will have to wait for my next McMaster order.

Anyway another minor project complete, these go to the basement to await fitting to the chassis at some (hopefully not too distant) date.

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Nothing major today as I started to re-organize a bit, I decided it is time I started making a parts list. Up to this point I have been winging it, not quite sure why but one reason could be I don't want to get distracted by the $$. I have some big ticket items (Koni shocks, front sway bar and wheels/tires) coming up but got to face the facts sooner or later. My spreadsheet is growing ....

I dismantled the axles, it was a messy job but now have the CV joints bagged and ready for cleaning and re-greasing at a later date.

Earlier in this thread somone had mentioned that a carbide burr would be a good idea so on my last Mcmaster order I bought one, now I wonder how I did without it. For cleaning up in those hard to reach places this thing rocks.

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I used it to great effect to remove the remanents of the jack post welds, I was going to do the delete thing but decided I would put them back in. I had to weld a plate over the recess where the tube locates on the drivers side, the following is a picture from Richard's site which was very useful.

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I removed 7mm from the post and welded it in place.

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Passenger side was easier although this pic came out looking like it is askew but it looks alright to the naked eye, honest.

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Decided to use up some of my POR-15 stock to treat the area which will be sealed off. Now for the surpise part, with the tube located into position the cover plate will no longer fit over the tube and against the chassis rail .... this was a good point to go take a break and watch the British GP.

Rather than use a BFH (tempting) I cut two small diagonal slits on the cover plate and bent the area out temporarily to allow the plate to fit, with the cover screwed into place a tap with a screwdriver and hammer and all is good. I can weld up the slits when I weld the plate into place tomorrow.

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Finished up the welds on the jack posts, apart from some minor issues on getting a nice weld on the tube these went on OK. Took a shot of the inside of the wheel well so you can how flush this part sits, nice.

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I also welded the front sway bar supports in place, note to self, do a better job of cleaning weld thru primer from the area.

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I boughts some Etch Primer and Tri Primer for the interior a while ago, yesterday I rolled the car out into the fresh air and cleaned the wheel wells and used compressed air to blow the accummulated dust out from everywhere. With that done the interior was in a better state to be worked on.

Etch Primer (one coat as it used the whole can).

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And then the tri-coat, 'all' this needs is some sanding and then color ....

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This summer sure has flown by, trying to finish up the underside and my next goal is to get the rear suspension together and then the front ... then maybe get this project onto some wheels.

Same process on the rear as the rest, epoxy primer, seam sealant, epoxy primer and then underseal. My last can of underseal didn't quite do the job so need to go get another can Monday, bummer, as I was hoping to put the rear suspension together tomorrow.

Oh well will prep my gearbox for the rebuild clinic instead.

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Got my v-caliper kit so can finally finish off the rear calipers, got Porterfield pads for front and back. Thanks Eric !

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Put my Koni shocks and coil over kit together, does this look right?? I think this is the right mix of original and aftermarket parts ....

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Finally cleaned up the front hubs and put new bearings in, wife doesn't even bat an eyelid when I put parts in the oven ....

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as a newbie to both here and 914's (and welding), I have to say you're project looks to be coming along well. You're doing a great job, and I only hope i have the patience to carry through as you have, on my 75. Today was more stripping of the interior. I know I don't have the patience to grind like you have so i'm going to have mine blasted to get it all clean before starting the panel replacement process.

Keep up the great work!

this thread is

BOMB

It felt really good to bolt on some parts so thought I would share, next will be the front but first I need to clean up my gearbox for next weekends tranny clinic.

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Well I had some spare time today and before I did the finish work on the front wheel wells I wanted to cut the holes for cooling outlet and while I am in there might as well cut the holes for the radiator.

Got some useful pics from the Anklebiter thread, because mine is a 75 I have the reinforcement that spans usually where you would cut in the wheel well. Decided I wanted to keep that and I hope the hole I cut will suffice for cooling, we shall see some distant time in the future.

For the front:
First I marked of the area I wanted to cut with a sharpie.
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Then drilled holes on the 90degree corners.
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Finally cut out the metal, still needs some finish work.
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On the wheel wells I made a carboard template so that both sides were pretty much the same. Then followed the above procedure again. Finished hole.

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I have not attacked the front trunk but that is next, it has some rust that needs removal but I got the worst off, been a while since I used the wire wheel and grinder!

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Looks great!

What kind of engine is going back in? Suby?

Hey thanks!

Yes a Suby, still mulling over whether to go with the pre or post 2005 WRX motor, that is a decision for sometime next year and will depend on what is available at the time.

Over the last few weeks it has been one of those phases where you work on a bunch of stuff but there is not much to show for all the effort.

My gearbox is now sitting pretty after the PNW rebuild clinic, maybe one day it will have something to hook up to but great to have that done for sure.

I cleaned up the front trunk area, there were various superficial areas of rust and under the paint you only find more. I will take a picture next time, where there is a tiny pin hole through the paint to metal, under the paint is a spider web of rust which you would never have guessed. This was especially true under the front indicator where the paint looked good but stone chips mean that underneath was a nice area of rust.

Front trunk

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Front valence, when I did the metal mods for the chrome bumper retrofit I left a lip on the front edge but on closer inspection the surface of the metal underneath did not look too good. I am glad I removed it as it took a lot of clean up but now I need to weld a strip back on.

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Started prepping the front wheel wells so I can primer and undercoat like the rear, just stripping where the original undercoat was not well adhered. This is what it looked like after the first application of the stripper, one more and should be good to go.

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Last time I mentioned how the rust spreads under the paint, well got a good shot this week before I sanded away the rust. This is what a small hole in the paints does to the metal underneath.

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I started removing the rest of the paint from the passenger rear quarter and decided I ought to look in the door jams. Definitely some surface rust so lets get rid of the paint and see what we have. Hmmm

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After more thorough prep you can see some small holes that are going to need some attention.

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Before I get the welder out might as well remove the door and keep on stripping to finish off the passenger side of the car.

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I just need to get under the sill and then done.

Finished off the driver front wheel well too.

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If I can patch the holes without too many problems I am thinking bondo next and then some primer.

More bits and pieces, keep chipping away.

Welded in a patch to replace the rusted area in the door jamb and welded up the small holes.

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So I got a little over zealous with removing brackets, looking at how the front trunk shocks mount and they use the bracket where the spring used to mount ... oooppps. So made a couple of brackets and welded back on.

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My spray gun came with a fairly large cannister which was a PIA when trying to get into smaller areas, went to the local supply store and they came up with this solution which works great. Not only does it make nooks and crannys more accessible cleanup is easier too!

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Front wheel wells are finished, same old routine, epoxy primer, seam sealer, epoxy primer and undercoat.

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Been stripping small areas at a time while working on other jobs, found it easier this way. Leave the stripper for 24hours then remove loose paint, use paint thinner to clean and then wire wheel any small areas.

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Bad ass!!! Your getting me fired up to start on my -6 car

Great work

Great work. Those little spiders are not to visable until the paint is removed. The rust under the doorjamb will be a lot worse on the bottomside, thats where it started and finally came through the top side. The only thing is I would have put a black top coat, even if it is just industrial enamel, over the primer in the wheelwells to seal the pores in the primer. Then the under coat. Epoxy primer is great stuff but it will be better sealed with a top coat. Rockguard is also a good coating in the wheelwells to cushion the rocks impact. It's probably not a big deal though as I've used dp90 on the aluminum sill trim pieces on a hunting jeep truck and it has held up well by itself.

Touch up guns are great for the tight areas. Turn the fan way down and move back about twice as far as normal and don't spray in one spot and you won't need to get as close in to the area you are trying to cover. You can spray a area the size of a quarter with low pressure, although thats not really necessary in most cases. Thats what you will need up under the battery tray if you have it already installed.

Primer first before the bondo. Primer sticks way better and seals way better than bondo. Primer bondo and more primer.

Hi Charlie, good advice as usual. I cleaned up the area under the sill so hopefully if I can get both sides prepped and sealed it should keep the rust at bay for a while.

On the bondo v primer and which comes first I have read conflicting stories on that one. Here AutobodyStore they did an experiment and the bondo adhered much better to bare metal than primer.

I promise you the primer will stop rust from forming under the bondo much better than just the filler over the bare metal. I'm a old guy and have been fighting rust for 40 years. Almost that long on the same cars. Filler is porous and moisture can get under it. Kitty hare is a long or short strand filler that is supposed to be waterproof but it's harder to get smooth and work with. It's great for strength and stiffness but not the easiest to get on without small voids and holes. I use it where the metal will be under vibration or in a twisting area to keep it in place but it has to be top coated with a regular type filler to get the pin holes filled in.
My 75 914 also has some rust in the sill area, thats why I mentioned about under the bottom. It also has a small hole up by the inner latch support where dirt must have set for awhile. My car is a CO. and WY. car so it's been in a low humidity area most of it's life and it's still got some rust.

I agree filler adheres well to bare metal especially if it has a texture to it but that doesn't keep the moisture from forming under it and causing a rust bubble. Who's to say how much moisture gets in filler as you mix and spread it.

Between family visiting over thanksgiving and frigid weather progress has been slowed.

Cleaned up the engine bay area some more, one hole to weld on the drivers side hinge but looking ready for some primer.

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I welded on the front trunk lip, a workmate had a few made up so if anyone wants one let me know, yours for the cost of shipping. (BTW the wheels in the trunk are there to help balance the chassis which got rear heavy when I put the rear suspension on.)

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So this is where I have been on the learning curve, it is like the welding, practice, practice, practice.

I went with the Rage Extreme, which seems to work for me. All I had to begin with was 80grit and progress was slow so I thought I need some air tools but after doing some reading air tools and a beginer can be a negative on filler so I went and got some 40grit. Mucho better, knock it down with 40grit and then hit with 80.

It took me a long time to get a 'feel' for where to add filler and how much, it seemed I always had a high point or edge that felt wrong. There must be 10 or so applications on the rear where I started, I am on my 3rd on the front which is not finished but much better than the rear.

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I bought a few blocks but these are the ones I have ended up using so far.

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I have found 2-3hours at a time and best to walk away, after a break you tend to critque the work more.

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After reviewing my fiber glass GT rocker panels and trial fitting a number of times I have given up on them. Even though once side lines up pretty well they fit like crap. My plan right now is to modify the original metal ones.

FWIW. One of the reasons rust will form under bondo more so than under primer is that when you mix the bondo there is a chemical reaction that produces heat. This is easy to tell just by placing your hand on it as it begins to set up. Knowing this, you are applying a heat producing chemical reaction directly to cold, bare steel. Sweat happens when heat and cold are combined. Simple science. Granted, in this day and age most of these cars will be kept inddors, and pamperd, but your best bet is still to prime ( etch prime ) and seal first, THEN do your bondo work. Yes it is more work, yes it is more materials, yes it is much better

You are the master so no argument here, hopefully others can learn how not do it. From my point of view the cost of extra materials and work is not an issue, just got to go through the learning curve.

Thanks for posting the pics of your progess.

The car is looking great Chris!

So first pass on the bondo is complete on all 4 fenders, went to the body shop and bought some epoxy and 2K high build primer. On the first visit I bought grey epoxy and then thought how am I going to tell if I sand through the 2K? Went back and bought some white ....

I put two coats of the Epoxy on the passenger rear fender, I figured no point in screwing up a large area all in one go so start small. Going to let this cure till tomorrow even though it say 30 mins is OK then spray on the 2K. I can already see imperfections that need work but it looks great to see a uniform color over the area!!

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OK got the 2K is on, was a little gun shy on the first 2 coats but you can spray this stuff on thick. I can really see the problem areas now, leave this for a couple of days and then I will start sanding and fixing the issues.

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looking good mang

Thanks Scotty, yes looking more like a car now too.

Been working on both passenger fenders, you can see from the earlier shots of the rear fender the shadow on the leading edge of the flare. Well 2K primer is not going to be able to sort that so back to filler, there were a couple of other smaller areas that needed attention too. I am hoping another shot of 2K and some sanding and these are done.

Was going to start the drivers side and rear but I am running low on the 2K and the store shuts early on Sat. Oh well next weekend.

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Last weekend sucked, I was admiring how good the rear fender looked and saw what I thought was a dog hair. Further examination showed it to be a crack, a little prying and this is the result.

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To say I was pissed is an understatement, eventually summoned courage to ask those with some experience what had gone wrong. The 1st and 2nd Epoxy layers did not attach, I was not expecting any issue with the Epoxy .... garage was at 65F, I recoated within 24hours and I let it sit in the pot 15mins before using. I must have screwed up mixing the hardener or something is all I or anyone else can think off.

With mild heat the rest came of in a couple of hours which made less mess than sanding.

The passenger front fender is fine, glad I did one fender at a time to begin with as hopefully I isolated the problem.

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Some sanding and filler to patch up some damage I did with the scraper.

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Yesterday I heated the garage up to 70F, the wife complained it was warmer in the garage than in the house .... I put just a single layer of Epoxy on this time as 2 was mentioned as overkill. Followed up with 3 layers of 2K.

After 20 mins the 2K was gumming up my gun, did not have this issue before but then the garage was warmer this time. This is where the car is at now, going to England this coming weekend so I am happy to leave the car like this before I go.

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OK back from vacation and we have unseasonably warm weather so cleaned up the garage and wheeled the car outside and used compressed air to create a dust cloud cleaning up all the winters remanents from the car.

When I was cleaning up the drivers sill plate there was a lot of pitting and small rust holes, I figured easier to just replace with a new part. It came in the mail along with two Koni Sport front struts, been too long since the last parts package .. gotta love car parts in the mail

OK so this must be the easiest piece of spot welded metal I have removed, every drilled weld popped with very little persuasion.

Looked like this after removal, note I left the leading edge of the sill on the car, nothing wrong with it and easy to cut here with the new metal.

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After some cleanup :

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Note I also left the original angle support, just cleaned off the surface rust. Some weld thru primer:

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Here you can see where I had to remove some corrosion

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New sill welded on

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Patch tacked in

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Complete, looks like I need to clean the cameral lens.

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I have two small welding jobs to do, one in the engine compartment where the drivers side trunk mount used to be and one in the front in the u-channel for the hood seal.

Once those are done time for some primer and paint on the interior sections.

Here is the Epoxy and 2K primer I have been using, checked back and I don't think I listed them.

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I want to get the front suspension hooked up but I need to finish the bulkhead area so I went to the supply store to buy some color. Evidently this is the last of the pigment they have in this color but hopefully this is enough for the interior and jambs. Also picked up a small gun for the color.

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Used the same disposable cups as I did on the primer gun to assist with the small areas and help spray inverted. Well note to self, don't knock the cup against a surface while painting upside down ... it knocks the cup off. Luckily it spilt mainly on the bottom but it left a few drips. Not so much of a problem in this area, there was even a drip line from the factory. Just annoying, bn more careful next time.

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Nice!

Fantastic work so far! You sir are a hero. An inspiration to me to just get out and get on with it! I like your systematic way of tackling jobs a little bit at a time making sure to do it right without getting worn out and frustrated i.e. taking breaks to watch F1. Can't wait to get one started myself and plan on using your posts for reference. Thanks for the confidence.

Kind words, thankyou, feedback from you and everyone else keeps me motivated also

Yes I find the need to take a break once in a while, keeps the sanity.

So the goal of assembling the front suspension was squashed when I needed different struts and I find this week they are on backorder till the end of April I assembled what I could which is enough to balance the car on the trolley so I can ditch the spare wheels in the trunk.

Looks empty in here, needs a sway bar for sure!

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It was nice to get these parts out of the basement and onto the car!!

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Spent time today prepping the trunk for paint, still needs more elbow grease but coming along.

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My new goals are to get the front trunk and engine bay complete, if I can get that done by end of April then when i get the suspension in I can think about getting the brakes hooked up. We shall see.....

Getting the hang of the new gun and the color, certainly lots of difficult areas to get good coverage on.

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I have the rear shox kit so I can weld in the brackets, next up is the engine bay and rear trunk.

Rear trunk and engine bay painted, thinking how nice it must be to spray some flat panels ... running low on paint though. After I used the last of the toner they had I went back and they are going to try and get it from another store rather than try and match with the new unleaded formula.

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Going to be out of town for a bit so nice to make a bit more progress.

L20E, so pretty!

So finally got the correct Koni inserts for my Koni struts yesterday, was thinking I should wait to assemble but could not resist doing something with the new parts. All went together great except for the backing plate, I thought there was something wrong as it interfered with the rotor. After messing around for an hour finally figured out they were just bent, bit of tweaking and all is good.

Just need some tie rod ends and some wheels and it wil be a roller !!

When I was over at Renegade a couple of weeks back they had a car with the 17" Fuchs and they looked great, on my shopping list.

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Been out of town on a couple of trips so not much progress until this weekend, off on vacation in a couple of weeks too so good time to get some work on the car done!

I purchased some weld in nutserts for the foglamp, worked out pretty well and with those in place I could paint the front valance.

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Also painted the passenger side door opening and the lower valance, finally getting the hang of the smaller gun so I can lay the paint on smooth without running.

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While I was picking up more orange from the paint ship I bought some satin black, thought it would do for the interior, gas tank, rocker covers and other sundries.

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Got some parts on order but my next goal is to get the brake system all hooked up, I have the replacement hard lines which should be fun. Hopefully I can work out where the old lines went, been a while since I removed them!!

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It has been a while, lots of smaller projects going on with the car which compete with vacations and projects around the house.

Finished re-bushing the pedal cluster, I got lucky with the pin, considering the condition I thought I was in for a fight but couple of taps with a BFH and it all came apart.

Before:

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I also took apart the shifter and replaced the upper sleeve, otherwise apart from cleaning it all looked pretty good.

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Getting the brake system operational has been a goal for a while, it is all pretty much together and am waiting on the bulkhead grommets for the tubes from the resorvoir. Seems they are on backorder for the moment, once I have those I can finish.

Handbrake assembly in:

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Handbrake cable and rear brake tubes hooked up:

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Painted the rocker panel on the drivers side:

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Started work on the doors, all stripped of hardware except the lower hinge which is proving resilient. Was going to get these blasted but had some left over stripper so what the hell.

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So had to add this photo, some parts make it feel like you actually have a car rather than a bunch of parts and the addition of the steering wheel did it for me. I was waiting on a new upper steering column bearing which arrived tonight, I had managed to get the lower bearing from a local retailer. Both of the bearings were toast.

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I ordered the spring (Item No 7 in the pic below) as I thought I mine was missing but it did not seem to fit. Any ideas?

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I was cleaning up the seat brackets, thinking just a quick clean would be OK, ended up dismantling and prepping parts for paint and plating. This thing is a disease ...

Also tried bleeding the brakes but fluid leaked from where the front brakes go to the master cylinder, I had 2x12mm copper seals and one needs to be a 10mm. Back to waiting for parts.

So the progress on the doors in these pics shows a day an half worth of work, my arms and fingers hurt but at least I spent the time outside. Perfect weather and the dust isn't in the garage.

As you can see I managed to get one of the bottom hinges off, the last one is being real stubborn, I think an air hammer might work.

Drivers door had more rust at the bottom then the passenger and a couple of places need a bit of welding where the arm rest attaches as the metal is fractured.


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