New project...

So, I’ve got two areas of rot, just in front of the rear wheels on both sides of the car. These areas are normally covered by the plastic inner wheel liner and that little plastic corner piece where the rocker panel meets the wheel arch. When I dropped my engine last spring, I removed the rear inner wheel liners and found these areas packed with moist dirt/ road debris. Upon cleaning the dirt away I was able to poke my finger through what metal was left. Fortunately the rot hasn’t spread very far but it will need to be cut back to good steel and some new pieces welded in. See below... ** I just want to add, that if you've never checked these areas for rust, you should! Hopefully you can catch it before it gets like mine...

Wow! You usually see rust like that on older Porsche's.......

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Uh huh... midwest car dd for many years...It's a '99 so almost twenty years old now. I never would have known if I hadn't pulled some plastic pieces off...

A little more progress. It sure does go slow when you only have an hour or two in the evening to work...

Holy hell, I thought these cars were galvanized

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Well yeah, they are ! BUT..., even galvanized steel will rust if there's a scratch/void in the galvanization and you have corrosive (road salt & water) elements in constant contact with these areas. Three inches toward the front of the car, the steel and coating(s) are in perfect shape. It's no surprise to me that the same spots rotted on both sides of the car. You'd be amazed at how much dirt (wet dirt/salt) was packed into these two areas. When I put the wheel liner back in, I'm going to silicone the top edge where all this stuff is entering (I think)...

Nice repair. Have you thought about using some POR15 or rust stop/preventative inside the panels?

Or at least some weld through primer?

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^^Yes^^ before I welded on the end panel I coated the inside of the rail and rocker with rust treatment/preventer (Eastwood). There will also be access holes drilled and then plugged (like stock) so I can make sure that everything is well coated before being sealed up again. ** I'm shooting for having these repairs outlast me...

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awesome.

That�s nothing, my Land Rover will rust if you even look at it funny. But good to know. Thanks. I always thought Porsche / Audi traditionally had the very best rust protection. Toyota pickups and Land Rovers had the very worst.

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Even the best rust protection is no match for standing/constant contact with road salt, water, and who knows what else. The gunk that collected in these areas must have been there for years...

Kudos to you I absolutely hate doing body work! I had a 928 that rotted out inside the door jam and it was a car I was told never rotted out. Even the best manufacturers have a few cars that react poorly to rusting, and being a DD on salty roads doesn't help for sure.

I finished up the drivers side yesterday evening and got started on the passenger side today. Not quite as much rust on the bottom, but the interior wheel arch went much higher and there�s a little more on the outside panel down by the plastic trim piece.

Dporto, rust really sucks and glad you caught it before it became much worse. It looks like you did one hell of a job and on the repairs it looks good. Can't wait to see the end product.

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^^Thanks^^ - not done yet by a long shot, but I'm working on it. Hopefully I'll be able to finish it up in the next two weeks or so...

I got a few more pieces of sheet metal formed and ready to weld in... back to a couple hours in the evening, so things are crawling now...

nice work. I had to do a TON of this in my 914 restoration. PITA!! besides the POR15 suggestion, you could also try Eastwood internal frame rail coating. comes with a hose and nozzle so you can thread it into the cavity and spray https://www.eastwood.com/internal-fr...lack-14oz.html

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Hey Joe! PITA indeed...I'd love to see some photo's of your 914 resto...Yes, I've already got the Eastwood internal frame coating (in addition to their weld-through primer, rust reformer, etc...) and have done the areas further forward in the rails. From what I can see by shining a light up there everything looks pretty fresh (all still nice and shiny gray factory coating). It looks like all the rot is limited to these two areas - fingers crossed!.

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.p...0933&hl=newbie fortunately the 996 was rust protected from the factory (vs the 914 which was not), so with the internal frame coating you should be in good shape

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Joe, Amazing project! Wow...so much work - it looks like you did a great and so thorough job One thing I noticed just skimming through was that your welds got so much better toward the end of the project. You also mentioned you were using .025 wire...I just changed from .035 to .030 and I found it's so much better - much easier to weld without blowing through the sheetmetal (especially the old stuff). I just may pickup a roll of .025. Do you still have the 914? I'd love to see some finished "on the road" photo's

Ah...I'm a dope...I just realized that your last post is current, and that you haven't actually finished the car yet I'll be sure to follow - can't wait to see the results

thanks! I'm wetsanding now, after that it's just reinstalling everything. yes the 0.025 wire makes it easier to weld the thin sheetmetal. getting good penetration without burning through is a very fine line, especially when you don't have good base metal to begin with. Gotta play with the wire speed and voltage a lot, but I did gradually get better as I moved through the car.

One more... this�ll be it forcwork this week until maybe Sunday. The sheet metal fabrication is almost done...

All I can say....Impressive! I am still surprised how much rust you have...what is the reason for that.

The only real reason I could see for the rust was the accumulation of dirt, road salt and moisture. As I described earlier in the thread it was just packed in there and totally out of sight unless you remove the plastic wheel well liner and corner molding just in front of the rear wheels.

Ok, getting close now...just about done with sheet metal fab (have last pieces cut - just need to weld). After I�m finished welding, just a little grinding, drill the vent/paint holes, fill, rustproof, paint, blend, buff...The upshot of the painting is that it�s mostly hidden - just the very corners near the plastic trim pieces will be visible. It shouldn�t be too difficult to get it to match up and blend (I hope...&#128521

nice

The 914 is looking awesome Joe - you must be chomping at the bit... I love the Fuch's wheels

Ughhhh... had to cut out one more spot - after removing surface rust it was just too thin to leave... a little more welding and grinding... just about ready for filler, primer, rustproof and paint...

There are a lot of nooks and crannies there, it might be a good idea to make sure there aren't any pockets where moisture can get trapped. It would be a drag to have to grind it all out and redo it in a couple of years.

Absolutely! I'll get there - I only had about an hour and a half yesterday and decided to cut out the little corner piece. That'll all get welded in before filling/priming

After about a week (seems like a month, but probably only a total of 5 or 6 hrs.) of welding, grinding and adding a few small pieces of sheet metal, I finally got my first coat of filler on. Most of what you see in the photo�s will get removed, then I�ll hit it with one more coat, sand, glaze/spot fill and prime...hopefully I�ll be done with this thing when the snow is all melted...(next week?)

Looking good, you really have a knack for bodywork.

keep up the good work

Thanks for the encouraging words guys👍

I've been following along but just now chiming in. This is incredible! How did you guys learn how to do this? (Joseph if you don't mind, asking you as well. As a die-hard "greenie" I L-O-V-E your 914!)

"This is incredible! How did you guys learn how to do this? (Joseph if you don't mind, asking you as well. As a die-hard "greenie" I L-O-V-E your 914!)" I'm a "learn by doing it" kind of person. This being said, I've been doing this kind of stuff all my life. I've built houses, 3 recording studios, several guitars, all kinds of art (BFA degree) etc., and worked on all my bicycles, motorcycles and cars. So, my experience sort of runs the gamut. Add to this the fact that I'm pretty picky about how things get done and I rather pay myself than somebody else - and there you have it. RE: - Joe Mitro "Newbie/Greenie" - Clearly my "project" pales in comparrison! Joe's commitment to this 914 is inspiring. If you read the thread from the beginning (it's long but quite fascinating) you'll see that when he bought the car, (I think it's fair to say) he didn't realize what a daunting project he was in for. The deeper he got into it, the more apparent it got that the car had not only had cosmetic problems, but serious structural rot as well. Many people would have given up at that point and sent the car to the junk yard or a fallow field, giving it back to the mice that were nesting in it. Perseverance! That's what gets things done...

Happening now... Not necessarily in this order - just taking a break and posting on my phone... hoping to have to primer done today... maybe shoot color tomorrow 🙂🙂

I am even more impressed now....I really wish I had skills like these. Can't wait to see the finished product!

I tried to add this to the last post but wound up with another post...anyway, this is the drivers side...still needs another coat or two of primer before spraying the �stone guard� textured finish on the bottom portion and inside the wheel arch. I�m also going to use the stone guard on the rear edge behind the rear wheels as that paint just gets chewed up.

I finished up the stone guard and primer and was able to shoot color yesterday. Clear and blend later on today...

Ok, finally time to wrap up this thread! Finished paint on Sunday, put everything back together on Monday evening, cleaned/washed Tuesday afternoon and took out for a 70 mile run Tuesday evening. Overall, I�m super happy with the results re: the sheet metal repairs and believe they should last a long time. As for the paint, I made a few rookie mistakes, but due to location they�re virtually unnoticeable (except to me). Seeing as I have no plans to sell it it�s not an issue. If it really bothers me at some point I might decide to go back and fix it...Anyway, a few photos for documentary purposes...😉