Replacing rusty jack points, So this is what it means to own a 914... Options

[bkrantz]

cut the fender and repaint...

welcome to the typical 914

this is the reason that pulling the rockers off is mandatory before any purchase... period

it can be an expensive repair (many thousands for paint) and should have been factored into the sale price.

brant

Yeah, but for some 914s the sale price would have to be negative.

[thelogo]

Mandatory reading for anyone doing rust repair on a 914:
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=16748
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(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads/post-2-1094375865.jpg)

Just a statement in general about the photo
If you got a car like this and you new what needed to be done then ok ... If you pulled the rockers and
Found ! Rust on a 914 .... You should have never got the car .... See where im going with this

[Lilchopshop]

Thanks to all for the responses and opinions (never seems to be a shortage of those on this site (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) ). Honestly, I fully expected to find some hidden rust on the car when I bought it and I don't regret purchasing the car at all. Actually, the more I take it apart, the happier I am with it. It has the specs I was looking for, is totally accident free, decently-solid hell hole, numbers-matching and in excellent shape overall (especially for living it's whole life in upstate NY, where you can practically count the number of nice driving days out of the year on one hand and the ratio of road salt to snow is about 1:1). Truth be told, this is the second 914 that I've owned. I bought my first ('72 1.7), back in 1999 for $1300 and it was a rusty mess, but I drove it anyway and loved every minute of it. Foolishly, I sold the car to make room in my then tiny, one-car garage, for my other restoration project at the time, my wife's '72 VW bug. Now that car was REALLY rusty.

My only real frustration about discovering this rust is that it messes with my plans for actually getting to drive the car. Since finding the car, my plan has been to get it to a driveable state quickly and then drive it for a year or two while I planned for a longer-term, nut-and-bolt restoration in the future. But thanks to this discovery (and to all you 914-worlders for getting in my head and messing with my conscience (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif) ), I feel compelled to re-evaluate the plan and possibly embark on a more thorough restoration first.

So, in spirit of this re-evaluation, I dug a little deeper into the car last night. Interior stripped, doors off and lots more close inspection of the areas adjacent to the rusty discovery. I will get the borescope out soon to look inside the longs, but initial inspections seem to show that the rust is fairly well contained to the jack points and the immediate portions of the longs that they attach to. Here are a few more pictures. Oh, and notice the two big holes in the firewall? Those were the mount points for the shoulder straps from a cheesy 5-point harness that the PO installed. I don't think that there is a weaker point on the car to attach those to! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

[jagalyn]

Everything else looks really good... Seeing the yellow Ziebart plug in the door jamb is probably the reason the rust is so contained. Rust shown the outside was maybe from crud collecting around the jack-point and maybe not from the inside out... hopefully.

[bkrantz]

What about the passenger side?

[larryM]

simpler advice - never buy a 914 (or 911 et al) without putting a jack in there & trying to lift the car - you will quickly enuf see if it is an "i'll pass" deal

this is the reason that pulling the rockers off is mandatory before any purchase... period

brant

[mepstein]

What about the passenger side?

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif) Check the passenger side rear suspension console. When it starts to fail, the rear passenger tire will start to lean into the car at the top. You can check it's condition with a flashlight in front of the rear wheel, looking up towards the trailing arm mount.

[Superhawk996]

I can always appreciate someone willing to save another one!

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[Lilchopshop]

So, this happened this week... going full restoration mode now...
Thank you SirAndy, been using this thread as my bible and inspiration
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=16748

[Superhawk996]

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Way to dig in!

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[dlee6204]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/sawzall-smiley.gif)

Way to dig in!

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[bbrock]

Yes sir! Good job. It's clear that you made the right decision AND that you managed to catch it before it got really gnarly. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sawzall-smiley.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/welder.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smash.gif)

[bkrantz]

Welcome to the resto club.

[Lilchopshop]

Welcome to the resto club.

Thanks! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

By "club" you really mean, "bunch of crazy people who obsess over weird things and are way out of touch with the real world" (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

But, does this club come with any special perks? Like discounts on cutting wheels and spot-weld cutters? Maybe a free tetanus shot once a month for all the exposure to jagged, rusty metal?

[FourBlades]

Glad to see you are going to save it, you won't regret it. These cars are super fun to drive as it seems you know from your first one.

I love Michelko's restoration thread.

It really helped me to learn how to do this and I picked Adriatic blue for my car because of his thread.

One thing I would throw out is there are more replacement panels available now than there were when Michelko did his restoration in 2004. This is mostly thanks to Restoration Design making new dies for additional parts. I think michelko made a lot of patch panels himself because he enjoyed doing it and it fit his situation at time.

So you may be able to just buy replacements rather than making patches yourself. When I restore another 914 I will try to buy all the replacement panels I can to save loads of time and increase the quality of the build. I dream of picking up a 220 spot welder to attach all these panels to save more time avoid grinding and be more OEM.

Just a thought.

John

[FourBlades]

I went back and re-read michelko's thread for the first time in 7-8 years and I see he did get replacement panels for a lot of parts. There are more available now, but most of them are for areas he did not need to fix, like the front floor trunk.

Maybe my comment was off base, wouldn't be the first or last time.

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[Superhawk996]

By "club" you really mean, "bunch of crazy people who obsess over weird things and are way out of touch with the real world" (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

Well stated.

Heck . . . .just a few days ago I peeked out of the garage and I learned there is some sort of lockdown going on for something or another.

World's gone (IMG:style_emoticons/default/screwy.gif) Zombie apocalypse has started. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ar15.gif)

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

Whatever. . . . (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smash.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sawzall-smiley.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/welder.gif) back to work.

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[bbrock]

By "club" you really mean, "bunch of crazy people who obsess over weird things and are way out of touch with the real world" (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

But, does this club come with any special perks? Like discounts on cutting wheels and spot-weld cutters? Maybe a free tetanus shot once a month for all the exposure to jagged, rusty metal?

That is exactly what he means (IMG:style_emoticons/default/lol-2.gif) As for perks, the only one I got was a frequent customer card at the clinic for drilling crap out of my eyes despite wearing approved safety glasses and even in one case, a full face shield. I finally got a shield that curves under below the chin to stop crap from flying in from the bottom. Stay safe! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[rjames]

Hard to tell, but it looks like the jack stands you are using don't use safety pins. Highly recommend getting safer stands if that's the case.

Nice progress! Great to see you digging in to repair it properly.

[Lilchopshop]

Peeled back some more of the outer long so I could get the heater tube out. Had to quit for the day because I destroyed the last of my HF spot-weld cutters and Amazon hasn’t delivered the rotobroaches that I ordered yet. Most of the inner long seems salvageable except for the section rearward of the seatbelt mount. Amazing how little of this shows through on the exterior of these pieces. These cars really do rust from the inside out. Still trying to decide how many repair panels to buy from RD since I will only need small sections of each piece.