Repainting the 914: Down to metal, always?, Curious to get your thoughts Options

[horizontally-opposed]

So I'm curious to see what the collected wisdom and experience here says -- and I'd like to hear from those who are NOT/have NOT stripped the car of every part for a "rotisserie" style restoration.

This is for those of us with running, driving 914s considering a paint job yet less than enthusiastic about disassembling the whole car.

I'd especially like to hear from Dr. 914 and others who have restored multiple 914s over time and seen how the paint jobs held up. Is a rust bubble the kiss of death for all surrounding metal?

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

pete

[charliew]

I've been painting my cars since 1967. There will always be paint shrinkage. A repaired spot where the paint was feathered will always come back in my opinion if you keep the car long enough. New paints are better at controlling this to some degree but it still happens if you wait long enough. AS someone said earlier the old paint soakes up the solvents and then both the new and old needs to dry out. This can take a very long time depending on how much new paint was applied. Two years is my guess. If a car is going to be driven every day and in all kinds of weather a baremetal repaint is pretty hard to justify if you are paying a pro to do it. I think rust trails are under most original paint jobs but maybe not. The only way to know is to strip it and see. Most anyone that has spent time reading the very thorough threads here knows about most rusted areas of the 914. Those spots should get the most attention but any other areas that have been repaired from collisions or etc should be stripped if in doubt at all. New paints are way to costly to buy and redo in three years or so. I don't like chemical stripping anywhere a replacement coating can't be applied like inside the door side protection strip or under any welded on braces and so on. Maybe a redip of epoxy primer afterward but how do you know the chemical was completely removed? Usually unless it is mechanicaly scrubbed off it isn't. The outside of the car but not in seams ok. Soda blasting is nice but not for rust removal, but the new electrical removal seems to me the best for inside cavities and will not remove the good metal or warp it. Coating in the spotwelded seams is a real challenge as that where the rust is and could start over again. If I could afford electrical rust removal and dipping and had a car to put up and look at in a nice building for future generations to admire that is what I would do. As it is when I work on a area I keep in mind the future intended purpose of the car and try my best to make a repair last as long as possible. I've seen my friend watch a three yearold paint job start shrinking before he got the assembly finished usually because the owner was slow pay and he was attempting to keep the finish perfect till it left his shop. Thats inside a air conditioned and heated shop. If you've got a four year old paintjob and haven't discovered a repair or fg strands printing through, or loose paint at some edge or seam, or rust bubble, you've got a pretty good paint job.