Steve's 73 1.7 Restoration Thread Options

[Steve_R]

Hi, I would like to introduce myself and share my project. I’m Steve, I live in San Diego and I picked up this 1973 1.7 914 about a year ago. It was in great shape with no rust and had been sitting in a garage for the past 13 years. My plan is to restore it to its original condition. At this point I think the car is about 50% done.
The car had door guards riveted to the sides and I had them welded up. One of the first things I did when I got the car was to build a dolly to be able to work on the suspension and make it easy to move it around the garage. It’s made from 4 X 4s and plywood and it took about 4 hours to build. If you don’t have a wood saw Home Depot will cut the 4 X 4s and plywood to the correct length. There are lag screws on top of the vertical posts that stick up ½” that fit into the 4 jack points cups under the car. This keeps the car from falling off. Also, I removed the engine before I put the car on it. To get it up there I used some cement blocks, 4 jack stands and 2 scissor jacks.
Over the past year I’ve learned a lot from reading your posts and now I would like to give back some of the knowledge I’ve learned.

[Steve_R]

I finally finished the paint job. Here in California we have some of the strictest VOC laws in the country. I was originally planning on using PPG paint, but when I went to my local paint jobber (Tri City Paint) I found out that they would only sell me zero or low VOC paint. So, I decided on Valspar low VOC base and clear. Valspar also makes a direct to metal primer (DTM2004) that eliminates the need for an epoxy base primer and 2K sealer.
My goal was to do a show car type finish so I did a lot of extra steps. I used the 3M Trizact 3000 and 5000 sanding pads, on a DA sander, and the 3M Perfect It buffing compounds with the 3 different pads. I did this in my driveway using a Harbor Freight ($11.00) spray gun for the primer and a DeVilbiss Finish Line ($150.00) HVLP gun for the base and clear.

BTW the color is Bahia Red L-30E

1. Remove old paint to bare metal with 80 grit using Porter Cable DA sander.
2. Apply Evercoat Rage Gold filler to fill dents.
3. Sand filler with 80 grit on a long board sanding block.
4. Prime using Valspar DTM2004. Mix 4:1:1 with LVBM100 reducer and DTMA activator. 3 heavy coats.
5. Block sand using 220 dry Durra Gold sand paper roll on a long sanding board.
6. Fill small dents using Evercoat Metal Glaze and Blending Putty.
7. Block sand using 220 dry on a long sanding block.
8. Repeat to step 4 as needed.
9. Prime using Valspar DTM2004. Mix 4:1:2 (more reducer)
10. Sand with 800 wet using a firm rubber pad.
11. Spray 3 coats of base coat color (Bahia Red L-30E) using Valspar LVB100. Mix 1:1 with TCP Kustom Shop medium zero VOC XR-70 reducer. Use 1.3mm gun tip. No activator. Let flash between coats, about 15 min.
12. Spray 3 coats of clear Valspar LVCC300. Mix 4:1 with LVAA activator. Use 1.5mm gun tip. Let dry in between coats so there is no “stringing”. About 30-40 min.
13. Let dry for 48 hours.
14. Wet sand by hand with 1500.
15. Wet sand by hand with 2000.
16. Wet sand with 3000 using 3M Trizact pads on a DA sander. Hand sand all edges and corners with Trizact pad.
17. Wet sand with 5000 using 3M Trizact pads on a DA sander. Hand sand all edges and corners with Trizact pad.
18. Buff with 3M Perfect It system using white, black and blue foam pads and corresponding compounds. Hand polish edges and corners with each compound.
19. Let dry for 2 months and wax.




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