BUILD-OFF CHALLENGE: Dirty Cossack's Build Options

[JoeDees]

I had every intention of making an introduction video, but I found that I had ruined my wide angle lens trying to film some cool shots of grinding. So while I'm waiting for the new lens to be delivered, I will go with this novel:
I bought the car about a year ago with the shortsighted intention of throwing it back together and having a driver until its turn came for rustoration. I bought the car and a carload of parts from a guy in Dallas who did some really shady work and an incredible job hiding other rust; magician style he distracted with his obvious poor work. The drivetrain was out of the car and registration said it had been sitting for 12 years, so I don’t know what made me think I could get it driving in a month… Soon after buying the car, my daily driver VW went down and needed a bunch of work and Uncle Sam gave me orders to move 800 miles. I fiddled with the 914 now and then, mostly just probing for rust, but focused my attention on prepping my other projects and VW for sale, knowing I could only bring one car with me and it had to be rolling so I couldn’t really tear into it. I’ve been here in the new, much smaller shop since June and have been slowly tearing into the 914 between honey-do new house projects, new job training, and getting the new shop in order.
As we sit now, the car is on jackstands with the rotisserie acting as additional bracing, the engine and trans are under a workbench, the bigger pieces of the car are using the extra bedroom (the one my wife says needs to be vacated when we get pregnant) and others in boxes in my closet. Tearing the car down, I’ve found almost everything worse than I expected. The gas tank is pretty nasty with rust, all 4 calipers are locked up and the wheel bearing grease congealed. Removing the bumpers I found some evidence of prior damage and filler. Further probes into the longs found some rust on the driver side, and the passenger side nearly shot. The hellhole was a known problem, and turned into a chasm. I haven’t really dove to much into the floor, but found rust around the firewall and under a seat mount. The good news seems to be in a relatively dry trunk and pedal area.
My project’s Big 5 jobs are: 1) Rust repair. 2) Body work and a complete repaint. 3) Complete overhaul of the brake system, bearings, CVs, getting the window to work and stuff like that. 4) Engine rebuild. 5) Customization: wart removal, interior work, and an attempt at making custom made bumper tops.
In this build off challenge I face multiple fronts of challenges: 1) I grew up helping my Dad fix VWs, redid a Triumph Spitfire in my early 20s with his help, and have done numerous small projects over the years, but this is my first full rustoration on my own. 2) I have a severely limited budget. I am active duty Army, and everybody knows that NCO paychecks leave much to be desired. 3) I’m often short on time. My current assignment is as an instructor requiring me to work 10-12 hour days and 50-60 hour weeks. 4) I have a bum knee that makes it almost impossible to crouch and am fighting a shoulder issue that makes working overhead painful (praying for no surgery). 5) Nothing but the windshield and fine machine work like the heads and crank will be farmed out, I’m doing this on my own.
Well this is where we are starting, and honestly, who knows where we’ll end up. I haven’t really decided on color, engine, or upgrades, though I’m leaning towards keeping the 1.7 Liter Fuel Injection unless a good deal on another engine arises. I’m also thinking of keeping the car black but going minimal chrome, but who knows what the good idea fairy will deliver. I hope you enjoy the journey as much as I do.

[JoeDees]

Shop soundtrack: My Pandora psychobilly station

It was a good but painful day in the shop--this shoulder is killing me.

I started the day welding up the dimples and holes from when I drilled out the spotwelds on the parking brake cable guide. I then cleaned the area up some more and applied Rust Bullet where I won't be welding and not be able to get later; and after it dried I applied some weld-thru primer where I will weld. Tomorrow will be some seam sealer on the floor/long lip underneath the cable guide and maybe welding (I realized today that I am extremely low on welding gas so who knows).

While waiting for the paint I kept myself busy removing the foam and seam sealer from the rear corner (it looks good back in there!) And then started to remove the stuff up in the jamb/sail panel. This is where it killed my shoulder chipping it out. I couldn't quite get it all and my shoulder was throbbing so I thought about just quitting and leaving a bunch there, but I noticed some rust peaking out. I knew the only real option I had was to cut an exploratory hole in the sail--and I hit pay dirt (rust). I used the hole to get the seam sealer out of there and found that I also had to drill a hole on top of the fender to really get all of it out. The rust I found required the sail panel hole to be cut a little more but it allowed me to use the sand blaster to get the surface stuff that was left in there. I sanded the surface rust that dwelled where that long strip of foam was, and when I was satisfied with the results I osphoed the whole region.

The plan moving forward is to clean up the ospho residue, weld up the holes and trim holes, get some paint up in there and eventually seal up the seams. My lack of welding gas may delay the process, so tomorrow will be welding prep and maybe the removal of some other random car pieces or moving on to the frunk seal channel.