Restoring a dipped 914, Anyone have one dipped and e-coated? Options

[IronHillRestorations]

I'm restoring a 914-6 that was dipped many years ago, and then stored.

The process destroyed the heater tubes in the longs, but I'm working on both of those so replacing them is a given.

Last weekend at Octeenerfest Bill Dunster (W Dunster) who is a rep for PPG suggested getting it re-dipped and e-coated. Sounds good to me, but there's some logistical challenges.

The original plan was to do all the rust repair, and chassis stiffening then treat the car with my corrosion treatment process, which while good, not as good as getting the whole car e-coated.

So if we were to proceed with e-coating, then of course stock paper heater tubes are off the table. This isn't a biggie, but as one who defaults to original build methods, I wonder about the trade offs of metal heater tubes; noise, heat loss, etc.

Anyone out there have a 914 dipped or restore a dipped 914?

Anyone have a 914 e-coated?

[Rob-O]

I had a friend that did it to his -6 back in the mid 80's. There can't be many cars out there that have had this done. Anyhow, I can tell you on his that it'll he wouldn't do it again. He is deceased now, but it was chemically stripped first. The longs were pulled off (car was braced first). Car was e-coated, and then longs welded back on afterwards, although they weren't factory longs. Not sure that factory longs were available back then from the factory. And this was long before the aftermarket guys started making them.

He ran into issues where the stripper got into recesses and couldn't get out of those recesses easily. So even after final paint he has areas in the front trunk (specifically under the 'a' pillars) that leaked stripper and ruined the paint in that area. It makes sense, the e-coating process is used for factory vehicles (we had it done at an OEM for the big three). But those tanks and the trolleys and the angles of the car are set up for cars that are bare steel, not one that might have some hidden nooks and crannies that are holding chemical stripper.

By the way, what color is the car? It might be the same car that I know.