Time to un-DAPO the "new" car, Bad things happened to a nice car Options

[BillC]

So, I bought a "new" 914 a few weeks ago (a '73 2.0). When I received it from the shipper, I noticed was the seller was quite artful about his pictures, with what was and what wasn't shown. And, now that I've had a chance to start taking things apart, I have uncovered quite a bit of DAPO-done-damage, and I'm sure there's more hiding somewhere (oh boy! something to look forward too....). Some of the damage appears to have been there for a loooong time.

I've already received a piece from a scrap car to fix this hole:


Once I took the rockers off, I discovered this:

Yes, they hole-sawed through FOUR layers of sheet metal, including the heat duct. Not sure what they were thinking, but there it is.

In the trunk, I found three hole-sawed holes. I think they might have been thinking about mounting the fuel pump in a 75/76 blister, but they never finished the work (and also picked the wrong location).

[BillC]

I had some time yesterday to work on the car, so I decided to take care of prepping the passenger-side door for a mirror.

All 914s came from the factory with nut plates for mirror mounts welded inside both sides. However, normally only the driver's side was drilled out for the mirror. A factory passenger-side mirror was a rare option; it seems like most original owners that wanted two side mirrors just installed a pair of aftermarket mirrors. But I want original-style mirrors.

All I could find for instructions was to just "drill out" the sheet metal skin so you could screw the mirror to the nut plate. However, there are two issues with that simple guidance: First, you have to locate the holes from the inside to the outside; and Second, with my luck, I'd end up going too deep and drilling the threads out of the nut plate, ruining it as a mounting site.

So, here's what I did:

First, I unbolted the door and laid it on towels on a workbench. Then, I located the nut plate inside the door -- it's located just outboard of the post between the sliding window and the fixed triangular window. Here's a pic:


Then, I drilled pilot holes from the inside out. This was the only way I could guarantee getting the outside holes in the right place. It's very tight inside the door, especially with the window frame still installed, so I pulled out every right-angle drill attachment I own -- both of them -- and was able to cobble together a way to drill the pilot holes with a stubby 3/32" bit. Here's what the tool looked like:


And here's what the pilot holes looked like on the outside:


Then, I took my dremel tool with a small pear-shaped cutter bit and carefully ground the holes out to full size. This was actually the most time-consuming part of the project, but it let me make sure the holes were centered on the threads in the nut plate. After grinding, I chased the threads with a 6-1.0 tap and then touched up the paint. Here's the final result:


Then, after I was finished with the mirror holes, I went back and painted all the rusty areas inside the door with rust-converter. It's not ideal, but it should stop the door from rusting inside-out before the car can get a full restoration.

[Superhawk996]

Then, after I was finished with the mirror holes, I went back and painted all the rusty areas inside the door with rust-converter. It's not ideal, but it should stop the door from rusting inside-out before the car can get a full restoration.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/happy11.gif) Good job. Love these sorts of pictures to reinforce there is no such animal as a rust free 914 regardless of how it looks on the outside!

Keep going - your car is coming along nicely. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/aktion035.gif)