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]

Now it's time to tackle a common 914 problem (woohoo! . . . err, I think . . .) -- the jack points. Mine actually looked pretty good externally, but I discovered that both were packed full of sand and rust. Here's what the driver's side looked like after getting the sand out. Those little "lines" next to the vent hole are actually rust perforations, not scratches.


The passenger side was actually in worse shape than the driver's side, so that's where I started. Here's what the passenger side looked like after I took some tin snips to it:

Pretty nasty inside.

At this point, there really isn't much choice except to replace (at a minimum) the jackpoint reinforcements. When I've read other people's projects, they usually chop off a good-sized chunk of the quarter panel behind the door opening. While this makes access to the top of the reinforcement much easier, it requires a lot of work to fix the quarter afterward.

I decided to try a different approach. I bought one of those little belt sanders you see on various car restoration shows.

This thing works great! I'm astounded, I wish I had bought one many years ago. The 36 grit belt just zipped through the sheet metal, making it very easy to remove the spot welds on the bottom and the sides. The plan is to reach down from above (inside the quarter panel) to remove the top of the reinforcement.

I got about 80% through the removal process today -- the bottom and both sides are gone. The top part will have to wait for later, since I'm out of belts. The sander only came with one 36 grit belt, which lasted through taking off about half the reinforcement. The other belts that came with the kit didn't last very long, since they were finer grit. So, now I have to wait for a new order of belts to come; they should be here in time for next weekend.

This is what the piece looks like now:


Haven't quite decided what to do about the inner sheet metal. There are no penetrations and the jack post is solid, but the sheet metal is rather thin in spots. I'd like to replace the sheet metal, but replacement stampings are rather pricey, especially for the small pieces I'd need from it. On the other hand, McMaster sells galvanneal sheet -- I can get a 2'x2' panel for less than half of one of the pre-formed parts, and have plenty left over. I guess we'll see once I get the rest of the old reinforcement out.