The '76 - doing it right this time, Finishing the interior Options

[76-914]

In 2009 I bought this '76 from The LeMay Museum. It had been donated to the museum by one of their members. They in turn decided to sell it and use the proceeds towards other projects they had in their inventory. Google them and you'll see it would not have been a good fit.
Upon delivery I discovered there were areas where rust had staked it's claim. The sail panels had, as I now know, the usual rust; the battery tray and the area immediately behind it plus a small area on top of the long beneath; and finally a few spots along the front rain channel.
To say I was distraught would be an understatement. Thirteen years and 2 more 914's later I know it was a good deal. Did I mention I paid $1600 for it delivered. The longs were solid as was the rest of the car. I removed the wiring mess for the car alarm & CB radio then reconnected all the wires to their original terminals. Next I replaced the Fuel Pump relay, added gas. After a turn of the key it coughed, farted and started. That's pretty much the Reader's Digest version but little more was done than that.
I hadn't worked on any cars since I was a teen and none of those needed rust repair. However, after building an airplane years earlier, I had some experience with aluminum and fiberglass. Do you see where this is going?
I thought it time that I go back and do a proper repair job on the old girl. Don't get me wrong. I thought that the aluminum angle patch pieces on the rain channel, the fiberglass in the Hell Hole and Bondo on the sail panels was "good enough"! Looking back, I didn't know Shit from Apple Butter.
It has remained as such but Since both of my Subaru conversions are basically finished, sans a paint job on the '73, I decided to go back and correct my "Get're done" repairs. I bought the rail repair pieces from 914rubber which in turn gave me an excuse to buy a metal shrinker/stretcher.
Bore yourself if you will, as there are more interesting and detailed metal restorations going on here, but I thought I'd better post these improvements for the next owner.

1 of 4


2 of 4 and I just noticed I need to resize my camera so bear with me. The next update will have more pics per post.

[76-914]

Six weeks since an update but I have a valid excuse or two. I've always lived by this motto; In life you either have reasons or results. So here are my reasons for the lapse in posting. My wife and I went to Europe for what was to be 15 days. After one week we were quarantined in Frankfort for the next 10 days with Covid at the downtown Hilton Hotel. Three thousand Euro's later we were allowed to depart Germany and return home. I was weaker than a politicians promise during elections but finally got back to the metal repairs 3 days ago. I ended up repairing one section twice because the metal was too thin. I discovered that out when welding in a patch piece. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif) I still need to weld in the right rear jack point panel, a piece on the bottom of the long and the new battery tray/stand. I'm sure there will be a few pin holes to weld up after grinding down the welds but in my world that's to be expected. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/hissyfit.gif)

This was my first attempt at repairing the panel behind the battery tray. After I ground down the welds I discovered that the metal was too thin in that small section midway up the left side where it juts out. The reason that I only replaced a small area (that small jutted out section) is because there are compound curvatures outside that which I wanted to avoid.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/slap.gif) The biggest repair piece was the easiest (where you see "BEND" written) to fab and replace. You can also see the the repair on the top of the long in this pic. I used 14ga there.





This is the section I cut out to correct the first attempt at a repair. Section 1&2 ended up being one piece with a bend. Section 3 was a PITA. It had 2 "S" bends and took a few extra cuss words to fit.



And finally the two pieces in place. Look closely at the bottom pic and you'll see the curvatures I spoke of.