Its the final countdown, progress thread Options

[type11969]

I've had this 71 for 3 years now and I've only driven it for 10 minutes before I bought it. I figure if I haven't made serious progress by the spring, she is getting stripped and scrapped. You'll see why. Its probably only a parts car, but I want to learn how to weld, and if I can get this thing back on the road, I think I will be well on my way. I'll start from the beginning:

The exterior, looks harmless enough:
(IMG:http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b188/type11969/914/914.jpg)

The interior, looks pretty good (wait, what was that saying about wrapping a piece of poo in a pretty package):

(IMG:http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b188/type11969/914/914012.jpg)

Long looks okay at first glance:

(IMG:http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b188/type11969/914/914009.jpg)

Wait, umm, is this factory installed golf ball sized hunks of epoxy and bondo:

(IMG:http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b188/type11969/914/111404015.jpg)

Yum:

(IMG:http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b188/type11969/914/111404010.jpg)

Delicious:

(IMG:http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b188/type11969/914/111404012.jpg)

Craptacular:

(IMG:http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b188/type11969/914/914-2018.jpg)

Brace yourself (also have another brace running to the drivers side door jamb, couldn't find that pic):

(IMG:http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b188/type11969/914/111404001.jpg)

Couldn't find any pics of the lovely riveting and brazing job a PO did with re-attaching the portion of the fender below the sail, but I hacked that focker off:

(IMG:http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b188/type11969/914/121304002.jpg)

Mmm, clean:

(IMG:http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b188/type11969/914/121304013.jpg)

Also found after removing the interior that the passenger side was once used as a pool, the entire lower inner corner of the long and bulkhead was gone. PO crappily arc welded a new floorpan in, but didn't fix any of the other damage:

(IMG:http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b188/type11969/914/Picture069.jpg)

(IMG:http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b188/type11969/914/Picture070.jpg)

(IMG:http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b188/type11969/914/Picture071.jpg)

(IMG:http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b188/type11969/914/111404002.jpg)

Quick break, then pics of the repairs so far . . .

[dr914@autoatlanta.com]

my only two comments here are:

1 What a hero to save this 914!
2 Why hours and hours and hours and hours and hours of patching when aftermarket panels are readily available, cheap would have saved hours and hours of hard labor, kept the car more factory original, made it stronger, more valuable, and made it last much much longer?

[type11969]

Car is a parts car, I reviewed your website, and to buy the panels needed I would be way over the purchase price of the car. Simply not worth it in my book. Plus I only would have needed sections of parts you have available. You aren't talking about complicated parts here either, fabbing isn't that difficult, moreover, I find it enjoyable and a good stress reliever.

From the outside, the repairs I have made will be pretty damn close to factory original. And I know my repairs are as strong as original since they are modeled after what was there originally. Question for you, are your repair panels thickened in areas where Porsche had mulitple layers (like in the long and many other places in the "frame")? Or are they simply the mulitple layer thickness throughout? From the pics it seems like they are only single layer, so either they are too thin (compared to original) or too heavy (again, using original as the benchmark).

More valueable? Again, if it looks stock from the outside . . .

Last much longer? Ummm, you have somehow sourced a grade of steel better than mine? I don't remember posting the material specs of what I was using anywhere . . . (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

my only two comments here are:

1 What a hero to save this 914!
2 Why hours and hours and hours and hours and hours of patching when aftermarket panels are readily available, cheap would have saved hours and hours of hard labor, kept the car more factory original, made it stronger, more valuable, and made it last much much longer?