Repainting the 914: Down to metal, always?, Curious to get your thoughts Options

[horizontally-opposed]

So I'm curious to see what the collected wisdom and experience here says -- and I'd like to hear from those who are NOT/have NOT stripped the car of every part for a "rotisserie" style restoration.

This is for those of us with running, driving 914s considering a paint job yet less than enthusiastic about disassembling the whole car.

I'd especially like to hear from Dr. 914 and others who have restored multiple 914s over time and seen how the paint jobs held up. Is a rust bubble the kiss of death for all surrounding metal?

Thanks, (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

pete

[jk76.914]

I too was worried about being able to get as durable a paint job as the factor, and also about removing paint from areas where I could never replace it. So I dipped my doors, engine lid, and headlight covers. Then I had the trunk lids blasted, to keep the paint plus Ziebart intact in the channels.

That pretty much left the four fenders, and after cutting them out for flares, there wasn't much of them either. My car had been repainted, back in '80, so I could hand sand the fenders and use the different paint layer colors as a depth gauge. I took it down to a mottled mix of original primer and original color, mostly primer.

My car was virtually rust-free. Trunks and engine compartment were Zeibarted after that repaint in '80. Terrible stuff to live with, especially in the trunks, but after soaking it off with solvent and rags, it had done it's job. I left it on the undersides, just cleaned it and freshened up the wheelwells.

Every car is different and needs its own strategy. The hybrid approach worked for me.

[crash914]

Hi Jim, looks great!

I got your pressure plate and flywheel.

Hijack over....

I too was worried about being able to get as durable a paint job as the factor, and also about removing paint from areas where I could never replace it. So I dipped my doors, engine lid, and headlight covers. Then I had the trunk lids blasted, to keep the paint plus Ziebart intact in the channels.

That pretty much left the four fenders, and after cutting them out for flares, there wasn't much of them either. My car had been repainted, back in '80, so I could hand sand the fenders and use the different paint layer colors as a depth gauge. I took it down to a mottled mix of original primer and original color, mostly primer.

My car was virtually rust-free. Trunks and engine compartment were Zeibarted after that repaint in '80. Terrible stuff to live with, especially in the trunks, but after soaking it off with solvent and rags, it had done it's job. I left it on the undersides, just cleaned it and freshened up the wheelwells.

Every car is different and needs its own strategy. The hybrid approach worked for me.