Starting a 1973 restoration, Restoring a left for dead $500 914... Options

[FourBlades]

Hello 914 World Members!

I am starting on restoring a $500 914 that was left in a field for several years with no windshield. The car belonged to the POs older brother and thus has sentimental value. The sold it to me on the condition that I not part it out. I was looking for a project so this was fine with me. This is my first restoration project so I figured I would learn a lot (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

The car is a mixture of really good sections, appears to have suffered no major accidents, is straight, never been repainted--but it has totally rusted out floors and hell hole. All the suspension mounting points are not rusted. The door gaps are all even and good. If I can replace the floors, I think it will be a good straight car. Many small parts were stolen while it was "stored" and the wiring loom is a complete loss.

Thanks for any comments...John

[FourBlades]

Thanks for the encouragement. I can see this is a road many of you have taken already. It looks like the floor pan is a total loss. I pried up a lot of the tar and the floor is basically falling out. The lower, inner edges of the longs are rusted through, the rest is not too bad.

It is finally cool enough down here in FL to work outside and be somewhat comfortable. Brevard county is nice but you get tired of the humidity all the time.

If the inside edge of the longs are rusted out (the part closest to the cabin) and the floor pan needs replacing, should I replace the floor pan first and then patch the longs or the other way around? I assume the floor pan is spot welded to the bottom of the inner long, right?