1987 3.2 Carrera Backdate project - Sladeys hotrod

[MT]

Hello Mark,

When you say the ridged section in this photo



I think what you're looking at is the support for the seat rail. The photo below is from my swb, but I think they're all basically the same. You'll see where the base of mine had rotted out and I had to fab a new piece before rebuilding the floor. Remember the car is upside down on the spinner in the photos. Not sure why you can see it so clearly though - has the floorpan dropped down in the photo?



You can just see it in this shot of the lwb as well



As long as the base edge where it is spot-welded to the floorpan is solid then you are ok - you just need the floor-edge piece. You can get that as a repair panel if you haven't already got some.

Mick

[Jonny Hart]

Good luck with this Mark.

I know every car is different but It seems to me that on the whole, 3.2’s are more prone to rot than SC's.

Does this coincide with poorer quality steel or something?

[sladey]

Hello Mark,

I think what you're looking at is the support for the seat rail. The photo below is from my swb, but I think they're all basically the same. You'll see where the base of mine had rotted out and I had to fab a new piece before rebuilding the floor. Remember the car is upside down on the spinner in the photos. Not sure why you can see it so clearly though - has the floorpan dropped down in the photo?



As long as the base edge where it is spot-welded to the floorpan is solid then you are ok - you just need the floor-edge piece. You can get that as a repair panel if you haven't already got some.

Mick

Thanks for that mick. That makes a lot of sense. I don't think the floor pan has dropped down though - I think it's the angle I took the photo from - I'm right down on the floor.

Aside from the (admittedly scary) corrosion I've shown, the other bits I'm dealing with are generally very solid.

It's this slight uncertainty as to what is going where that is stopping me from repairing this bit in isolation.
I will make some measurements from the current position of the floor edge though - maybe mark a line 300mm from the edge of the floor/sill seam - so there's no doubt when I come to put the repair section in

I've already bought the floor edge repair panel in readiness (along with porsche inner sill, outer sill, jacking point, and door jamb)

[sladey]

Good luck with this Mark.

I know every car is different but It seems to me that on the whole, 3.2’s are more prone to rot than SC's.

Does this coincide with poorer quality steel or something?

Thanks Johnny. I can't comment on the SC/3.2 thing as I've no experience of any car other than my own.

I should point out that my own car has been used more than most - it's been my daily driver since 1999 and has over 250,000 miles on the clock.

it also wasn't helped by bodywork that was done 7 years ago where nothing was done to stop damage that had already occurred, and what repair work was done wasn't properly protected. hey ho, you live and learn

This time I'm intending to do it right.

[jury]

This time I'm intending to do it right.

Keep at it mate, It'll all be worthwhile in the end !

Looking forward to the next update


Chris

[sladey]

What a difference a day makes......

OK, so being aware that this weekend is a no-no as far as the car is concerned I found myself with the afternoon off.

Started by making a bar to measure the space behind the rear wing - attaching at the point where it's going to be cut


Then start applying a bit of heat wher the door jamb meets the sill



A bit more heat and scraping and the line is clear


Let's cut!


Someone has done an 'interesting' bodge near the kidney bowl


Some more cutting and we end up with this!


Looking through it all I'm quite pleased. I knew it was bad but it's no worse than I thought. The bit underneath the door hinge has a couple of small bits to be patched but otherwise is sound. the other bits that are crap are what I expected and I've got all new bits for them.

I started drilling out the spot welds then - that's not too bad a job but there are a lot of them.

[Bootsy]

Go go SuperSlade

[Gary71]

Cool. Looks so much better once you cut enough back and see the scale of the job.

[Lightweight_911]

That's encouraging - I was expecting you to find that it was much worse than you had thought it was going to be.

A good afternoon's work I'd say.

[grannysmith]

Wow Mark, absolutely in awe. I know we've chatted about DIY car resto but you're showing some extra minerals there! If I ever end up in that place it'll be a call to the pro's.

Best of luck... as Tom said "go go SuperSlade"

[964RS]

GO SLADEY!!!!

Won't be long till your back on the road again looking like this....

[Gary71]

I hope not!

Whilst I'm always in awe of the cheque book restorations we sometimes see on DDK the honest DIY side is where my heart is.

Go Sladey

[sladey]

Thanks guys. Probably no more progress now for another week.

[sladey]

Managed to scrounge a bit of time his afto

This is the bit of wing I cut off


This edge I'm holding in the picture below is the edge with the door jamb. The wing is spot welded onto the door jamb, but they smooth over them so you can't see them from the outside


Turning it over you can see a couple of them


A bit of heat and scraping and the spot welds are visible, ready for drilling out


It's handy working on this bit off the car as I'll have to repeat the process for the remainder of the door jamb that's still on the car, but it's good to get used to what's needed on the bench

Big thanks to Jon for this info - I'd have been lost without his help.

[DustyM]

Looks like its going well Mark, I spent this morning doing the same thing on a customers car, all good fun.....