Body Work Advice

[1972_911t]

When I bought my car it had had an engine fire, I stripped the entire engine bay and por15'd it and then applied new stone chip for a close to oe look. In the fire the left hand wheel arch had also been badly burnt taking off most off the under seal up untill now I havnt done anything with this because I carnt make my mind up how to proceed. The problem is with the engine bay everything was easy to get to with a wire wheel on a grinder so clening up the metal was easy, however under the top of the wheel arch theres an area of panel that dissapers under bump from inside the engine bay where the wing seam's to the inner wing. The underseal in this area is badly burnt and the steel is rusting I could just prep the parts I can see and get to however im worried that if I dont tackle this corrosion I will end up needing an new inner and outer wing down the line.

Heres some pictures of what im talking about.






What do you think the best option is to preserve these panels, would it be best to cut a section of the rear 1/4 out to get to this rust?

or

In the next year or so I intend to have this shell stripped to bare metal by having it sandblasted then acid etch primed, would it be best just to paint what I can get to with por15 to preserve it for now then tackle it better when I have it bare metal'd?

Which I think could still involve cutting a section of panel out as I carnt see any realistic way of getting to the section of seam above the bump. Possibly be better to tackle it by cutting through the inner wing from inside the engine bay so as not to distort the outer 1/4?

Any advice appreciated Steve

[Nick Moss]

The only proper way to deal with that is to take off the whole quarter which seems rather extreme. In the mean time you could just wire brush what you can reach, etch, prime and paint than get loads of waxoyle into the untreated area until you strip the car completely next year.

[1972_911t]

Hi Nick When the car is stripped for blasting do you think a good body worker could remove the 1/4 to attend to this area and refit the same 1/4 or will removal damage it?

Thanks Steve

[Nick Moss]

Hmmm. I would need to ask my bodtwork guy. He is away until Tuesday, then I'm away till the week after.

[davidppp]

hello, Steve.

If the quarter is really really good, this is possibly a reasonable thing to do..but will not be cheap!.

the cut needs to be done along the channel, and when rewelded will inevitably lose some of the paint you wanted to put on the inner wing in the first place... To remove the quarter by drilling out spot welds etc is much more difficult, and i have never done it..

I have just done exactly this r+R so its fresh in my mind..

blasting works, but is very prone to rippling and you will likely need to replace quarters anyway if they are blasted.

I would use a bent paintbrush to coat the hidden bit, then use a rattle can, ..all with 100% zinc...then masses of any paint you can find, then loads of waxoyl, or Tectyl...redone yearly this will lasst years..
Inner arch liners are a great idea IMHO.

Full baremetalling, blasting etc, is best seen as part of a full resto with new quarters, inner and outwer sills, usually part of the boxes, and part or all of the pans..all IMHO..

ie a totally bare bare tub -up build..

Kind regards
David

[1972_911t]

Hi David So do you not think a bare metal job is worth doing unless you change all the panels you listed above? even if the panels that you can visualise are good?

Steve

[Alan @ CanfordClassics]

The issue is with any resto work is that there comes a point where it makes economic sense to go further? For example when a shell is started to be stripped down, you start to think of, changing the rubbers, fitting new bushes, then bearings, cables, and oh the trim looks old and the motor leaks and first gear crunches and before you know it the ££ have built up and time has passed. If possible I would try and repair what you have, unless you want to go further with more resto work in mind at a later date.

I am having a completely stripped shell blasted next week by early911, and will post some pictures when I have them.

Good luck

Alan

[1972_911t]

Alan what if any panels do you intend to change as matter of cause? or do you wait unitll the shell is stripped then assess the panels when stripped to bare metal?

The way I look at it is my car needs a full respray when I bought it most of the back end paint was burnt and I have already took both 1/4's, engine lid, bonnet and bumpers to bare metal, the rest of the paint was in bad condition having come from new mexico it was sunfaded and cracked. As a tempeary measure I gave the car a full respray to get the car back on the road untill I could save up enough cash to have it done properly. From what I can tell from bits I have stripped the car seems to have very little rust, however the under seal has obvious cracks which if left unattended will result in sever rust especially on UK roads. Hence as it needs fully painting and undersealing I think the best way for a longterm usable shell if to have it blasted to reveal any areas that need attention and also because most of the current coatings are unserviceable. Im sure once the shell is stripped to bare metal there will be areas that need attention that are not obvious at the minute, but is there panels such as sills etc that should be removed as part of this work even if on the surface the seem solid?

Thanks Steve

[davidppp]

Hello, Steve.

The answer really depends on money.

If you are planning to get a real good car and keep it or sell it for good money, you will need to do it all, and it will probably be justifiable.

Budget , for r+r and repair rear quarters, front wings, sills inner and oputer kidney bowls jack points blasting repair boxes repair or replace pans, strip to tub, repaint and rebuild...say 10k..

if you want agood soild driver, just do the sills iner and oouter kidneys b posts jack points..maybe 1.5K .

IMHO the sills etc as above are always worht doing..

Quite a difference..

IIRC your car is not stock, and may not be worth the full-on epic..once you start tracking it, you will find much better uses for your budget than bodywork!

Kind regards
David

[Alan @ CanfordClassics]

Hi Steve,

My car is stripped to a bare shell, they also removed the rear wings. You are right about only seeing things when the car is stripped and panels removed. I have some pictures that I will post soon that show exactly this.

So far I am having new:
Rear wings including the B posts, front wings, inner and outer sills, front tank support and front floor, wing joining plates, OS floor edge plus some others

I also completely stripped all the original under seal off the car before it is going to get blasted. This takes approx 2 or 3 days and is not that much fun. The amount of surface rusty areas under the under seal is clear evidence that all the under seal should be stripped of for any full resto. The worst areas are where the floor (or any area with under seal) becomes dented or chipped, the rust then starts to expand out from there. Again I have some pics that I will post on a new thread.

This kind of work is really only economically viable if a) you love the car and plan on keeping b) the car itself warrants the expense. This car is a rare RHD 2.2S in factory silver and hence the full resto.





Thanks

Alan

[Nick Moss]

Alan's shell is being sand blasted but I have another 2.2S that is being stripped by chemical cleaning. Here are pictures that I took of a RHD 69S that has just gone through that process and was then E-coated. This shell is in a really poor state and has had some terrible repairs made earlier in its life

[Graham]

Ive seen some bad cars but that repair around the torsion tube
In fact Steve Wrights 2.2S was'nt far off as bad as that,when I did that a few years ago!

[Barry]

Very classy: looks almost factory

Like the stripping/coating process, Nick: looks a great base to work from.

[davidppp]

bbbb b

[Nick Moss]

Like the stripping/coating process

The shell is put in an oven to burn all the sealer and paint off thenwashed in an alkaline solution to get rid of the ust. The E-coat is the same finish that you find on genuine Porsche panels and has an industry standard 1000 hour salt spray protection.

Steve Wrights 2.2S was'nt far off as bad as that

There is hope for all cars then.