Olympic Blue / Silver metallic 1972 US Import 1.7L

[LMR]

Right, lots of photos to show what I have been doing. As I have written previously, my car has so surface rust but is not rotten. But to confirm that I am not wearing rose tinted spectacles, I wanted to have a good look at the metal work. Once I had the carpets and dashboard out, I found this.



I spent 2 mins wondering if I had bitten off more than I could chew, but then stopped prevaricating and got the power tools out. The bulkhead is a tricky one to work on as getting a comfortable position to work is difficult. I am not finished yet, but I am finding lots of solid metal



For a bit of light relief, I have been slipping the floor as well. The sound deadening is a well known water trap, so it has to come out. The photo below shows the rear of the passenger side floor.



To remove it, take these;



dress up like a lunatic (without doubt the worse selfie of me ever....)



and using elbow grease you end up with



and a few more power and air tools gives;



Still some work to do, but very relieved no gaping holes have appeared

[chief]

Looking like good progress there Phil. And yes, I have seen better photos of you, and many worse
Keep up the good work. I'll drop by Saturday if your at the unit?

[Darren C]

Good progress there Phil,

Glad you didn't find any holes. Mind you it does look like you got in there "just in time". I'd use a rust treatment on all the metal you've cleaned up. Something containing Phosphoric acid. There are numerous "rust eaters or converters" out there to choose from. However if you live near the sea or a marina, try a chandlers. They sell phosphoric acid (to scrub down yachts with) that comes in 5 litre drums. These are usually the same price as 100ml of the stuff in a fancy bottle from Halfords or similar and will last you ages.
Then maybe a quality rust encapsulator primer on top from Frosts (maybe a POR product or something similar)
That should stop it rusting again for many years.

[LMR]

Chief - doing some mechanical stuff for a mate this weekend, so not in the potting shed very much

Darren - mechanical removal followed by Wurth rust converter to the affected areas, followed by zinc chromate wash etch primer, then primer and two pack paint. This is one 914 that will never rust again! There are a couple of holes in the floor, so there will be some welding activity soon enough......

[LMR]

I am sure I could have got so much more done this weekend, but on Saturday I was distracted by ThreeTwo's 914 (great to meet you!) and by a chat with Chief. And the sun was out so the 964 was given a decent run. Today I have put some time in, and have been finding more shiny bare metal. Photo below is of the bulkhead. I spent a lot of time deciding of how to proceed in this area as the paint was fine but cover in adhesive, and the seam sealer from the factory is incredibly think and i wanted to ensure there were no horrors hiding. As the photo shows - it is almost perfect so far. some very minor repairs required, but nothing to get worried about - apart from my hand is still vibrating after using the angle grinder...........!

[Canarydelia]

All looking good! Hope to hear more about it on Friday!

[LMR]

More stripping done this weekend - not the most riveting of photos, so none added to the post. The great news is, lots of solid metal being found!!

[LMR]

I have been making use of the extra time this weekend. I have continued removing paint in the cabin - which is a rewarding exercise when I keep finding super shiny metal

I also decided it was time to go and investigate the hell hole. So, I removed the battery tray, which to be fair, I did mostly by hand..... The battery tray support put up a better fight, so needed some assistance from the spot weld drill. But it didn't take long to get this out.



Then after some time with the wire brush, I have this.



Yes, some welding is required, but having seen the state of some of the 914s in this world, I would say I am in a good place
I had the foresight to buy repair panels a while ago. I won't have to use the full extent of the panels, which is very pleasing. I won't be doing this complex welding myself, and it will be 4 to 6 weeks until there is a further update on this front.

As a distraction from paint stripping, and that I had access to a tool and someone who could operate it, I moved my attention to the front of the car. The front right wing around the indicator has always looked a little out of shape compared to the left side. Today, with temporary access to a spot welder, the wing was pulled out (thanks Mark!). I have put a photo below,I will try and upload a video later which shows the work in progress.



With that done I have started to strip the headlamps out. The headlamp bowls are in excellent condition!!!

Happy Easter.

[LMR]

A more gentle day today. Obviously I need to get the body sorted before I refit anything, but equally I can be getting on with addressing sub-assemblies and have items ready for when the refit happens. Today I have stripped out the headlamp assembly and taken the left hand drive headlamp unit out. I already have the correct right hand drive headlamps ready to fit (Thanks Lenny!)



I am going to get these powder coated. Does anyone know what colour they would have been when they left the factory? Zinc coated?

Are the plastic bushes on the pivots for the headlamps still available? Does anyone have a part number?

I am also in the process of cleaning up the indicator assemblies. The units are in reasonable condition.



I will be carrying out the mod to incorporate the side lamps into the housing, and will upgrade to euro spec lenses. How much plating should there be on the inside of the indicator housing?

Finally, I will get the wiring diagram out and test the headlamp motors (unless someone knows which wires I need to power up?). Has anyone ever had their motors refurbished? I am not after a concours finish, but would like a less corroded look.......

[Mr Pharmacist]

Looks like you are making good progress!

Check Darren's thread to see if he refurbed his motors? If not I'm sure he has a solution!

[Green Ernie]

Hi Phil, where do you get your powder coating done? I've got a few bits that need doing.

Cheers

[LMR]

I'll get back to you on the powder coating. My last fella died, so am checking out a new company.

[LMR]

Quick update for today. I have been stripping out the second headlamp assembly. Just for a bit of a boost to gain another shiny bit, I cleaned up the headlamp surround.

Before



After



I still need to finish polishing them. I will also apply waxoyl to the inner faces before storing them

[LMR]

The de-rusting continues. A quick shot of the driver side sill



I am sure a few of you are thinking this is taking a long time to do. Well, it is! It is a horrible messy job. The shot below is not the etherial glow of hard work, it is a rust dust cloud.



The car continues to surprise in a positive sense. As the first photo shows, the sills are very good. The cross member under the seat is very average, so I have ordered a new one.

[Darren C]

Keep up the good work, it's going to be well worth it in the end.
Even if you do have rusty dirt bogies coming out your nose for a week