914 Rustoration - plodding on.

[fourteener]

I agree with Nige. But worse has been restored. That 73 2.7 911 that's been rebuilt on the 911 forum makes interesting reading...Initially I thought the shell looked quite sound.

911 restoration

[Bewildebeest]

You are assuming you'll have it finished pretty quickly then!

Ouch !!

I take the view that if it takes me 20 years to get mine how I want it, it'll be worth a fortune and I can retire off it.

My retirement was when I was planning to drive it !!

Full marks on wanting to fix it up, rather than give up on it and buy a 'better' one, I say.
I have to work on mine, simply because it is mine - I'm sort of loyal that way.

I think you've summed up my attitude perfectly. Even if I did win the lottery I think I'd still do it myself - have to pass the time somehow.

Nige, thanks for the offer - I'll give you a call and make a date in January.

[Bewildebeest]

Did some light digging over the hol and not surprisingly the rh side looked like this
.

The other side was the same. It will be another couple of weeks before I lift it (carefully) to assess the state of the floor.

Question for those in the know - the small triangular fillets - there's one just right of centre in the photo - are they part of the sill repair panel or are they available separately ? The various pics I've seen on Pelican, Atlanta etc don't seem to show them.

[Ian Gunney]

Good luck - my '14 shell was about a foot shorter at the front than it should have been when I bought it (I still haven't forgiven the old man for his 'it won't be too bad to repair analysis' - mind you, he was the one that ended up doing it! Thankfully my shell other than being short was very sound.

anyway, skip 8 years and now it is looking like one day soon it will be ready - complete with f/g lids, bumpers, 7 and 8 inch Fuchs, 930 turbo brakes, big arches ..... and a lot more money than Mrs Gunney will ever know about

keep us all posted on the progress

[Bewildebeest]

Thanks for the encouragement.

.... and a lot more money than Mrs Gunney will ever know about

LOL indeed. I think perfecting this technique is the secret of a good marriage.

When are you and it due out ? I'd like to come and watch. I assume you're an uphill racer ?

[fourteener]

The triangular pieces are part of the threshold plate (step) and are available. You could bend some sheet metal quite easily and make some though

You may have seen this thread before but it's just brilliant how this owner resuscitated his 914.
914 restro -The thread shows step by step what you're looking at

from this


to this

[912uk]

that's once of the best stories I have followed in ages really enjoyed seeing the car come togeather from a nasty repair area..

[Barry]

Yes, I've just read the whole thread: very good indeed. The way that he approached everything looked very sensible: liked the way he supported the car well, and the use of the home-made jig for the rear suspension tower position .

The one thing that struck me was how good the outer paint looked: presumably the car had been tarted up quite well despite the nasty rusting.

Bewildebeest: certainly gives loads of really good info here, good luck with everything .

[Bewildebeest]

Thanks Fourteener - that's a brilliant thread. I'm a lot wiser now - but not necessarily happier ! Need to go and have a think.

[fourteener]

It is a brilliant read and the owner repaired it about a year ago but I have kept the thread in my favourites -Almost as good as one of yours Barry

[Barry]

Awww, shucks .

.

[912uk]

Barry what do you think to the welding on that car..?

I now have my welder welding just about the same.. but as soon as you bend the wire it f***s up..

just ordered new wheel and liner..

may go and get Argon as well.... but the Co2 is doing ok at the mo..

welding much better now and on not very think metal..pactice pactice I did't know I was that out of pactice...

[Barry]

Sorry Bewildebeest, don't want to start a hyjack, but I suppose it's all relevent .... as for the welding on the 'featured' car, I would say that it would be possible to get it neater (but not much), but if you notice, there are a few shots of the welder's earth lead that look pretty lightweight.

If that's the case, it would be fair to assume he's not using a really up-market machine. So given that his welds have penetrated well, clean up nicely and are very consistent, I reckon it's all very good. I also think that he's been very honest with his photo's: i.e. they're very sharp so any defect would show, plus he's not shyed (sp?) away from showing the welds that haven't come out so neatly, so good on him.

I think the only thing that struck me was how far apart he'd got his plug welds: for these really structural bits, I would probably have them at about 20mm centres (his look to be more like 30-35mm). Might be a bit of an overkill, but will look the same once ground off, and certainly best to be on the safe side. (It's often better to put slightly more plugwelds in than the original factory spotwelds, because it's more likely that you might have the odd one that doesn't 'take'). Still think it's a credit to him though, especially as judging by his daily driver and various comments, restoration isn't his full time work: I love seeing this sort of thing .

As for the Bewildebeest mobile, as you say, you'll have a better ideal of the battle plan once the other side is stripped.

[fourteener]

Sorry to hijack also -912UK mentioned about Argon but I've not found that argon welds mild steel very well. when I tried it was very porous + 'spity' -I think that CO2 + argon is best

[912uk]

Sorry that's what I ment a mix..

I am off to BOC in 10mins so I might pick one up

The one thing I did Barry that improved the welder no end was to run a file over the earth clamp faces.. I left my big clamp on the welder I sold to Paul. But by cleaning the clamp the welder was transformed..

Still a great link.....