I am in the process of de-rusting my '72 targa. I've done the front suspension pan and I am just about finished with the left rocker panels. These two projects were greatly helped by searchs and querries to the Forum, and particularly DarrylD's wonderful web page about his 912 restoration, which were enormously beneficial. However, I can't find any info on my next "project"....see below...
When I removed the left lockpost to fix the rocker panel, I saw an awful rusty mess under the left rear fender just under the targa bar.
It was hard to get to, but I managed to get virtually all of the rusty bits out and to my surprise the outer surface of the unibody looks to be in very good shape. I remember reading that this part of the car was galvanized in '72.
Unfortunately, there is some rust in the quarterpanel between where the filler plate meets the targa bar that will need repair. The rust holes were filled with putty and painted over by a PO.
My plan is to cut a section out of the quarterpanel (see white line in the figure below) to give me some room for welding in the new filler plate and to repair the rusted sheetmetal in the fender. Of course I will have to remove and eventually replace the rear window (shudder!).
I searched the archives extensively and didn't find anything on this. Surprising since so many people have targas out there. Has anyone out there done this repair and have any advice beyond this? I expect someone will suggest that it be done on a Celette but that isn't a reasonable option for me. Will I need to weld in support bars to stablize the unibody? The rust I've seen so far isn't terrible - the floors and inner longitudinals look very solid and the unibody appears to be very rigid. The targa bar seems solid. Best I can judge, the targa bar extensions fix between the inner and out sections of the unibody on this side. I think that the filler plate is there for additional support. Unfortunately, I have the same problem is present on the right side where the filler plate is hidden behind the oil tank and the oil filler compartment (yeh it had to be a '72!).
The filler plate, in case you haven't seen one looks like this....
Any suggestions?