1st Post, Short Intro, New Wheelhouse Refinishing Question

[Wazook84]

Hello, My name is Scott W, lifelong suburbanite of Buffalo, NY.
I started doing auto body repair, collision, restoration, refinishing in my dad's little shop at age 13 in 1980. I went from helper to mid-management in some of the biggest shops in the area over the years but am now happily working as a body tech in a small shop that specializes in German makes.

In 1984 I picked up an issue of Road & Track which featured the 1st factory 911 Turbo Look in guards red on the cover. I knew right away, it was the car I wanted. In August 1988 I found a 79 SC (in turnkey condition) that I could afford. My cousin was playing pro hockey in Germany at the time and sent me factory flares, rockers, & qtr extensions along with aftermarket front/rear spoilers. That 1st winter I converted the SC to the Turbo Look.

I'm in the process of doing a light restoration/refinish on the car and can't find any info on the following question: How much, if any, black paint or shutz did the factory apply to the BODY/CHASSIS part of the wheelhouse?
I've restored several each of the long hood 911 and 914's, as well as several short hood cars.
All of the early cars just ended up with full body color in the wheelhouse and the later cars just got "blacked out"
On my car it looks fairly obvious that the complete car was painted, then some black applied to the wheelhouse. This black is almost impossible to remove, so it's not some spray can junk.
Any info appreciated.
Thanks,
Scott

Here's the car in 8/88


This is 8/89


Current status


Driver side rear wheelhouse

[tdw28210]

Sure that black is not aftermarket anti-rust goop; aka Zeibart, etc?

[da Vinci Dan]

That black is not factory. Factory applied cosmoline.

[da Vinci Dan]

This is from the 89 currently in the “for sale” forum. It’s an excellent example of factory look.

[LIRS6]

Factory undercoating i would have thought, although your example has far less than my ‘79 SC





(Color look familiar?)

Jason

[Wazook84]

I did find some cosmoline behind the front strut down near the tie rod recess.
Not sure if the black is Zeibart/rustproofing because it is only on the chassis side of the wheelhouse and there is nothing on the bottom of the floor pan or other areas that would require protection.
It's also a California spec car that I bought when it was just 9 yrs old.
Perhaps someone used a very durable rustproofing to "black out" the areas, but I've never worked with any aftermarket product that was this tough. It's not too easy to get something to stick to the original shutz/paint combo without at least scuffing/sanding the areas to be covered and I can't imagine anyone going to all that trouble just to make the area black, or rustproof.
LIRS6: always nice to see another Casablanca car.

Thanks to everyone so far.

Regards,
Scott

[tdw28210]

If you want to remove everything, get your grinder out and attach one of these. A twisted end wire wheel. They work better than most other tools.