Fender Damage - Trip to the Frame Straightener?

[AlexGross]

Hi all. I am in the process of chasing some rust out of the front trunk of a 1975 911S. I just finished replacing the fuel-tank support member and was about to scuff and re-paint the interior of the trunk when I noticed some cracked welds just below/in-front of the passenger-side strut mount.


Then I noticed more and more wrinkles and evidence of a front passenger impact along the whole length of the inner fender. I ground down the undercoating to expose the worst of the wrinkles and took some rough measurements to try to assess the damage (see photos)

I measured the corner-to-corner distance of the front trunk opening and there is a 1/4" difference, indicating that the front passenger side of the car has been pushed back and in towards the centerline of the car.

Unfortunately I think this is going to require a frame straightener, but I was wondering if anyone has some advice on how to better quantify the damage. I don't have any frame jigs or other body work tools, but if there are some commonly referenced datums or relative measurements that are done in this sort of scenario.










I'm pretty bummed as I was just getting some momentum on this project, but I am thinking that maybe while it's in the body shop I will just have them knock out all the little welding projects I have been chipping away at.

Anyway, let me know if you have any advice or thoughts on this!

Cheers!

[bpu699]

Good luck finding someone with the right cellette jig. I live near Chicago and milwaukee, not small cities. No one had it... most frame shops are leary to pull a 911 frame...

[AlexGross]

Originally Posted by bpu699

Good luck finding someone with the right cellette jig. I live near Chicago and milwaukee, not small cities. No one had it... most frame shops are leary to pull a 911 frame...

Thank you...yes I am concerned about that as I live in a small rural city. When I had the head's rebuilt, the nearest (and only) air-cooled shop I could find was over an hour away in Seattle.

Any PNW folks have a recommendation of a good shop?

Worst case scenario I will just cut out / replace the rust and rot, clean up and weld the cracked sections, repaint it and let it ride.

[jjeffries]

I'm from the NE, as opposed to the NW, but you guys sure do seem to have some major p-car talent in your (admittedly large) state, so I imagine the are shops who could help. That said, it should be understood that it does not HAVE to be a Celette bench/jig ... a properly trained/experienced bodyshop tech can do what you need with any decent unibody clamping, measuring and pulling system. The risk of you just cutting out old and welding in new is not only that you may not get to the true end of the damage, but you may also leave unseen and stressed damaged metal, ripe for future failure. As was alluded to above, you need to find someone who not only understands HOW to do it, but also who WANTS to do it. There is no magic or mystery to the 911 shell, but you don't want an insensitive knucklehead let loose on your car, either. Another truism: you really need this to be right, so trailering your car to the right shop/guy would be a sensible investment now to get the foundation set up right before you further build it up. Best of luck, John/Connecticut

[stujelly]

Originally Posted by bpu699

Good luck finding someone with the right cellette jig. I live near Chicago and milwaukee, not small cities. No one had it... most frame shops are leary to pull a 911 frame...

I believe accumoto in madisson has the parts for the cellette. They did mine

[RSBob]

The best body shop on the Eastside for Porsche is Queen City. They are the only Porsche certified body shop in Washington and have a couple of Cellettes. They have worked on my A6, 914-6 and SC and their work is next to flawless and they 100% stand behind their work. Highly recommended.

[JT912]

Just a pet peeve, Porsche’s are unibody and don’t have frames.

[nathanbs]

Originally Posted by JT912

Just a pet peeve, Porsche’s are unibody and don’t have frames.

When it comes to collision repair databases it’s either frame labor or body labor. There is not a unibody labor option

[AlexGross]

Thank you for the input guys, I definitely want to get this fixed properly. I would prefer not to have to trailer it too far, so I'm going to see if any of the custom shops around would be comfortable working on this. I am going to call around tomorrow and see what I can turn up. If I find a good shop up here (Sedro-Woolley, WA) I'll make sure to share that here.

[john walker's workshop]

Look up Danny Gherman. DG Vintage Coachworks. He has a celette bench and loves 911s. Lives in Marysville and his shop is in Sultan. I have his number if you need it.

[AlexGross]

Originally Posted by john walker's workshop

Look up Danny Gherman. DG Vintage Coachworks. He has a celette bench and loves 911s. Lives in Marysville and his shop is in Sultan. I have his number if you need it.

John, thank you for the info, I will definitely reach out to him!

[john walker's workshop]

https://www.instagram.com/dgvintagecoachworks/

[bpu699]

Anyone have a ballpark number on what straightening the frame on a cellette might cost? Seems involved, all wheels and suspension off, etc...

I assume most folks drop off a car, and not just a frame...

[john walker's workshop]

How long is this rope? That's an inner fender replacement if I ever seen one.

[AlexGross]

Talked to Danny from DG Vintage and hes going to come up this weekend and take a look to assess the situation. So grateful for this community of fellow enthusiasts. Once I get this fixed I will follow up with the details of the repair and a little cost summary. Looking forward to getting this done.

Hopefully they will just be able to pull & patch this, but the shortest and best path forward may be a wholesale inner fender replacement...but I know that will be mucho $$$. Fingers crossed that it is in better shape than it looks.

Cheers