Progress pictures - '68 rust work

MikeDL · 03:22 AM

I wanted to share some pictures - my '68 911T is back home after the first step in a total restoration -- two months of major structural rust work to replace the floor, rockers, and nose!

A discussion of the work and a full set of pictures is at
Karosserie

Shuie · 08-12-2005, 02:34 PM

Nice work Mike! Youre a better man than me. I would have run away screaming from that

Thomas Owen · 08-12-2005, 02:37 PM

That was a lot of rust - good work.

Jays72T · 08-12-2005, 02:40 PM

Brave man. Nice work.

kycarguy 935 · 08-12-2005, 03:08 PM

Good job. Thats alot of work and glad another one is saved.

DavidI · 08-12-2005, 08:00 PM

Good job Mike....

David

DarrylD · 09:12 AM

Hey Mike!

Thanks for the inspiration!

I'm just about to start on replacing the floor pans on my '66 912 and found the photos detailing the process very helpful. One thing I did notice in the following picture was how the original sheetmetal under the center tunnel was left intact on your car.

http://ladwigindustries.com/mike/68-911-1/generated/52.JPG

I was planning on removing the sheetmetal under my tunnel but now think why bother. The rust was limited to where water pooled under the floormats and the sheetmetal on the tunnel floor is very solid and would provide additional support if left intact.

I have also noticed the steel in my replacement pans is 18-gauge and the original stuff was about 25% thicker.

Any reason this would not be a good idea?

Darryl D.

svandamme · svandamme's Garage

wow

PhatRedHead · 08-13-2005, 10:19 AM

looks like how my car started out when i got it, you'll be VERY happy with the hard work put into it when its done

MikeDL · 08-13-2005, 12:31 PM

Thanks all. Brave? No - I have a lot of motivation to bring this particular car back - otherwise it's not a good choice!

Darryl: The only floor seam in the center that was swollen was in the very back by the tunnel, so we figured we'd replace all the way across the back half and then look up the tunnel to see what it looked like up front. Once cut open, you could see it was perfectly clean - no reason to disturb the original work. The worst rust (you can see it on the "before" pictures elsewhere in my web site) was in the 12 inches closest to the outer rockers so this wasn't unexpected. The floor pan, tunnel, and rockers do a lot to set the geometry of the car, so the more you can leave alone the easier it will be to get good door gaps.

DarrylD · 08-13-2005, 03:00 PM

Hey Mike!

That sounds like a great idea. I was studying the cross-section of the tunnel on my donor front clip and noticed the guide tubes for the throttle rod are welded to the floorpan sheetmetal.

I'd like to minimize critical alignment stuff like this that there is only one shot to get perfect. Seems like having a double thickness of sheetmetal on the bottom side of the tunnel is a small price to pay for knowing the control alignment hasn't been affected.

I don't delude myself into thinking two layers of steel on the bottom of the tunnel detracts from the value of the car when I'm finished in any way. It will never be factory original no matter how perfect of a welding job I do. I'm more interested in it looking great from the bottom side when there's a nice thick coat of Wurth Stone Guard covering the whole thing and could care less about what it looks like when you pull up the carpets and sound deadening material.

Darryl D.

azasadny · azasadny's Garage

Great work! You're an inspiration to me!

MikeDL · 08-13-2005, 06:08 PM

"two layers of steel on the bottom of the tunnel"

I don't know if that would be a problem - it might form a pocket for rust to return some day. On mine, we removed the floor under the tunnel in the back, and left it in the front -- but there we cut the front section in pieces so there was no overlap.

DarrylD · 08-14-2005, 10:22 AM

Yeah Mike, I thought about the double layer cavity leaving the tunnel floor in would create. I think the rust hiding in other areas will progress faster than new rust will form in that area. I try to be a realist when it comes to rust knowing there is no way to turn back the clock on these old cars and there's some more of it hiding somewhere that will eventually bubble through. Until then I'll just drive the hell out of this old 912 and be too old to care when it shows up!

Darryl D.