So how much does something like THIS cost to fix?

[wwhalenc]

So what have I gotten myself into. How much does something like THIS cost to repair ('74 911). Guy says he doesn't trust to drive as the suspension bolting may give way--needs new front suspension pan (well floors too, but wondering bare minimum to get on the road).. Any opinions...even better--Anyone want to do it in the Detroit area?

[kent olsen]

Boy I feel your pain. I have a 72T and had a similiar experience. Your right the rust weakens the suspension points and could fail. I ended up having the floor pan cut out as well as a few other spots they found during the repair.

The bad news? $2000 !!!

Kent Olsen
72T upgraded 2.7
Coming soon 3.0L

[wwhalenc]

Hey, if someone could fix that (and fix the problem floor areas) for $2000, I'd consider that good news!

[jester911]

If there is rust there then there is other rust you don't see. No way to know how much carnage there is until it is taken apart. What you don't see is probably much worse.

I hope you can bring her back to former condition.

[Porsche_monkey]

I suspect what you are looking at is what is referred to as 'the thin edge of the wedge'.

[wwhalenc]

That sounds bad.

[ZOA NOM]

I just did this repair myself for under $300. Buy a replacement suspension pan and tank brace from Restoration Designs, rip out the old rusty parts and weld in the new piece. Shoudn't take more than a weekend.

[Gavin English]

I just had my suspension pan replaced by a shop for about $2,800 a year ago. That included the pan & tank support, labor and misc. paint and undercoating. They also resprayed the gas tank. (the black undercoating finish) This is a "Porsche only" shop that has done several pan replacements in the last year. (I wanted some one who had done a few of these)

Shop around. I had about three quotes around $5,000.

If you are going to dive into this, I would either do as much as you can right now. (floors and pan) Or sell it and start on a better car. Either way, it isn't going to be cheap.

Hang in there...

Gavin

[ZOA NOM]

Here's some pix of my damage and repair:

[wwhalenc]

Cool! I was wondering about ripping out the old stuff. So you just use one of those spot weld remover bits...

Here's the car, for what it's worth:

Bought sight unseen. Yikes

[rattlsnak]

Thats a good price to get into this car with, and its nice the seller pointed out the bad stuff too!

[ZOA NOM]

Originally posted by wwhalenc
So you just use one of those spot weld remover bits...

Yep, took a little while to get all the welds, but it made it a lot easier to tack in the new piece. I just used my Lincoln Mig welder to tack it in, and it lined up perfectly. Definitely use Restoration Design for the parts, no one else uses the good steel.

[brett25]

Im wondering, will the car run true after all of that?

[ZOA NOM]

more pics:








It really wasn't a very difficult project. All the rust was confined to the pan, so removing it removed the problem. I used the torsion bars to line up the new piece and clamp it in place before tacking it in. Once it was all tacked in, the alignment was dead on.

[ZOA NOM]

Originally posted by brett25
Im wondering, will the car run true after all of that?

Definitely. The Restoration Designs parts are a perfect fit, and really only fit in one place. I recommend installing the torsion bars into the mounts to line everything up before tack welding it in. This allows you to prevent any binding on the control arms' vertical travel.

[jj4u3]

I had the front pan replaced in my 72T for $2500. I was happy about it.
When I bought the car the seller told me that is was a Ca. car and was rust free. Well afte closer inspection after the sale of course I found rust in the front pan and on the under side of on of my doors.

[foamy911]

heck for $4k, your in it right to fix the front pan. I'd pay that for it. Take lots of pictures as you go, we love to see progress !!!!!!!!!

[Rodsrsr]

Nice job Zoanas! Welding is definetly a good skill to have, if you own one of these early cars.

[ZOA NOM]

It was far from "welding", but the part fits so well that tack welds were more than sufficient. By using the spot weld remover bit, it left holes that were just right for tacking the new piece in place. With some of the quotes listed above, I don't understand why anyone wouldn't at least give it a try.

[wwhalenc]

You make it look easy...that looks awesome.