My Rust Remediation Project

[Daniel Cooper]

Midways in my rust repair project. I have been very happy to have a mini die grinder with cut off wheels, and with 25 grit grinding pads, as well as a air saw. Got them from Auto Body Store online. Making pieces now for the repairs. Anyone have any thoughts on how to match those compound curves ?

[rvanderpyl]

See here for a possible source

SWB parcel shelf/seat back

[drewtiss]

Originally Posted by milt

Definitely weld in only what is thin. Cut out to where the metal thicknesses between the replacement part and the car are equal, no exceptions. You could very easily lap weld this piece and seal with poly body caulk on both sides. That would be a plenty acceptable repair.

Yes, the whole thing would be considered structural if you were to remove it from quarter to quarter. The thing is, any welding should be done over a period of time to allow your panels to cool naturally between sessions. We usually skip around rather than weld for a long period in one place.

Tack it in at four places, then divide the distances between welds in half, tack some more and so on.

I never thought something like this. Now, everything's going to be easier thanks for the tip.

[rvanderpyl]

Shawn, I wasn't very clear I was replying to Dans query, 68's, and earlier are different than the later cars. It's not to hard to find later car repair pieces, pretty hard for a 68

[cdrik915]

Incredible project !!!!!

What a work !!!!

[Daniel Cooper]

I called around for tubs to cut pieces out of. The ones I found were from later cars and were more rusty then mine. Plus the cheapest one was $850. So I elected to make pieces out of 18 gauge sheetmetal (thanks Milt for mentioning the thickness needed). Got one mostly shaped up last night. I'll send photos of progress when I make some more.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by rvanderpyl

Shawn, I wasn't very clear I was replying to Dans query, 68's, and earlier are different than the later cars. It's not to hard to find later car repair pieces, pretty hard for a 68

Agreed, the 72-73 stuff is easy because targa's don't typically rust and the panel can be used for coupes which do. Pre-69 stuff is rare but fortunately there are enough 912s that have been taken off the road that allow for pieces to be found given some patience.

[Dan Morton]

Has anyone seen threaded mounts on the rear shelf like in these pics? They are not the rear window defroster ports. I was thinking that they were non-factory but they appeard to be covered with the factory paint/coating. They are threaded on the inside and did not poke through the rear vinly covering. The car is a '68 US 911.

[Daniel Cooper]

Jesus that looks nasty. The older 911s seem to have those things, but I have no idea what they do.

[Dan Morton]

fortunately the rust isn't too bad but I still need to attack the innder fender area where the shelf attaches. Already started cutting out the other areas. The guy from the UK is stating it will be about $200 for the shelf but it would have to be shipped from the UK too.

[Rich Lambert]

Originally Posted by Dan Morton

Has anyone seen threaded mounts on the rear shelf like in these pics? They are not the rear window defroster ports. I was thinking that they were non-factory but they appeard to be covered with the factory paint/coating. They are threaded on the inside and did not poke through the rear vinly covering. The car is a '68 US 911.

Optional shoulder belt mounting points.

[DSouth]

Update:
I spent a little bit more time with the wire wheel grinding rust away, and soon decided that I'd eventually need access to the same areas from the engine side. So, I dropped the engine+trans today.



It was my first drop and all went smoothly. I spent a lot of time reviewing this thread:
supporting engine at removal

Lots of good ideas. I went to the hardware store with intentions of buying some nice medium duty casters and building a dolly from scratch, but in the end I went with buying a "heavy duty" furniture dolly, and adapting it. It turned out really well, and was easy on the pocketbook. All it took to make it suitable was adding some blocks of 3/4 inch plywood to the center of it to provide the support for the case. I thought I had taken a picture of it but.....I can't find it.

I hit a snag trying to separate the trans from the engine. I've done this before with the VW, so I figured it was just a matter of supporting it and unscrewing the 4 bolts. After wrestling with it a bit and getting more than a little tired I stepped back and looked for anything missing that might be holding the trans on. Then I saw this was still connected....

NOTE: Picture was taken before the drop and only serves to illustrate the throwout bearing fork actuator.


and it was pushing against the exhaust cross over tube.

So, I took a guess and broke out the cir-clip pliers removed it and knocked the fork off.

As soon as I did that the trans pulled away very easily. As I'm sure any experienced readers can attest.

But, now I'm worried that the wiggling I did trying to get the trans to part with the engine prior to removing the fork may have done to the input shaft bearing.

Should I be worried about this? Is there something I should check?

[sancho]

nice work, loving the progress
keep it up

[Bobboloo]

I had less rust than you but I opted to do the whole seat pan. It was just a 2- day job. Easy as far as bodywork goes.

Here's the tutorial on the Paint and Body Forum.

Part 1

Part 2

[Bobboloo]

Also thought I'd mention that in the 1st photo you posted with the circled areas. The area to the left in the picture that you circled is not part of the seat pan but part of the longitudinal which runs from the front wheel well all the way back to the rear cross member. This piece is actually several layers and difficult to work on. I would avoid cutting on it as it probably isn't rusted through and still structurally in good shape. Just take a wire wheel to it and then do some rust treament.

[DSouth]

Bobby,

Thanks for the links and info about the longitudinal. This afternoon I was spending some time cleaning out some old AC hoses in the engine bay, and thinking about possibly outsourcing the rust repairs as a way to save sometime. But, after reading your write up and seeing some of your pictures I'm re-invigorated to tackle this myself. So, Thanks for that too!

The pan does look pretty straightforward. I just need to find some donor metal that is local. Where did you find the replacement metal?

[Bobboloo]

A great Pelicaneer named Dave Winters (DTW) helped me out by cutting a donor piece from an SC he cut up. It was a lot of work for him and he's since swore of cutting up sheet metal to sale. It can be a lot of work and no real profit when you figure what your time is worth. Shaun (Shaun 84 Targa) cuts up cars from time to time so you might check with him.

If you can find a local donor car then you can go cut it out yourself which I've done before.

Get yourself a spot weld cutter so you won't have to put holes in your longitudinals. Also get yourself a can of WD40 to spray the cutter and keep the RPMs down to control the heat. Heat dulls blades in no time.

You might practice on a scrap to get the feel for it.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by Bobboloo

A great Pelicaneer named Dave Winters (DTW) helped me out by cutting a donor piece from an SC he cut up. It was a lot of work for him and he's since swore of cutting up sheet metal to sale. It can be a lot of work and no real profit when you figure what your time is worth. Shaun (Shaun 84 Targa) cuts up cars from time to time so you might check with him.

Dave is a great guy, that's for sure.

Did some work on this 72 yesterday. Sad story. Everyone said this car was too far gone (when I posted here) but I kept it thinking I could weld in a new front suspension pan, left rear quarter, some patchwork here and there and it would be good body. A lot of work, but worth it as a signal yellow 72. I tried to sell the entire thing for the price of the oil system, still no takers, but plenty who need sheetmetal.

My suspicions were correct. This is (was) a very solid car and shouldn't have been cut up. The entire rear deck and seats are factory new, already new that, but the rest of the car was really solid as well. Too late now. At least the metal is going toward cars that are getting back on the road. Going to try to get the wiring harness out in one piece.

hope you are well Bobby.

[Bobboloo]

Doing great Shaun. When you coming back out to the west coast? It was greaqt gettin together when you were out here.

Poor Targa. They just don't get the respect that coupes do. There day will come.

I have no doubt you'll come out ahead parting that car. Even the 71'S Targa I parted was worth more in parts. Go figure.

[DSouth]

Earlier this week I spent some time cleaning up the engine bay. I started by removing the old AC lines and followed that up by removing the engine bay wiring harness.

Here's how it looked when I called it a day.


Some rather strange foam jamed up in here. Tough to tell if it was from the factory or not......
Anyone know where I can get a replacement rubber tube for the wiring harness? Mine is rotten.


I'm thinking the upper rubber shock mounts are toast......


Now I need to drain the gas tank so I can remove the fuel pump and lines. Then get the sheet metal from Shaun. Shouldn't be too long now, before I can start cutting out the panels. I also need to remove the rear window.....maybe I'll tackle that tomorrow.