1970 911T taillight question

[gekellogg]

I'm in the process of tearing down my 1970 911T for a repaint, and had a question on the rear tail light assembly. The car had been completely disassembled and restored by a prior owner, so I'm not sure about the 'correctness' of the current state of the pieces on the car.

The rear tail light assembly was covered in mud on the back side, as it is exposed directly to the rear wheel well. Should there have been any protective shrouds or covers anywhere in the rear wheel well area? Or was everything just open to the mud?

Thanks for your help!

[Trackrash]

That's the way they were made back then. There was no inner fender on those cars.

[pors1968]

It was made like that but make sure all seal and rubber are good.

[ddubois]

When I tore down my 71T for paint it was the same story, plenty of years of caked mud in lots of corners. Also pay attention to the area in the rear wheel well in front of the torsion tube and behind the door jamb. Mine had stored mud for so many years that it rusted through the bottom rear curved area of the door jamb requiring some metal replacement. After it was cleaned out and repaired I got in there the best I could with POR15 followed by some undercoating.
Another mud pocket that caused me some rust issues was at the top and rear of the front fenders where they bolt to a body flange. Wasps at some time had crawled back in there and built a mud nest that was a perfect sponge for moisture.
These cars have plenty of mud traps built into the design.

[Trackrash]

And don't forget the drip rail channels rain down through the door jamb to the inside of the rocker panel. What were they thinking?