Prepping to repaint: removing chrome, etc
 

I am getting ready to have my 914 repainted
(original copper metalic)... Seems I can
save a few hundred dollars by removing the
trim myself.

I am concerned about damaging the chrome
on the sides and back of the rollbar and
am seeking experienced advice.

Any other advice on prepping for painting is
also very welcome.

THANKS!

I have not done any paint work on my '73 914 yet, but I have experiance doing it (several times) on a Mustang and Stealth. It sounds as though you are not painting it yourself, but I would consider it. At any rate here are some generic tips that could help you save some money.
1) Do all bondo work yourself, make sure you sand it smooth, and that it melts with the rest of the car.
2) If you want the paint to last a long time, give a good finish, and not rub off on anything it touches, I recomend sanding all the paint currently on the car down to the metal, doing this yourself will save you money, and its very easy (time consuming) to do.
3) If you feel up to that task, prime the car yourself. Once primed, you can always sand the spots that came out bad. Make sure to wet sand after you finish the prime coat.
4) Now to really save money, paint it http://www.pelicanparts.com/ultimate/smile.gif Once painted (two or even 3 coats) wet sand it.

It only cost me about $200 for a complete paint job on the Mustang. The Porsche has a little less surface area, so depending you may get out cheeper (doubt it, there pretty close). I don't know what your paying for a paint job there, but for an equivalant one here, same color and same area (inside and out) they wanted $1200. I could repait the car 6 times and still break even, so if you mess up, you can always do it again. Plus think of all you will learn. If you want some more specific advise on painting, let me know and I'll do what I can. Good luck!

The rear targa trim pieces, are a little tricky. Remove the screw, and then GENTLY slide the piece rearward toward the back of the car. Sometimes turning gently helps, the clip underneath swings on a pivot. The good news is that it is still available if it breaks. Bad news is $175 each....

The chrome trim, that goes along the top, not named in my catalogs comes right off after the two trim pieces are removed.

The trim under the vinyl sail, "I" would lose it and the vinyl....

HTH

I personally don't like the way 914's look without the vinyl or at least the rollbar painted black. When I have my car painted I'll probably paint the rollbar black.

Alfred

As a former collision shop owner I need to chime in on this thread. I really don't have the time right now so I will e-mail you directly later. MHO... can't help my self, Germain, There is no way you could ever convince me that your quality paint job cost 200.00. Sorry can't be done, no how no way, Sorry, had to say it.

The roll bar trim can be removed like mikez said, but to keep from bending the bottom edge I use a (6mm maybe 7mm) socket-driver. The tool that looks like a screw driver but has a socket end. A 1/4" ratchet might work but most sockets are thicker walled than the socket drivers. The nut is at in the top of the feder well, under the bottom of the chrome. The nut will be under years of undercoating and crud, but it is there.

Once the two back peices are off, the top piece pops off. It is pretty sturdy, and only held on with some small clips. The two roll bar pieces are what mostly keeps it on.

The side ones are very eaisy to bend. Use a spakle knife to gently work them off the car. They are held on with 4-5 little clips that kinda work like expanding wall anchors. They get rusty and don't like to move, try using a rust penetrating oil.

If you have a 70-74 there are four bolts on each bumper, the front ones are in the fender well, the rear ones are also. The 75-76 bumber is even easier, just two 17mm (19mm???) bolts accesed through the two holes seen from under the bumber. Remove these bolts and the bumper comes off the shock absorber.

Put plastic bags over the seats and take out as much of the interior as you can. Seems like the 914 has little holes paint likes to sneak in through (judging by the paint on two of my cars). Also pull off the rocker panels and front and rear valance.

I looked into painting my datsun 510 awhile back and I went down to a local paint wholesaler and they wanted around $700 for dupont paint. That price included all the primer, prep wash, acid etch primer, base and clear coats.

Thanks JP. You were right on. The nut (8mm)
was there and the chrome came right off.

There was also some hard clay like stuff over
the clips for the chrome at the base of the
rollbar. This "clay" broke away easily and
then I just pinched the clips from inside
the wheel well (took off wheels) and that
chrome came right off as well.

ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEAS OR CONTACTS TO GET
THIS CHROME RE-ANODIZED?

Thanks again JP!

A real good anodizer is Fort Wayne Anodizing. They do a lot of work for my company. They are located in Fort Wayne, Indiana, but do work for people nationally. Their website is http://www.fortwayneanodizing.com/

As for Jim's comments on the cost of paint, my 914 was painted about three months ago. The car was bead blasted to bare metal so it needed paint inside and out, but paint (primer, base, and clear coat) alone was about $1100. Etching primer and any other misc. materials was extra. I paid the paint bill directly, so it was not an inflated shop price either.

Bobbitt

I could be wrong, but isn't the "chome" on 914's just polished aluminium? If so you could just LIGHTLY use a buffing wheel on it with progessivly finer compounds. In fact if the "chome" is dinged up, you could flatten the dings then block sand it, then polish it. I remember a tech article somewhere about brighting up the windsheild trim, if I can find it maybe it would help.

I know the 'old timers' used to do this with SS trim on domestic cars.


Oh, BTW you're most welcome, glad it helped. (It's hard to be so humble when you're perfecct liek me http://www.pelicanparts.com/ultimate/wink.gif

JP - You are right again. All of the chrome is aluminum. The problem is that it was orginially clear anodized. That will protect it and keep it shiny, but eventually it will wear away and look flat. On 944's for instance, the black window trim is black anodized aluminum and it can start to brown and eventually turn to flat aluminum color.

If you take your 914 trim and polish it, it will stay shinny for a while and then turn flat again. This is the route I took for my car. I would recomend Mother's Aluminum polish. It really works well. If you are going to polish it on the car, I would recomend that you mask the paint with some tape or something, otherwise lots of little scratches. The real fix is to have it reanodized, but it costs money. Either way, be careful, the aluminum is low grade and easily bent or dented.

BTW - I built race cars in college and the body was always polished aluminum. It would take 3 or 4 people a couple of days to get the whole thing polished. We would redo it before every big race or car show. A lot of work, but it really looked sharp.

Bobbitt

Well... I decieded to visit my local paint store and price out the total cost on paint, primer, yada yada yada... Heres what I got.
$325 for an average paint. I'm not trying to convince anyone that it can be done for that. Im saying that if I repainted my Porsche, it would cost me $325, $200 for the paint, 125 for the rest. So if ya want to paint your car and save money and gain knowledge, shop around first.
Good luck on your cars.

I have painted both our 914s in the last year or so with Dupont two-stage paint. It is the catalyzed type at cost about $300 for the sealer, color and clear top coat. The one that was done over a year ago sits outside in the San Diego sun and has not faded or discolored a bit. The tech at the paint store told me to make sure we used the sealer under the epoxy type paint or it will pull-down on the body and every little place that was ever sanded or touched with body putty will show up dramatically.