grinder or drill?

[Blu Flag Chicane]

Hi all,

Need some quick advice from you rustoration experts. I'm practically devoid of power tools so what should I be buying to grind down my floor pans and trunks?

I'm leaning toward a 1/2" drill with T handle and wire brush. Is this reasonable or am I wasting my time?

I think as a 914 owner it goes without saying, but I'm pretty darn cheap and I've got a lot of stuff to buy to make this car happen. I don't mind going the long way a little, just don't want to waste my time or my money.

thx,

-BFC

[campbellcj]

I use a (handheld) angle grinder with a wire brush wheel for serious stripping/metal prep.
A drill with a stripper wheel may be useful too; however the grinder spins faster and will probably be easier to control.

[Wayne 962]

Recommended Power Tools:

- Hand Drill (both small and super-large)
- Angle Grinder (used for grinding down bolts)
- Saws-All Reciprocating saw (for cutting sheet metal)
- Dremmel Rotary tool (for everything else)

I don't really use anything besides these. If you are looking to remove paint, etc. use a wire brush and a hand drill - the grinder will do too much damage...

-Wayne

[Blu Flag Chicane]

Thanks! That's what I was looking for.

Mmmmm, sawzall, mmmmmm

-BFC

[Dave Bell]

I have done both the floor boards and the front trunk floor on my car.

The angle grinder with a cup wire brush works great... it really takes stuff off fast and these areas are not visually seen so any "scratchs" that the wire brush causes will never be seen.

For seriously rusted out portions... cut them out with the sawzall or a die grinder with a small cutting wheel on it.... or if you are rich or have a friend with lots of metal working equipment... use a plasma cutter to carve out any shape you want... (sure wish I had one of those).

Clean stuff up with the dremel

One note on the grinding, stripping and cutting. Get yourself some eye protection and an air filtration mask. All the stuff you are stipping off will go airborne and up your nose and down your thoat and lungs with out it. Sure you don't have to use the air filter... but just go blow your nose after a stripping session without one... that will convince you to use one.

Another stripping/grinding tip... I forget exactly what I was doing, grinding or stripping inside the passenger compartment... but after that project and with the car all back together, I noticed that I had specks on the inside of my windshield that would not come off... On closer inspection it looked like very small pieces of dark sand actually imbedded slightly in the glass. It baffled me for a few days, then I realized that the material that was spitting off of the grinding process was hot enough to embed itself in glass!... Fortunately the windshield already had a crack in it and was in need of replacement... but a lesson was learned... Cover up other stuff that you don't want to be imbedded with grind material.

For small holes, try a mesh patch and some form of epoxy putty or Bondo (there... I said it, the forbidden word!)... For larger holes it is time to by some sheet metal and get out the welder.

When welding, remember that the underside of your car has a coating that will catch fire when heated... ask me how I know... no big deal... you just have to be ready to either remove it ahead of time or ready to put out the flames.

For coating the prepped floor panels, I would seriously consider using POR-15
http://www.por15.com/

It is the standard for eliminating the return of rust. It is very forgiving stuff and does not require you to get all the existing rust off.

After you have put on a coat or two of POR-15, rough up the surface and put on your top coat of color if you need it... Not an issue if you plan to put carpet back in... probably want to do it for the trunk areas.

World Upholstery has the carpet kit for your car if you want a new one...
http://www.worlduph.com/hubpagePORSCHE.htm

or you can make one your self by taking out the old carpet, getting a piece of chalk and using the old carpet as a template to cut out new pieces from a roll of carpet of your choice. The latter is what I did and it worked out well.

You can find the rubber flooring material that goes between the carpet and floor or use Dynamat or a thin carpet pad material to absorb sound.

Almost done.... for sections of floor board you have replaced, you will want to recoat the underside to prevent rust. I am not sure what the correct product is to use. I just used some Henry's roofing tar compound and coated it on the underside. Other's may know what the right stuff is.

A couple more tips... if you have holes in your floor boards, it is not unlikely that you may have some holes in the lower portions of the fire wall... check it out. Clean out leaves and debris that collect on the engine side of the firewall and re-seal the rear window to prevent water from draining down the inside of the firewall and back on to your newly finished floors and carpets.

That's all

- Dave



[This message has been edited by Dave Bell (edited 08-02-2000).]

[oredith]

"that's all" ?!..

that was an entire treaties on body repair..

i've been told that you can rent plasma cutters for not TOO much money.. anyone tried?..

Jeff

[Dave Bell]

I have not checked out renting one yet, but I may look into it for the final phase of cutting up my doner/roller into bits. I have wanted to try out one of the portable units and if the price was right, I would be willing to "waste" the rental money just for the fun of demo'ing a unit... I guess most of us have a strange definition of fun.

- Dave

[Germain]

Well, I read most of the posts here, not all of Daves, and I think one thing was left out. Get a nice air compressor and but air tools to spin the brush and grinders. The performance I get from my air compressor well out does any electrical grinder I've ever used. It just seams stronger and faster. Of course I have no real tech theory on this, just an observasion.

[campbellcj]

Along the same lines, I just did some floor area clean-up (on a 911) and realized that the entire surface of my body, as well as the interior of the car and a couple feed radius around it, was speckled with melted gooey tar undercoating stuff. Not pleasant. Some kind of creative tarp shielding is probably a good idea to keep the flying stuff under control.

Originally posted by Dave Bell:
I noticed that I had specks on the inside of my windshield that would not come off... On closer inspection it looked like very small pieces of dark sand actually imbedded slightly in the glass. ]

[Blu Flag Chicane]

Just a note for you (us) left coasters. POR-15 and related supplies are available from The Finished Look in Sacramento.
http://www.thefinishedlook.com/

Should save time and money compared to ordering from New Jersey.

-BFC

[JP Noonan]

A decent 1/2" drill for $55-$60 is good for drilling but lacks the speed for wire brushing or grinding. Grinders are a little more, $70-$90 for a good one, but do a good job of removing metal on surfaces. Grinders are loud though. Sawsalls are god for the intended purpose, demolition, but can be unweildly in the interior of a car. Smaller saber saws that use jigsaw blades can get in tighter places.

Above all read the owners manuals (my father passed on at eight, and my grandfather only use hand powered tools. So I had to learn on my own, can anyone else hear the violins playing? ) you get SO much more out of the tools this way. I've tried just looking at the pictures on the box, works for LEGO's dosen't work for power tools.

Wire brushes throw out bits of wire along with the rust, saw blades snap , drills break bits. Wear safty goggles, and with a grinder wear ear plugs. Not only are you saving your hearing, you can concentrate on the work much better.

[Blu Flag Chicane]

And the winner is..... 4" grinder from Home Despot!

After considering the RPMs on these things I figgered 11,000 is better than 2,700. Added a wire wheel and safety goggles and broke even for what I would've paid on the drill alone.

Of course I haven't even fired it up yet so who knows if it's really what I need. It came with a pretty thick booklet and based on the post from "nine fingers Noonan" I thought I'd give it a read first.

Thanks again for all the advice.

-BFC

[JP Noonan]

Hey!!! I resent that remark, I'm proud of the fact that after the doctor's reattached two of my fingers I have full use of them. I can pick my nose, open a beer, flick off the SUV's, oh wait that's what got me in trouble to begin with.