making my car straight again (fixing rear collision damage)

[RichMason]

I have a 73 914 that has been hit in the rear at least twice and needs some attention. I built a carport on Saturday so I have the space to take it apart but now I need the advice (and then the tools, parts...)to fix it. My pictures are too big to post but here is the situation. The left rear fender is pushed in with a small wave/crease about halfway along the wheelwell/fender lip. Based on the way the trunk fits, the fender has also been pushed down about a half inch because the trunk doesn't close flush with the fender on that side (trunk is too high). The rear panel that the tailights fit into is toast - I have a new replacement panel. The trunk floor has a bend in the rear half and some rust in the corners and should be replaced. The trunk and right rear fender mate perfectly. Where do I start? My local Porsche shop said I should have the fender (and trunk?) pulled back straight before I start cutting and welding. Can I do this myself with a comealong and some chains or should I contract out this part? Does this strategy make sense i.e. can I find a body shop that will just do a small part of the work? I would like to do as much of this myself as possible (gives me an excuse to buy a welder). I would be glad to send pictures to anyone who thinks they can help.

Thanks,
Rich

[Pritchard]

Rich-

A friend of mine here in Burlington helped me with my 914 several years ago. He is a professional repair guy. He does most if not all of Smith Stokes' (Reidsville) body work. He would probably do as much or as little work as you ask him to do. His name is Tim Richardson. Phone#584-4539. If nothing else, he might give you some ideas about what to do.

David Pritchard

[Germain]

Well Rich, it all depends on how good of a job you want when your all done. By good I mean if you pull out a micrometer will it be better then when it was delivered to you?

First you need to get some tools. Get a body reapir kit, has things like hammers and dent pullers. Get a low amp welder (unless you have a wirefeed mig). I use a Sears 120V 90AMP welder and it does 1/8" at 65amps no problem. It's a stick welder, not a wire feed. Get an aircompressor if you can and an impact hammer with the sheetmetal working kit and get a jitterbug (sander) for the compressor too.

Next look into www.por-15.com for rust repair. Most of the time you can repair rust, surface or worse, with por-15.

Next, I would base all my measurements off of the wheels. Measure the distance from the wheel on the right to the fender. Make the one on the left equal.

For alignment of the trunk, first make sure it is not bent. then to fix the up/down you can put the car on a level position (where when you put a level on the front hood the hood is level) and then check the rear truck to match. One it is aligned with the front hood, adjust the height to match the right quarter panel. Then make the left side match the hood.


hth

[roadtrp204]

Talk to a body shop or person to get the rough pulling done. Several things are needed that just aren't usually possible for a home job. At my friends shop we have a frame rack to do this. It gives us the ability to clamp the car and immobilize unwanted movement, a board with dozens of ways to attach pulling chains to the car, and three pulling towers capable of 20 tons of pulling pressure a piece. In addition to tools like this it takes knowledge on where and how much to pull.

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

I wouldn't base the measurements on the wheels... The rear fenders on the 914 don't seem to be symmetrical, so trying to make them that way is actually distorting the car. Depending on what you bend to the the fenders symmetrical, you might just have something that looks a little "off", or you might have something that is structurally weaker than it should be.

For the factory measurements, check: http://www.dgi.net/914/914body/914body.html

--DD

[Germain]

Hay Dave. I haven't seen many 914's in person, um 2 or threee maybe. When I use the finger measureing device to measure tire to wheelwell, I get say two fingers beteen my left fender and 3 between the right side. When I went to the other 2 cars and did the finger measurement I got 2 fingers on both sides on both cars. I assumed my car was wrong, what kind of offset do you get on the cars in your area.

P.S. one of my fingers is about 5/8 inch, give or take.

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

I don't have any solid info for you, Germain. I was extrapolating from the fact that nearly all 914s can fit wider tires under one rear fender than the other.

--DD