Bodywork rust - Long

James Ball · 07-21-2002, 03:47 AM

I am new to the world of 914s but yesterday I went to look at an original 914-6. It spent 23 of the last 32 years in a garage and was rescued a year ago. Since then it has had all the fuel, oil, brake lines replaced, has had the major rust problems fixed e.g. rust under the battery tray, around the right hand torsion tube etc but has not had any work done to the body. As a result it is pretty tired looking.

Ignoring the risks of a car that has been sat in a garage, unused, for 23 years (which I know are considerable) the question I have is, when it comes to bodywork, what is serious rust? The car I looked at had a couple of half inch rust holes: one at the point where the vinyl-covered targa bar met the rear quarter pannel, one around where the bonnet (front hood) met the front quarter pannel near the windscreen, some surface rust around the edge of the bonnet etc etc.

I am not seriously interested in buying this particular car (I would be too nervous about it being unused for 20+ yrs) but want to get a better understanding of what is acceptable bodywork rust that can be fixed as part of a paint-job and what is not.

Any pointers would be great.

TIA, James

SummerSledSix · 07-22-2002, 02:37 PM

James, the answer to your question is "it depends" - on your patience, on your budget, on the availability of other candidates for your purchase. You can either spend your time searching for a rust free specimen ( no expense, but also no 914 to drive), or spend your money AND your time fixing rust ( significant time and / or expense, and possibly still no "seat time").

IMHO, whatever time or money premium you pay for a "rust free" car is still less expensive than fixing up a rust-bucket.

Paul_Heery · Paul_Heery's Garage

I have to agree with my esteemed colleague to the North of me. Take your time and find one that is as rust-free as is possible. There is a rust free 914 for sale in NY, but he is asking $79,900. (see how much a truly rust-free one costs?)

To your question on the rust that you experienced on the car that you looked at. The rust just below the windshield is fairly common and can be a relatively minor repair. However, the rust that you witnessed just below the sail panel is an entirely different story. I looked at cars that were so rotted through in that area, the targa bar and the rear window would have come right off if you leaned on it. There could be a lot of things hiding under there as well.

DDS · 07-22-2002, 03:05 PM

It also depends on the availablility of a 914 rust fixer in your area - There's a guy near here who is a whiz at rust repair and does mostly 914s. Perfect door gaps, discreetly done floors, very nice work. Actually, most Canadian 914s do bear the scars of amateur rust repair, and the result can ruin an otherwise salvageable car.

Dave Bell · 07-22-2002, 05:48 PM

Most of the big holes I see in 914's appear in locations that are mostly out of sight when the car is all put back together, e.g.

Floor of front trunk, floor of cabin, engine bay, floor of rear trunk,window channel, weatherstrip channels... basically places where water pooled and had a chance to eat through.

Given no major structural problems... like rotted long's or suspension console... these rust areas can be repaired in a reasonable quality fashion but do not need to be concours by any means... (Unless that is your goal)....

My current car had rust in all these places that I repaired, by cleaning, patching with sheet metal for large holes, POR-15 anti-rust coat and bondo for small holes and top coating.

In some cases I actually left a few of the holes in areas I thought water might pool again... leaving room for water to drain out.

These were all areas that are hardly or never seen with all the pieces of the car back together.

Half in rust holes.... no biggy... probably easier to fix than some dents. Larger holes on exterior body work can be fitted/welded with a backing piece of metal and filled-in with bondo. A little care must be taken not to warp things as this will result in the need for more bondo than you might care to use.

If you do the work yourself these type of repairs are educational and I believe that if you are thorough you end up with a much better car than if you had started with a, "rust free" car. In my case all floors, weather strip and window channels and many of the sheet metal seams of the car have been rust proofed with far better materials than were used on the car originally.

I don't believe there are any, truely rust free 914's or there are precious few... I have never seen one. In my limited experience I found that in taking off paint even in "rust free" areas of these old cars, I find what I call spider web rust... areas where moisture has etched little trails of surface rust underneat the paint.... I might not spend time stripping the entire car... others might.....but where there are metal seams and areas that historically could hold moisture, my inclination is to strip and prep these before repainting.

An additional benefit from this is that that you usually end up stripping components off the car and when you are done, you send it to the body shop or paint it yourself that way, i.e. stripped. Again in my limited experience, a paint job sprayed on a car that has just been masked off instead of stripped, ends up looking like that after it is done... paint does not make it into areas it should and ends up on areas it should not... but paint of a car when it is basicially stripped results much better looking car.

These rust prep and component strippping tasks, if left up to a body shop to do, would cost quite a bit of money... but will only cost you in time and a minimum amount of materials.

If all body work and paint is to be left up to the shop... buy the most rust free car you can find... it will save you $$$. Apart from doing your own work, the most cost effective means of picking up an excellent looking car is to buy someone else's restoration.

If you are doing the work yourself... you have more room to trade $$$ for your time spent in prep and might accept a few more rust holes to start with.

Again in my limited experience... I would rather have a car with some minor dents and rust problems than one that has been in an accident, and been repaired, but with no rust problems. I have BTDT with cars that have been hit and trying to get panels to fit right... wondering why its tough to get wheel alignment, doors that don't seem to close right all the time.... drove me more nuts than fixing the rust.

- Dave