07 Nov 914 Shades of Grey
Okay, so maybe there won’t be 914 shades of grey involved in this post, but allow us to explain.
It’s been quite some time since we’ve had this car on the blog, but no time like the present to remedy that. This Porsche 914, the oft-overlooked mid-engined stepchild of Volkswagen and Porsche, came into the shop looking for a rather thorough restoration. So much so, in fact, that the engine and basically every other piece of this vehicle has been removed in an effort to rid this car of every single rust spot and imperfection prior to a fresh coat of yellow paint. There are quite a few spots on the doors that need to be flattened out or otherwise fixed, which we’ve been circling and removing one by one:
Otherwise, it’s just been a matter of finding the offending rust spots, removing them from the body (by grinding or otherwise), then applying seam sealer and primer where necessary to prevent further corrosion while we finish the other parts of the body.
Some spots were much trickier than others. For some areas, such as the metal on the front end, years of rain entering those small cracks by the pop-up headlights created rust that ate away a good bit of the metal. However, with some elbow grease (among other things), we were able to recreate that part of the body, and prime it up to prevent it from happening twice. Obviously, it’ll take proper care of the vehicle to keep rust at bay once it’s being driven on the road, but while it sits in the shop, it’d be stupid to let it get rusty again.
Probably the most unmolested place on this vehicle lies on the B pillars. Normally, there are black panels on both sides of the car, covering this area up and matching the roof in the process. However, we removed them to see if the paint underneath needed any repair. Somehow, it retained the original paint’s full luster after all these years.
Some parts of the car, however, are beyond the help provided by grinders and primer. Case in point, this small crack in the windshield. Off the top of your narrator’s head, not too sure if it can be fixed without having to replace the entire windshield, but I think that’s what we’re checking out now.
We’ve managed to find and fix just about every spot on the car thus far. Once the doors are finished up, we’ll be moving to the last major spot that will require intensive work — the engine bay. And of course we’ll have that for you once it pops up in front of our camera lens.
Have a good day!
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