I fixed a few things since then such as the brakes and a gas tank leak, but the amount of rust was daunting. Pretty much everything in the bottom 2 inches of structural sheet metal in the front half of the car was completely gone. The worst was the bottoms of the pillars at each end of the front torsion bars, not a simple repair.
Finally in December I started working seriously on the car. My working philosophy:
- 1 - the car will be a Sunday driver
- 2 - it will stay in the family, so selling is not an issue
- 3 - with few exceptions, I will do all the work myself (except finish paint work)
- 4 - Phase I will be repairing structural damage and getting it drivable
- 5 - repairing a part is generally preferable to buying a new one
I'm currently about to button up the driver side longitudinals. I'll add some posts about the things I've done so far that I have not seen in other restoration stories here. Eventually I hope to post about repairing the cabriolet top. I'll bet there are not that many stories about it here.
I am not taking the traditional pictures of piles of rusty German sheet metal that was removed from the car. Most of mine has come out in the vacuum cleaner.
Edit 2/29/12 and 9/26/12: List of things to do in Phase I:
- Fix gas tank leak (done with POR-15 kit)
- Rebuild brakes all around (done)
- New leather on seats (done)
- Repair and restore horns and mounting brackets (done--needed for state inspection)
- New floor and longitudinals
- Repair pedal bracket
- Repair bulkhead in front of pedal area
- New door sills
- Repair "closing areas" inside fenders
- New battery box area (spare tire area)
- Repair center tunnel and pedal areas
- Repair front torsion bar supports
- New front diagonal braces, horizontal struts and surrounding areas
- New brake line, fuel line and main battery cable in tunnel
- Repair body rust at fuel filler, replace fuel filler cup
- New battery, tires, shocks
- New carpeting, sound deadening and undercoating
- Update brake master cylinder to dual circuit
- Replace steering wheel coupler, restore tie rods
- Treat surface rust in area under fuel tank with POR-15
- New starter
- Rebuild fuel pump and carbs
For those not familiar with Porsche lingo, the longitudinals are box-like structures, roughy 8 inches square and 3-4 feet long, under the doors, that hold the front and back of the car together and support the sides of the floor. They are especially important in convertible cars since there is no roof to add stiffness. They are very susceptible to rust since they are hollow boxes that were not painted inside during manufacture. Typically the lower half of the inner vertical part must be replaced along with the bottom and outer side, which are actually formed by one large piece known as the outer longitudinal.
NOTE: This narrative continues for 4 or more pages. To get to the additional pages, use the "Go to Page" link way down at the bottom.