How far do i go?

[flat6buster]

The old girl is now suffering from visible rust - front bumper & rear bumper flares in particular. Also a few bubbles where front scuttle meets wing, below drivers door mirror on door, rear wing top and fuel filler flap.

As a 1980sc that's been in my family from new it has a lot of sentimental value (I learnt to drive in it) but I can just feel a HUUUGE bill coming on if I look at the proper restgoration job ..... if I can see rust I am sure there's a lot more hiding in the kidney bowls and all other usual places.

Question is do I have a swift botch up by the local accident repair place to make her look better but not address the hidden bits, do I risk divorce and look at the job being done properly by someone who really knows what they're doing, do I take the opportunity then to replace panels with lightweight ones (I see you can get GRP & carbon fibre from the 'States). Do I take a hit, sell it cheap and then try to buy a better condition one?

Answers on a postcard please... The car's done about 100,000 miles and had a Steve Bull top end rebuild about 10,000 miles ago and gets used reasonably frequently.

 

[Guest]

Julian,
The front bumpers on my 1983 are cast aluminium so I think yours will be the same. I took my front and rear bumpers off and small sides skirts and under tray etc and rubbed them down and repainted them with no problem at all, and I am not a trained body shop man just an enthusiast. The scabs on the bumpers that looked very bad were like aluminium powder and the amount of filler used to fill the holes was vertually nothing. (You can see the results on the photo gallery). The other side panels etc were rubbed down and being galvanised were in good condition and only a small amount of filler was needed to repair. So as far as your bumpers and side panels are concerned if you have a mind to have a go yourself you will be amazed at the results. I you need more tips let us know.
The front wings are bolted on and if you think they are too far gone then I don't think it would be very difficult to replace them with second hand ones of any colour from say (Porsche Apart)
With regard to kidney bowls you will need to take off the lower side panels and have an experienced person have a look for corrosion and advise you, certainly Steve Bull should be able to give you a budget price for repair.
So basically if you have the time you could do a lot of work yourself and save a shed load of money. If you are not a spray man you could prepair the bumpers etc and take them to a good spray shop and have the parts sprayed for you, the spray work won't cost the earth, its the preparation that costs but you will have already done that.
You might need to use a spare car while you do the work but just think you will have saved an old friend.
Cheers
John

 

[wblackw9]

Hi Julian,

Get someone to have a good look over it for you, Just cos there is rust on the surface it doesnt mean its underneath. What can appear as a nasty bubble can actually be trapped water behind the paint with only surface rust, a little rub back and a fill and you can have it looking great. Worth the effort if its been in the family that long. Also who knows you could buy one with the same but not yet visible problems as someone else has cleaned them up so they are not on show, then your back to square one few months down the line and you dont have your original car either. Just take your time and do it bit by bit.

 

[ianfiat]

You leant to drive in a 911 ?
Did you do the test in a 911 too ?

 

[dugsud]

ORIGINAL: wblackw9

Hi Julian,

Get someone to have a good look over it for you, Just cos there is rust on the surface it doesnt mean its underneath. What can appear as a nasty bubble can actually be trapped water behind the paint with only surface rust, a little rub back and a fill and you can have it looking great. Worth the effort if its been in the family that long. Also who knows you could buy one with the same but not yet visible problems as someone else has cleaned them up so they are not on show, then your back to square one few months down the line and you dont have your original car either. Just take your time and do it bit by bit.

It's usually the opposite with old 911's, what looks like a little bubble on top invariably is much worse once investigated properly. Trapped water has to come through the body, it cant get through undamaged paint. I agree that sometimes it's better the devil you know though, especially one thats been in the family for some time.

I say fix it []

 

[911Smonster]

Rust on 911s is a bit like an iceberg - you can only see the tip of it
Those are all common places to find rust and there's usually a lot more underneath. Have you checked the sills, B-posts, door shuts etc? Bubbling in these areas may point to more extensive hidden rot. If you're using it as a daily driver, you should get it fully waxoyled. Obviously this won't repair the existing damage, but it will go a long way to preventing further deterioration. But I would get it inspected first to see the extent of the trouble. I certainly wouldn't get it bodged up as that won't achieve anything useful.

 

[Richard Moore]

I've got rust coming through in the usual places. I've pretty much come to to the view that I'll keep this one going till it dies or I can't get it through an MOT. Mostly it's superficially OK but I just know there'll be worse underneath. It's certainly reached the point in the ROI curve when restoring it to it's former glory doesn't add up imho. I have new business so little money to spend on it at the moment which doesn't help.

Any significant investment will go on a 993 vario in midnight blue []

 

[pse_SC]

I certainly wouldn't get it bodged up as that won't achieve anything useful.

I go along with that. From my own experience. I had a big lump of filler behind the B-post (amongst other unwanted things), when I had my SC. Get it all looked at properly[].