jerry

thanks for the kind words folks.  i've been working on and off on this particular car for over 3 years.  i started by the pedal box floor and worked my way around the rear floorboards.  looking back, i never imagined just how much work was ahead of me.  as was stated above, i compartmentalized the effort, it was the only way to manage the scope of this job.   i've had my share of burn-through welds and poor fitting patches and warped metal. 

Allow me to provide a cautionary tale on the dangers of adhering to idealistic notions of originality and saving/restoring inanimate objects for the sake of some 'higher state of purity', i suppose.

my car is a bastard in the truest sense.  it lost its purety years ago with some appreciable part swaps brought on by previous incidents of contact with other dense objects.

Because of the prior part swaps, i've done some extreme effort to retain as much of the original sheetmetal as possible, where the expedient method would be to replace whole panels.

My current example is the DS door.  Other than the rust at the bottom, it appears to have been for the most part, accident free.  it is original to the car, as is the PS door, so i endeavored to save it.

i hope my photos may provide some encouragement to other obsessive/compulsive restorers.  Yes, i have a couple spare doors on hand, but where's the sport in that?  i've thrown economics out years ago.  i work for pennies, apparently.  here's the proof.

because the bottom lip was almost non-existant, i had no choice but to replace the bottom skin entirely as shown

my original plan was to replace the rusty sections with salvaged sections from a scrapped door, but i realized that i'd merely be replacing horribly rusty metal with less rusty metal.  no choice but to make my own sections using my scrap as templates

below shows the method used to recreate the depressions on the door section.  this is a COMMON rusty area and i've done this repair 3 times now and think i've finally come to a decent looking recreation.  i hit it with the hammer as shown using a dolley on the backside to support the other side while the depression is being formed.  i made the hard bend by placing it on the scrap template and heating it locally with a MAPP gas torch while tapping the beejessus out of it.

the other corner

the bottom edge of the door had to be replaced, too.

here's the replacement door skin made from shelving stock (great stuff, and a near perfect match)

it is absolutely critical to take measurements and retain the proper curvature of the door sides.  this is where careful measuring, filing, fitment and rechecking are needed.  this is VERY time consuming.

not shown is the fact that i prebent the lap seam prior to final fitment and painted the area with some excellent zinc-chromate primer that is not available on the open market.  it won't rust again in my lifetime.  also note that i left one end unfinished until after the panel is welded in place.  this way all the movement from heat distortion and shrinking can be accounted for prior to shaping the door edge properly.

this effort was time consuming but immensely satisfying to return a hopeless door to service.  it is in no way a cost effective repair as i'm sure a replacement door is cheaper than paying a bodyshop for this.  of course, they may be much faster.  but for anyone who is contemplating this work, i hope this sways you one way or the other.  i have several more hours of grinding welds and hammering the panel into shape....

car sold on 5/10/2014.

car totaled September 2015

  Mine came from junkyard Porsche 911s.

 

THAT'S a statement not likely to ever be repeated again...

that sucks, but your title infers you might be more content on a deserted island...

i don't know the actual gauge of sheet metal off-hand.  maybe 18-20 gauge.  don't bother getting thicker gauge thinking it'll be better.  try to get similar to the floorboards.

and make cardboard templates first to see the general progression of what's needed to make your actual patch.  with the ridges, you'll have to allow yourself extra material.  it'll take a few tries.  form your patch panel FIRST before welding.  make it fit the form as best as possible first.  it's okay to make your patch using more than one piece.  depending on how much care you take with welding and forming you could make the patch invisible when complete.  it's all up to you and your willingness to make mistakes and learn.

if you have a piece of flat metal barstock, you can clamp it in a heavy vise and use it as an anvil while beating your sheetstock over it with a body hammer to make your ridges.  if your metal crimps up, slice some slits into it which you can weld shut to form some tight bends.

Dieter,  is that a new 02 in your stable?  couldn't keep away, could you?  i'll be looking for you tomorrow.

cheers

that is very fixable.  you did the right thing by removing the rear bench support first.  my suggestion is to make your patch panel FIRST before cutting out any metal.  i used old metal shelves for my material.  cheap and available for me.  old lockers and metal cabinets are perfect material.  you'll need to assess the area rearward where the subframe bolt is located.  if it is structurally sound then your repair is limited to the area shown.  you will need to save the mounted square bolt and its location to ensure that you reinstall it adequately.  work on one side at a time so that you have a reference.  i recommend that you butt weld the replacement pieces for a cleaner appearance that wont trap moisture like a lap weld.   use a flattened piece of copper pipe as a backing plate to minimize burn through during weld.  you'll have to tack weld the patches.  don't try to weld a continuous bead.  tack, tack, tack.....

good luck.  post photos of the process.

Thanks, y'all, I am very wound up about my car and can't wait to show it off at Mid Am.

It's not quite as clean as pics make it out to be, but sooooon, she'll have a proper paint job. Right now it's Manila over Sahara and is a good 10-footer... I found a friend with a paint booth and the skills, so hopefully, this summer we'll strip it, fix it and spray it.

I never put it in the stance thread, but it's pretty easy to replicate.

15x6" Panasports with 195/50 Yokohama S Drives (just ditched the 205/50s in the rear)

Rear fenders rolled ( and still the 205/50s rubbed a bit)probably coulda rolled them a little more for clearance... and I may go back to the 205 at some point.

Stock springs are cut about 1/2- 2/3 coil ( just cut a 1/4 coil at a time till you like it) Rears have 3 dot spacers.

Bilstein Sports all around

ST sway bar in front with all new rubber bushings (really need the rear ST bar....again, soooooon )

It rides firm but not harsh. The new tires really improved the ride quality. I had some very worn out BFG Super Sports. It is very well behaved now.

Here's a good stance pic from last year before the Ti cloning started

680 '71 B&W.jpg

If you were wondering...

Engine stats:

292 grind

long tube header

Freshly rebuilt Solex 40DDH carbs with UNI filters (Manifolds and ports were polished)

Stock, Ti 90 degree mechanical fuel pump (works great)

Stock, Ti linkage ( very smooth and a light return spring)

Tii distributer with Hot Spark igniter and Red coil ( had an original Ti dizzy, but need to get it rebuilt, as the springs are sloppy)

Lightened flywheel from Miller's Mule Machine in Katy, Texas

It runs great, quietly idles at 900 rpm all day and roars when it's pulling hard thru the midrange. TONS of torque.

would you please share your jetting on the Solex DDH's?

are they the aluminum bodied Solex's or the Zinc diecast ones?  a 900RPM idle is a wonderful thing.  obviously, you have these dialed in.  If i'm not mistaken, there are no provision for air correctors on these carbs.  Where do you source your jets?

thanks in advance.  wish you were closer.

it's looking much better already.  pour some Marvel Mystery Oil down each cylinder and let it soak.  keep fingers crossed.  good luck.  use a vacuum cleaner to clean the inside of all the junk.  and don't forget the trunk too.   those are motivational steps to see a cleaner shell.

Which car was that? Is it the one I bought?

no.  your's had Billies all four corners with stock springs, which was still more enjoyable than my ST springs

i rebuilt the suspension on a late model '71 with NOS Boge shocks and struts and used the original OEM springs just so i could experience what a factory spec suspension felt like.  i also used the original sway bars.  i loved that ride for sheer smoothness.  the car was sold and i miss that suspension.  i currently have Bilstein HD's with Suspension Technique springs and thicker sway bars.  it's a fair bit stiffer and less comfortable for my taste.

go for it.  it's merely one step at a time and lots of your patience.  you seem hands on type of person anyways.  your trunk area does not look so bad.  look up 'stymee' on the project blog for how he dealt with similar rust issues as yours.  worse in fact.  although he did stop posting after a while.  hope he didn't quit....

i'd like to offer support to you in attempting to fix your car, but first, it is VERY important to ask yourself if you do indeed possess an immeasurable amount of patience.  you have to be honest with yourself.  do you have a covered workspace at your disposal?  it is possible that your framerail is rusted at the very bottom due to sitting water.  that could be patched.  If you have patience and a work area, i'd recommend that you remove the engine and suspension and interior before doing these repairs.  you'll need full access and it helps to reduce the weight on the body.  i replaced my DS framerail as it was MUCH worse than yours, but i've seen others doing patches successfully.

as for the patience part: i've been doing rust repairs on this particular car on and off for the past 3-4 years, although i haven't touched it since last august.

if you can determine that the rust on the framerail is isolated to what was shown then you may be able to address it without removing the engine.

that looks like Rey's (don't recall his last name) Alpina tribute car.  he posted it up a year or so ago. 

i give an enthusiastic two thumbs up for the candy stripe motif.

way more unique and eye-catching than the castrol version.

what became of that Aston Martin DB5????

ohhh to have THAT car back.....

i remember spying on a shop back in 1988 where the guy was bragging that he got a whopping $10K for an old Porsche Speedster that needed some bodywork and a paint job.  it was a california car that he said was headed to Italy for the new owner.

Posted Today, 03:42 PM

jerry, on 27 Jan 2014 - 2:35 PM, said:

...Just one word: Plastic....

How do you mean? Like thats what I'm dealing with? or are you saying go with fiberglass replacement panels?

that was a tongue-in-cheek reference to a quote from the movie "The Graduate"  where the older chap was advising Dustin Hoffman to invest his money in 'plastic', the wave of the future (as seen in the 1960's era).  it was in reference to your topic title....

...Just one word: Plastic....

 is it just better off to not liken it to a tribute car. Etc...

here's my take on your car.  it is a well-sorted clean car and i've inspected it up close to know.  my opinion: it's a great 74tii with a nicely added Turbo system.  for me the Turbo decals and associated stickers are garish and only benefit the factory originals.  Frankly, if i were the design king at BMW at the time, i would not have put the Turbo stickers on the originals, either.

i think the turbo fenders, front and rear spoiler are sufficient design clues to alert the cognoscenti.,

_{before grinding the guibo, i'd check the axial position of the engine within the engine bay.  ditto on the differential.  there's about an inch of forwar/aft movement on the differential.  maybe your engine can move forward a bit.  if the fan is not hitting the radiator, that is...}

any modification that is not easily reversed will likely decrease the value of your 72tii.  swaybars, shocks and such, excepted.  Interior and seat changes, probably so in most cases.  unless done to high standards and adhering to a Teutonic sense of understatement. 

save the Turbo, monster engine mods/swaps for the squaretails or other carbed  variants if value is important to you on your particular tii

from your account of events,

sadly,

i think you're toast...

i'd like to take this opportunity to dance in a circle and share my joy at the set of good condition Alpina 'red dot' struts (with inverted inserts) complete with Alpina calipers and vented rotors that i acquired in August for $530.00

sorry, i couldn't resist the gloat.  i had absolutely nothing of value to add to this post....