Putting it right
BODYWORK
What Car: 1986 Porsche 911 Supersport Convertible
The Lowdown:
This classic 1986 Porsche 911 Supersport has been booked into the Bodyshop to have some major repair work carried out to the sills, inner sills, catch post and lower parts of the rear quarters on both sides of the car where things have gotten pretty rotten over time. The plan is to cut out all the rot, weld in fresh metal, prep and finish with coat of fresh paint.
The plan:
Bodywork: Cut out any corrosion, weld in new repair panels that will include, sills, inner sills, catch post and part of the rear quarter panels on both sides of the car. Prep body and coat in original white coloured paint.
As we started to cut away the outer sills we discovered that the inner sills were as rotten as we had first feared. Al started by cutting away all the rot on both sides of the car, he removed the under seal until the clean bare metal was showing and then rust treated the lot. He then cut some custom patches out of fresh sheet metal and welded them in to plug the gaps where the rot had once been.
Next up Al sprayed wax oil into the inner support panels to give them a protective coating before the new panels went on, as we will not be able to do this once they are attached. These repair panels were ordered in from VW Heritage and Al started to attach them using 3 methods – glue and pop rivet, spot welding and Mig welding.
With the outer sills and catch panels attached Al welded in the final part of the jigsaw, the lower rear quarter replacement panels
Next a small layer of body filler was applied over the joins, then rubbed down and blended in.
The Porsche has been wheeled into the booth to get masked up and a coating spray filler applied along with a dark guide coat to allow us to see any imperfections. This will then be rubbed down once more and smoothed our ready for a layer of primer and then finally paint.
With a layer of freshly baked paint on the Porsche it was wheeled out of the both, where the parts needing to go back on were then re assembled and the car was given a final polish.
