PRACTICAL PORSCHE

Projects, Specialist, How to, Porsche technical topics, Classifieds

You join me live at the keyboard, directly after nipping out to see the latest progress on my 996. I've left it right up until the last minute, so as to squeeze it into this issue, otherwise we would all be waiting until February. Still, the beauty of having a decent body shop just round the corner makes such a dash possible and I've been nipping in and out, off and on, for the past month or so.

You will recall the horrors uncovered in the last issue by Cowhams Car and Commercial. It wasn't for the squeamish or weak of heart as the bodgery became ever more apparent. How does it go? Something like this: 'Modern galvanised Porsches don't rust, unless they've been crashed and badly repaired.' That's the perceived wisdom and that's exactly what had happened with my 996. It had had a shunt and received a new rear quarter. It had actually been attached reasonably well and certainly well painted, but the inner arch/panel hadn't been and as the years had rolled on and the weather took hold, then it started to rust from the inside out so that what started to appear was rust around the wheel arch. Cutting this back it was clear that it had already been repaired once, and investigating further revealed the true story.

After much head-scratching with Barry and Paul at Cowhams, we decided a complete rear quarter, with both inner and outer panels was the answer. That way all the rot could be cut out and new, clean metal could be welded in. The good folk at 9Apart came up with a rear quarter for just £350, including delivery, and Paul at Cowhams set to.

Once the outer skin had been cut back around the arch, the extent of the corrosion

to the inner arch was obvious, but no matter because we now had a replacement to make a repair panel from. The rear section from 9Apart donated three major sections. First up there was a section at the front of the rear inner arch that meets the sill, which had rotted. Paul cut the offending area away and then welded fresh metal in. Fortunately the inner sill hadn't suffered, but Waxoyl was pumped in just because it was exposed and therefore an easy job.

The inner wing/arch was also cut back to clean metal and again a repair panel was made and welded in and then zinc primed. And then finally, the big one. Paul cut a corresponding section of the outer wing/panel to run from the front of the rear quarter panel/wheel arch, right round to the rear, where the rear apron attaches, tack welding it in place first and then fully seam welding and finishing it off with a light fill. Sounds simple in a paragraph doesn't it, but many, many man/paul hours went in to rectifying my bad buy and reversing someone else's bodgery.

I suppose I still console myself with the fact that if this was a classic air-cooled 911, then none of this would seem in any way unusual and it would probably be just a small part of a much bigger restoration operation. I mean, those air-cooled shells can really hide some horrors...

Paul went to great lengths to seal the newly repaired inner arch, where it butts up against the inside of the outer and then, of course, primed, undersealed and waxed. A stopper was applied to the panel, which effectively stabilises the paint surface before primer can be applied and then, with rear window out and everything masked, it was top coat time. Here's a sneak preview, but that's it for now... It’s not done yet! PW