In-Progress: 1986 Porsche 951 (Guards Red)

[Slowcorrado]

Re: In-Progress: 1986 Porsche 951 (Guards Red)

It's all good GLOCKer, no need to apologize, was just goofing. I'm older than you, but there are many guys older than me too. You're exactly right about most 80's cars. They just weren't desirable for a long time. Especially the watercooled Porsches from the aircooled era. In fact, I picked this 951 up when the price was LOW about 10 years ago. 72K original miles, clean black leather interior, horrible paint (or so the seller and I thought). I went looking for comps on it this AM after I read your post. Yeah, triple what I paid. YAY, except, if I ever sell, I'll never afford another one. The funny thing about these cars nowadays is that they are worth double their value if parted out. MANY items are directly from the aircooled 911. Leather seats, leather steering wheel, original radio, climate controls, etc... Anyways, back to the story.

Friday night update:
So I just had to get back to my badge ordeal. Tonight was the night I was going to hit the right rear with the UC. There's lots of prep work, then about an hour and a half of DA action... WHAM! Looks amazing. :-) Well, I do have a problem. As evidenced by the pic, I am going to have a tough time putting the badge back on right. :-) Actually, the pic is a little deceiving. It is possible to see that the paint under the lettering is "thicker" than the remainder. So as another lesson to anyone asking: There is NO substitute for removing the lettering. It just simply won't come out half as good. After I finished this I completed a good pass on the rest of the back with the UC. It's great stuff. I was also a little more aggressive on the bumper end cap and it looks better than the driver's side. (I'll return to that side and get it again) The 2nd pic is after I was done for the night. Notice the untouched paint on the passenger's side where my work ends. Yeow.

I feel that I need to stop and thank everyone for the well-wishes, words of wisdom and support. I simply can't believe that "I" am able to make such a change on this car. I am not a professional, I don't have the best tools and I don't have any professional training. It's a highly rewarding job and I only wish I had half skills some of you folks have. With that said, if anyone's in the central PA area and wants to give some pointers in-person, PM me. :-) On to the pics...

Click the pics to see them in full size/resolution

Where did the badge go again? (Color is a little off because I had my LED trouble light so close)


"After" shot after the UC pass on the whole back end.

[RPPM]

Re: In-Progress: 1986 Porsche 951 (Guards Red)

Awesome work so far, excited to see the final product!

[Slowcorrado]

Re: In-Progress: 1986 Porsche 951 (Guards Red)

Sat night update:

Moving on to the next section; the roof. WOW, what a mess. I am a little disappointed in the condition of what's up here. I cleaned and ran the clay bar over everything and was rewarded with some large flaws. The previous owners have completely buffed through the hard edges around the sunroof and on the side roof rails to the point the aluminum is showing through shiny... OW. There are at least 10 medium to large chips (one around .75" diameter) that will need to be dealt with. Overall, the paint is far worse on this flat horizontal surface. I finished up tonight by applying 2 coats of M7 and letting it sit. My big concerns are the chips. I don't know when the proper time is and the best kit to do a repair. I'd like a single-stage solution that will be as close of a match physically to the original. I'm a realist though and understand that getting it perfect isn't going to be possible. Any suggestions would be appreciated! On to the pics:

Click the pics to see them in full size/resolution

The "before" shot


A detail of the paint condition and some burn-through


The largest chip.


Burnt through aluminum roof rail (shiny metal LOL)

[GLOCKer]

Re: In-Progress: 1986 Porsche 951 (Guards Red)

Ouch! Once your all done, a repaint of the roof panel might not be that unreasonable considering how well the rest of the car looks to be coming out.

[Slowcorrado]

Re: In-Progress: 1986 Porsche 951 (Guards Red)

So, it's been a couple days..... Not because I was lazy and didn't post; but because I ran into my 1st real challenge. The roof paint is just demolished. I did 4 M7 coats with vigorous manual application, then cleaned it all off and had to use UC for 2 full passes/sessions to get it to be about 75%. My green microfibers looked like I was wiping blood up there was so much red coming off. I stopped because I'm not comfortable going too much harder on it. I don't have the experience to know what I can and can't do. I'll be going over the whole car again with UP, so that will hopefully help. It's a little disheartening to see all the burnt through edges from previous aggressive rotary buffers. I was good and taped off the hard edges and really tried to improve on my technique. It just shows me that I was spoiled by the vertical panels with their "light" oxidation vs. these with "serious" oxidation. I'm now dreading the hood since it's huge. LOL. Ordered some touch-up paint and a sanding pen to get that additional project moving. On to the pics for today:

Click the pics to see them in full size/resolution

Do you see a difference? Remember, the bad side has been cleaned, clay bar, 4 rubdowns of M7 already!


Done for now, I'm hoping I can refine it a little when I do a full pass with the Ultimate Polish.

[Slowcorrado]

Re: In-Progress: 1986 Porsche 951 (Guards Red)

I know, this update seems like cheating... But I needed an easy day today. Decided to clean the rear glass. Wiped it down and washed it. It still felt like sandpaper! Went over it with the clay bar and it worked like a charm. Slick and smooth! Then I did a pass with the Ultimate Compound to get any old water spots off, etc... WOW. It's 30+ year old glass, but what a difference. I'll do a final cleaning once I get further along. I'm open for suggestions for sealers. I'd love it to be something I can use on the whole car. At the moment, I've been considering: Meguiars Ultimate liquid wax,

M21, or

Klasse high gloss sealant. I don't know if any of those is better than another for single stage paints. Opinions welcome!

Click the pics to see them in full size/resolution

Before:


After!

[Old Bear]

Re: In-Progress: 1986 Porsche 951 (Guards Red)

I see, I see, I see.
Since I own a nearly 50 year old vehicle, I get to make a couple recommendations.
See those little pieces under the glass? They hide until you buy and install expensive replacements. Then they either mysteriously appear the next day or rattle constantly somewhere you cannot find. Ask me how I know.


Take small baggies, like snack size or sandwhich size. Put the bolt/screw/attachment into the baggie. Write what it goes to on a 3M PostIt Note and stick it inside the baggie. Close the baggie.
Take the baggies and put them in small clear plastic boxes about 2 to 6 quartz. Close the lid.
With 3M PostIts, you can reuse the baggie. You can even cross out the content name and add a second name.
You can get the storage items at the $ store.

Buy a $3 magnetic dish from HF and keep it and your labeled baggies about 3 feet from you when you take stuff off the car. ASAP or sooner, put them into the dish, then label them into the baggies.

Does that sound a little frugal?
You bet. Car guys/girls/bears need our coins for wider, stickier tires.

[Slowcorrado]

Re: In-Progress: 1986 Porsche 951 (Guards Red)

Heh, Old Bear: I can completely understand your concern. Thanks for the tips. It's funny, but cleaning the glass exposed my "dirty laundry" (and the steering wheel). :-)

Another weekend update:


It's been a few days since I've posted. Lots of life happening at the moment. But I've also tried to stop posting every little detail/step. :-) Today's update is showing the progression on the driver's side. I was able to clean/clay the remainder of the rear quarter panel, rocker panel, and driver's door. The quarter panel stone protection was removed (took me a whole evening), and I

compounded the rear quarter glass.

The front fender is a lost cause (will explain later, failing clearcoat bad respray, etc...). So when I'm done with the parts I've prepped, this side is done! In the 1st pic, you can see I've completed the cut pass on the rear quarter panel and the M7 coats on the front door/mirror/rocker. It's amazing what flaws flat paint will hide. You can see the large chip in the rocker, there are multiple deep scratches, and a hideous mark where the car was hit with an egg in the past! (Last pic of the bunch) I'll probably try some touch-up and the squeegee method on that one in the future. I also found a large dent in the rocker panel. The 2nd pic is a different angle of the finished quarter panel. It came out pretty nice considering the hassle it was to remove that original stone guard. I'll try and compound the driver's door tomorrow, but it's going to take a while with that mirror and the door edge. Slow, but steady progress is being made! Also, if anyone out there has a driver's fender in original red paint (or knows a source for one), I'm starting to look now! Thanks!

Click the pics to see them in full size/resolution

Finished the ultimate compound on the quarter panel


Different view.. Look ma, no more stone guard!


A great find.. Egg damage!

[GLOCKer]

Re: In-Progress: 1986 Porsche 951 (Guards Red)

I may have mentioned this before, but it's really starting to have the deep looking red that made the 80's exotics so sexy. That deep, wet looking red!

[Slowcorrado]

Re: In-Progress: 1986 Porsche 951 (Guards Red)

Thanks for the kind words. I feel like I need to post a disclaimer though: The pictures make it look better than it really does in person. :-) There are still flaws all over. I'm sure my work isn't as even as it could be, etc... in my defense though, I'll refine it further when I do the polish step. Heh.

Couple days worth of update:

I got the driver's door, mirror and glass finished. The mirror housing isn't as nice as I'd like and I'm having a hard time getting the tight details around the window trim, door handle and mirror. I would have pulled the handle off; but I don't trust the plastic linkage inside to go back on properly or not break. The last picture is of my 1st thin paint mistake (kinda). The upper rails are aluminum and were already buffed really thin by a previous owner. I figured a light pass wouldn't do much, but was WRONG. LOL. Literally a single quick pass took it down to the sealant where it was thin. I'm disappointed, but want to be honest with everyone and show you the bad with the good! As a possible solution, I received my 2oz of single-stage touch-up today, so I may be able to remove the rails and airbrush them to restore the color. If that doesn't work, I'll have them painted when I get the front fender painted. Of course, I'm itching to test the touch-up on my dozens of chips! I think I'll do some testing on the most hidden blemishes as my next project to see if it's going to give a good enough result. As always, thanks for reading and your support. On to the pics for today!

Click the pics to see them in full size/resolution

View of the finished door/side


Another shot


Burnt through roof rail fail!

[Slowcorrado]

Re: In-Progress: 1986 Porsche 951 (Guards Red)

Today's update will be split into two posts.

I spent like 4 hours on it and got multiple things done. At the end of my last post I said I may move on to touch-up paint testing... it didn't happen yet. Instead I decided to take it a little easy and do the windshield. A cleaning, clay bar and cut pass with the UC made it look and feel amazing. See the pics below (and yes, every 944/951 dash is cracked, another project). After that, I noticed that someone in the past had bent up the lower skirting at the bottom of the front fender by incorrectly putting it up on a lift. (Common on this chassis if you don't know where to raise it) So, I pulled the trim, re-bent the bracket, used the heat gun to release the incorrect bend and reinstalled the trim. It came out pretty nice; of course I just noticed the other side needs it too. LOL. On to the pics!


Click the pics to see them in full size/resolution

Bent-up trim panel before:


Straightened trim:


Windshield before:


Windshield after: (LOL, you can see my natural gas furnace intake and vent lines in the reflection!)

[GLOCKer]

Re: In-Progress: 1986 Porsche 951 (Guards Red)

Nice job! I'm impressed with the work on the lower trim!

[Slowcorrado]

Re: In-Progress: 1986 Porsche 951 (Guards Red)

Nice job! I'm impressed with the work on the lower trim!

Heh, thanks. It makes a world of difference taking care of little things like that. It reminds me of your post where you removed the white paint on the bumper of the SUV. I loved that! So satisfying. :-)

2nd half of the day's work post:

I decided to start on the hood. It's a mess. It has the worst original paint on the car and is the largest panel. I'm doubting my ability to bring this back! To simplify things I removed the washer nozzles. That was a treat! they are installed in typical German fashion with stainless clamps, braided hose and manually-pinned wiring that isn't safely removable. When I got them out I was thinking... "Hmm, this was touched last by a West German craftsman before the fall of the Soviet Union" HEH! Using the same process as before I've cleaned, clay bar, hand rubdown with Meguiars #7 and let it sit for 24 hours. It's improving but wow; the 1st coat of M7 soaked in so fast it was crazy. I think I used 1/8 a bottle just for that coat. Pics!

Click the pics to see them in full size/resolution

Closeup of the paint's color and condition:


The paint under and around the nozzle!


Hood "Before"


Hood "After cleaning and clay bar" Not much visual improvement?!


Hood after 1 rubdown of M7 and 24H

[GLOCKer]

Re: In-Progress: 1986 Porsche 951 (Guards Red)

Was that fender repainted at some time?

[Slowcorrado]

Re: In-Progress: 1986 Porsche 951 (Guards Red)

Was that fender repainted at some time?

Yes, I know it's the elephant in the room. The whole car is original paint EXCEPT for that fender. I mentioned it in a previous post: I'm looking for a used one with original paint. (If anyone out there knows where I can find one, please message!) The sad part is that they did such a bad job of just clearcoating the original paint that IF I could get the clear to all fall off I could most likely just buff out the fender! My hope though is that the crappy fender doesn't ruin the project for everyone. Heh; I'll be coming up with a solution so it looks whole again. :-)