In-Progress: 1986 Porsche 951 (Guards Red)

[Slowcorrado]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

[Slowcorrado]

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]

Was that fender repainted at some time?

[Slowcorrado]

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. :-)