Glassmuseum

I am new to the forums and a new to 944’s

i bought a 944 recently for a good deal and I have discovered some rusted out spots along the fender wells and some areas underneath the door skirt. this was all covered up with a Porsche decal so I didn’t catch them unfortunately until I removed some of the decal. The worst spot is drivers side front fender well.

I have attached 3 videos. One tracking down each side detailing the rusty spots and checking sturdiness. And one that show a little rust in the door sill but none in the vented area in the sill. I will attach some pictures as well. One of door driver door sill
videos:
https://youtu.be/vh4rHrpEQd8
https://youtu.be/-Ly-qcpN26w
https://youtu.be/a8QDVdBLZKM

1. From what you can see here. Does it look like any structural rust has happened? From what I can tell the rust is the lip side that goes out towards the fender and not the frame itself.

2. What is the best course of action to fix this? I have searched the forums and the internet and have found some helpful info but I wondering if anyone here has any first hand experience with a repair like this. The car needs a lot of body work to begin with and will need a repaint and I was okay with that for a long run project, but this is a little more than I bargained for. Is it easy enough for a body shop to remove those pieces and fabricate new piece and weld in? I do no have any experience with this and wondering if it is worth it.

Thanks for any help here.




Sill


Sill vent

Rear drivers fender well

Front driver side fender




Underneath decal is rusted

and others of rust and exterior.

walfreyydo

You wont know how extensive the rust is until you start grinding. The fix is to cut out all the rust and re-weld new metal into those areas, bondo, sand and paint. The worst looks to be the rocker panels.

If you start grinding out the rust and discover its just surface rust and has not gone all the way through you can seal or bondo it and repaint.

Glassmuseum

Just noticed the videos didn’t hyperlink in the original post. Here they are:

Glassmuseum

Adding in an addendum here. I am trying to track down why the rust even happened in the first place. Did a quick test and sprayed some water in the door jam against the front fender and the water is draining right in that same bad spot where the front fender and frame meets. Is there a seal missing somewhere here? I should also add that this happens when the door is closed.

video here

austin944

What are your concerns -- that the rust will get worse over time if it's not fixed, that it detracts from the appearance of the car, or are you looking to sell in the future and want a better valuation?

If you were to pay somebody else to fix the body, rust, and repaint it, IMO the cost would likely exceed the value of the car. You could do some of the prep work yourself and save some money, or do all the work yourself.

IMO if it's minor fender rust, the car is not going to collapse into pieces in a few years, or even 10 years. You can take an ice pick or screwdriver and see how far you can push into the corrosion, and check areas where it's important there be no rust.

Personally I would drive it and enjoy it. That's actually not a bad looking car.

Gage

That does not look good. Worst of all is that rust has been covered over once and is reappearing. The best way to make an accurate assessment will be to remove the front fenders and fully expose every other area that is showing corrosion and go from there. If the mechanicals and interior are good, it may be best to start with a better shell and transplant the good parts of this car.

Glassmuseum

thanks for the reply. I would say my concerns are a mixture of the three. But overall, mainly I am hoping that the rust has not penetrated the frame and other important areas. From what I can tell the frame has not been affected but not totally sure. I’m having someone look at it tomorrow who knows these cars a lot more than I currently do. I would like to find the source of the issue if I decide to fix it. It seems like water is draining right into the the joint where the fender meets the frame. That doesn’t seem right. And likely the reason for the concentration of rust in those spots.

Definitely okay with having some pending body work and not even in a hurry but just trying to make sure it’s not completely out of reach I suppose and if it’s worth pursuing.

931guru

That car has been hit hard and poorly repaired. Prepare to have rust problems for the rest of its life.