In-Progress: 1986 Porsche 951 (Guards Red)

[Slowcorrado]

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

I'm learning a lot lately! Today's job was to finish the hood. It took a couple of evenings because I ended up doing 2 complete passes on it with the UC. The pics make it look a little better than it really looks under my LED lights. There are still lots of mid-sized scratches, lots of pitting, and some blemishes where something (tar, bird droppings, etc...) had been over the years. However; it's now RED and SHINY! :-) I discovered more burn through on the trailing edge where it's 'raised', and on the hood crease left side. This time I was REALLY careful to avoid those areas and I think I've improved. Heh. The next step is the front bumper/hood blend. Pics for today:


Click the pics to see them in full size/resolution

'After' pic


Another angle, yes you can still see my furnace vent pipes in the reflection

[GLOCKer]

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

It's looking good!

[Nick Winn]

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

[Slowcorrado]

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

Thanks guys, Question time!!!!


I've been having issues where the panels meet with dark "marks" or some type of residue. The clay bar doesn't touch it, the Meguiars #7 doesn't touch it, the Ultimate compound seems to make a dent, but I REALLY have to beat on it. It's almost like the dried deposits that form stalagmites. Brownish-gray, rock hard, satin finish. I'll post a pic below. This is where the hood blend panel meets the top of the front bumper. I've already washed it, used the clay bar, and 2 coats of M7. Does anyone know what it is, and how to safely remove it? Thanks!

Pic of the offending "stuff"

[Nick Winn]

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

Thanks guys, Question time!!!!


I've been having issues where the panels meet with dark "marks" or some type of residue. The clay bar doesn't touch it, the Meguiars #7 doesn't touch it, the Ultimate compound seems to make a dent, but I REALLY have to beat on it. It's almost like the dried deposits that form stalagmites. Brownish-gray, rock hard, satin finish. I'll post a pic below. This is where the hood blend panel meets the top of the front bumper. I've already washed it, used the clay bar, and 2 coats of M7. Does anyone know what it is, and how to safely remove it? Thanks!

Pic of the offending "stuff"

That's a tough one, not sure what is, but in general, it's either remove chemically or with an abrasive. Examples of chemically would be a "body solvent" from an auto body or automotive paint supply store. Examples of abrasives would be Ultimate Compound, M105 Ultra Cut Compound, or automotive specific sandpaper.

[Slowcorrado]

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

As a follow-up to my weird dark 'stains': I tried an IPA, no change (no damage though) Heh. It seems to be on top of the paint, not really rough feeling, but a satin/dull texture. It looks slightly raised rather than a thin spot. The primer on this car is nearly white, so it's really obvious when you get down to it. The Ultimate Compound does cut it down, but really slowly and I fear for the surrounding paint. I also tried goo-gone (nothing), and Kaboom! (Yes, the tile cleaner as it's excellent on hard water deposits) and it made no difference.

Progress from the last few days:

I've been working on the front end. It's a complex bumper and is of course REALLY beat up from the years of driving and neglect. I've disassembled the turn signals, sidemarkers and some other trim to make it a little easier. After that, it got a cleaning, clay bar and 3 coats of M7. Then, I did a single pass with the UC. Since the bumper is rounded, complex and plastic it certainly shows my lack of experience. I had to do the UC on an applicator by hand to get around the light and air openings and in the grooves. Then I used a smaller (4") pad to go over the rest. It's shining up nicely but there's just too many rock chips and sandblasting to make it truly nice. But, as was mentioned before; this is to be expected and it does look a lot better! I'll work hard to further refine the finish when I get to the polish stage as well. I also polished the fog lights and that made a nice improvement! Before people ask: 1) Yes, I have the original crest to go back on when I'm done. 2) I'll be doing lots of touch-up to reduce the appearance of the worst chips.

On to the pics.

Click the pics to see them in full size/resolution

Before:


After:


Before:


After:

[GLOCKer]

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

Nice!!!!

[Slowcorrado]

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

Well, it's on to the passenger's fender. An extra evening was spent removing the damaged rock-protection film behind the wheel. Then, the same multi-step process was applied like I've done in the past. I found a few deep scratches and learned that I still need to learn the proper way to deal with a concave area on a panel! However, it's coming along nicely. I only really have 1.5 panels left! Then it's the whole process again.. Ugh! As an update to the "dark stain" issues I've had; I tried "prep-kleen" and it didn't touch it. I have no clue what to try next. I have mineral spirits and denatured alcohol, but I'm afraid to use them. Also, on the driver's fender issue: I found one in California, but the seller is unwilling to ship. Anyone feel like picking it up and shipping it for me? :-)

On to the pics.

Click the pics to see them in full size/resolution

Before, notice the ugly rock protection.


After, all gone!


Before


After

[Raykreations]

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

This is one very interesting 'make-over'. I'm a big fan of using mineral spirits - for removing tar and sticker gum. However on single-stage paint like yours, on that dark area, maybe try VERY lightly apply with a q-tip with a trace amount of spirits in an inconspicuous spot. Just my 2 cents.
Great job thus far.

[GLOCKer]

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

Love it. Love those wheels!

[Slowcorrado]

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

Love it. Love those wheels!

Heh! They are the most polarizing feature of the 944 Turbo. You either love them or hate them. :-) I'll add a caveat though. In 1986 (the year of my car) they made these in a staggered (16x7 and 16x8) with a low offset fitment. This meant they had some "lip" to them (especially in the back). If you look at all the later cars they look completely different with the high offset and no lip to speak of. I HATE the later offset ones and really like the early ones. As with everything on the cars we enjoy, it's more complex than most realize. As a side note: When is the next update on the Explorer?!

[Slowcorrado]

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

Sorry it's been a while... There's been progress, just not a lot! Today's update is a duplicate of one from a couple of weeks ago. The lower rocker panel trim was damaged by someone not raising the car properly on a lift. To repair this, I had to pull the trim off, release the bend using a heat gun, and re-bend the metal bracketry. Then, a couple of reinstalls (to get it right) and it's back to normal! That should be the last of that type of job in this post hopefully. :-)


Click the pics to see them in full size/resolution

Quite bent "before"


Much better "after" (even the fender is a better color)

[GLOCKer]

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

So...

Anymore progress????

[Slowcorrado]

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

So...
Anymore progress????

I thought you'd never ask!

I'm still here and still working on the car. Life gets in the way sometimes though. I'm still looking for an original red fender if anyone knows of a source, please PM me. I'm also looking for suggestions for a LSP. My goal would be to finish out the cut process and then do the car in panels: - polish, LSP, next panel - polish, LSP, etc... this way no polished panel needs to sit unprotected with my SLOW process. Suggestions are welcome!


Today's work:


Passenger's side door + mirror. I've been treating it the M7 for a while and finally got around to compounding it out tonight. It made a nice change. :-) Sadly, it revealed a dent in the door that I didn't even see before because the paint was so flat. I may be able to do something with it though in the future, so I'm not too worried.

Click the pics to see them in full size/resolution

Before:


After:


1 more panel and it should be all RED again! YAY!

[GLOCKer]

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

Very good!

To source what your looking for, I imagine you might have to look at Porsche specialists. I wish you luck!

A good body-shop should be able to repaint and blend an original fender if you're just concerned about paint issues. I had a medium sized spoiler done for $150. A panel shouldn't cost over $300 I'd imagine.