Bodywork - there will be rust!
I love the body shape of the e9, that long nose and those pilarless doors make for timeless classic lines that will always turn heads. I think the only negative was the questionable build quality of the Karmann production of these cars.
Strip it 'n' dip it
I would usually chemically dip the removalable panels and soda blast the rest. On this ocassion I have opted to dip the entire car. It's not an inexpensive process, it involves using an alkaline chemical cleaning compound which is a completely non-destructive, immersion metal cleaning process that not only strips paint, powder coating, grease but also removes rust from all those areas - even the places you couldn't normally get to.
After 5 weeks of dipping the car came back and it wasn't pretty! Apart from the rust which I expected, the car had a lot of poor repairs from accident damage and a lot of filler (bog!). The poor repairs needed to be recified and the rusted areas repaired. Thankfully Wallothnesch in Germany stock a lot of the repair panels and for a short while I had Major Customer status with them. At least I had a clean car to work on with none of that nasty proofcoat!
I heavily braced the car and then removed the wings and rear quarters to get at the repairs. The nose needed to come off as it was bronze brazed on only! It had been replaced at some stage after a front end nudge and was rust-free but unfortunately took another nudge later in life. It was all fixable with time and patience, but I replaced the top piece and repair the rest.
The main areas I addressed first were the sills, the outers were bad, the intermediates and inners had spots that have rusted out. So I replaced all 3 layers as the sills provide a lot of the structural integrity and with the 330hp power plant, not an area to compromise on! I also did a lot of body-strengthening.
So here’s a list of repairs:
Removed nose section and repair and replace upper panel
Both inner fenders removed and repaired , removed redundant brackets and filled in holes no longer required
Replaced left lower bulkhead
Repaired both A pillar rust and replaced bottoms
Repaired all the plenum rust holes
Replaced wing extension panels
Repaired front floors
Replaced inner outer and intermediate sills both sides
Replaced right B bottom pillar
Removed both quarter panels, removed all dents and replaced lower sill panel both sides
Minor wheel well rust repairs
Replaced spare wheel and fuel tank panels
Removed rear beaver panel and repair or replace
Deskinned both doors and repaired rust
Deskinned and repaired trunk lid
This is before I have made any modifications to accommodate the design changes!
Modifications
Modified rear shock mounts to take e28 subframe and coil overs
Stitch welded complete chassis for strength
Front sub-frame redesigned and fabricated to accommodate S54 engine and later e36 M3 suspension
New pedal-box/firewall modifications
Replaced old handbrake with later e30 handbrake
Mount drive by wire pedal
John Ward