Hey friends, just became the proud owner of my first 914! I have been lurking here for a couple weeks learning a lot and I’m grateful this site is here to share this valuable info. The body on the car is nice, previous owner did some rust repairs to the frunk seal area and a little by the cowl/ fender/hood area as well as the bottom corner of gas tank area. His repairs look pretty good, but I bought the car as an u finished project because the guy was moving and couldn’t keep the car. He gave me many boxes of parts, looks to be complete besides a windshield and a couple other things

The car is mechanically complete from the seats back, with the dash, front suspension/ steering/brakes disassembled for paint and body work
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My first of maybe many questions is about the cowl/fender/trunk area; there is a small hole on either side of the trunk near the hinge mounts where the panels come together, trying to see what you guys would recommend to fix them, the hole goes from the. Inside front trunk to the inside rear of the fender. Pretty sure it shouldn’t be like that and I’m trying to get the area ready to paint so I can reassemble the car
Other than that the repairs seem solid. Thanks in advance for any suggestionsClick to view attachment

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Can you post more pictures of the area? Maybe one from a little further away so we have a better point of reference.
You can edit your empty second post with pictures.

It took me a minute to figure what was being shown. Ended up clicking on the image and found out it was rotated! Here it is with correct orientation.

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Sorry just figuring out the pics, when I post one it deletes another. The holes are smaller than a dime, do you think a filler like kitty hair would work? The surrounding areas seem solid. Thanks
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I'm still not sure where these hole are.

And welcome to the world

I’m far from auto body expert but I would expect to remove all the paint/primer in that area and see what the true condition of that metal is. That is another spot notorious for rust being near the weatherstrip channel. Maybe a patch will be needed to weld good metal to metal. More knowledgeable peeps will be along with suggestions. Good luck & welcome.

Nice bus too

If I understand right, after this repair you want to paint and reassemble the car. So it is the last moment to do it right, I would weld the holes. Put a cooper plate in the back and weld it shut. That's the best solution.

Cheers

Antoine

Those are rust holes, with no rust showing= pecker tracks!
Welding is best choice. I would drive the car before I fixed that spot....
Matt

It's a slippery slope for sure. I can almost guarantee what you see is just the tipoffs the rust iceberg. Depending upon the condition of the rest of the car, you may want to repair it correctly (going, cut, fit, weld, grind, finish, paint) before moving on to other jobs. Or, if the rest of the car is solid and all it needs is basic maintenance and some assembly to get it running/driving, do that and drive it before you go down the rabbit hole of rust repair. Regardless, enjoy the process and have fun. Love the bus BTW.

Thanks for the help guys I appreciate it. I worked on one side today, after removing paint the metal was very solid. I took Antoines advise and used the copper plate method, I made it out of a copper pipe I flattened with a hammer and tapered to make it fit in there as close as I could. Difficult to work in this area, especially while holding a copper plate from behind while welding. It’s not the most beautiful welding but I will clean up the welds more tomorrow, ran out of time today. Sorry I don’t know how to rotate the photos, they look normal when I attach them
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