Jerry Feather

In addition, now that you bring it up, I suggest that you put the car on the ground and take some pictures of all the gaps, doors, hatch, hood and all. Then we can all begin to see just how badly you car is really bent.

Jerry Feather

BC

No, yours look awesome compared to mine. Please put it back up and share the link if you can. I was trying to zoom in to see the dimensions.

BC

Really Jerry, you gotta lighten up a bit and read what people are saying. I was joking- poking fun at your consternation and sour demeanor. I'll take some pics of the sides and top as you requested, though I cannot put the car down or move it as it does not have any transaxle assembly or suspension on the back.

Jerry Feather

OK, I'll look foreward to the pictures. I am reading what they are saying, but they are alll wrong, unless you want to simply drive around in a bent car. I wouldn't want to myself, but that is just me. Your car did not fall off a jack or on a jack. The frame rail aft of the right mounting crossmember mounting point is significantly bent. Let's try to see what else is bent and decide how best to deal with it.

Jerry Feather

Jerry Feather

Sour demeanor? Yeh, I see that you have over 19000 posts on this forum so I suppose I am supposed to kiss your a$$ in some deference to your longevity. Actually, there has been nothing sour about my posts in response to your initial question until you accused me of being negative about your question, when I wasn't. You have a bent 928 and I am just trying to help you identify just what the extent is of your concern. Isn't that what you asked for in the first place?

Lightern up? OK! let's look at the pictures.

Jerry Feather

UncleMaz

Sorry, I miss understood. Here you go plus.

Hilton

Brendan - whats the hatch floor like behind the tool panel?

Often that area gets a ripple in a rear hit - taking off the tool panel and looking at the floor in there under the hatch motor etc. is often a good way to spot one thats been clobbered.

BC

Yes, thank you. I did look there and it's just straight( or
Curved) like it's supposed to be.

BC

Okay Jerry. Here are the pics I am able to get.

Jerry Feather

BC, it appears to me that the wheel arches, especially on the right, but some on the left, are bowed out just as I originally suggested. I know that it is hard to see, but the fender is simply a long curved sheet of steel that is only supported at the top and front and rear. On the other hand the frame is welded up tightly and very stiff, so when the frame bends it has to kink, but when the fender bends it simply changes its curvature a little to make up for the change in the frame.

I know yours look straight to you, but not to me. I have been sculpting something lately to match the inner shape of the rear wheel arches for use in my rear liner forms, and I have been studying an endless number of rear wheel arch pictures and my own cars to be able to get the shape correct. That is part of the reason that I am able to see the bow that you cannot seem to see.

Here are some pictures of some of my wheel archs with the straight edge next to them to show that the top of the original opening is essentially straight. I think that when you do the same with your car and your straight edge you are going to be able to see the change in curvature of your wheel opening. However, it may be that the change in your openings is more concentrated to the rear upper corners.

Jerry Feather

Jerry Feather

I just thought of another test that might help. I measured the distance from the frame rail straight out to the edges of the wheel arches, at the upper rear corner and at about the middle. When you do yours be sure to have the dumb end of the tape against the frame outer surface and not at the bottom of the zig zag indents.

BC

Seems like I may want to get this straightened. I could get it over the place Greg suggests. It seems it may be coming to be worth it to fix some of these cars.

JWise

So did you determine the frame was indeed bent? As a previous post suggested, the damage appeared rather isolated. My first inclination was it looked almost like someone had been prying on something there with a crow bar and it crimped that area. IDK, it's tough to say without actually seeing it in person. On that note, I'd take Jerry's long distance diagnosis with a grain of salt, he's been wrong before.

UpFixenDerPorsche

[QUOTE=BC;8831388]Okay Jerry. Here are the pics I am able to get.




Hi Folks.

To me, this is the (good) telling pic.

The hatch is in perfect alignment, at each rear corner in particular. Any sort of body deformation will show up there.

Measuring the wheel arch flare: those mmts look ok but for more accuracy fit the wheels and re-measure.

My first thoughts re the underbody damage was that the metal had been bent locally. Another pic shows clearly IMHO damage and marks that looks like it slipped off a jack.

If it were my car I wouldn't worry.

HTH

UpFixen.

.

Dave928S

Here are a few pages from the Porsche 'Service Training' document entitled 'Diagnosing Body Damage'

Until you have some hard data in the form of measurements of these dimensions you're just guessing.

Fender lips and body panel fit might look and measure out, and be helpful as further evidence, but don't prove frame damage. There's no substitute for factory control point measurements. Example ... my 82 had different shape rear wheel wells, and a badly gapped left door, but the frame was all in line.