Today was a chilling day, both figuratively and literally. You see, I dropped off my 1970 914-6 for some long overdue structural repairs in Northern Minnesota. It was both freakishly cold and a milestone in my 914 ownership.
A little backstory....
Since I was was a kid cars have been a part of my life, particularly 914s. In the early 1980's my father, who was in his early 30's, was diagnosed with cancer and endured months of experimental treatment at the U of M. Miraculously he overcame the odds and entered remission. Upon paying back his medical bills he celebrated by purchase a 1970 914-6.
This particular car brings back many fond memories from my childhood. I remember riding in between my parents in the front seat, urging my dad to go faster. I remember riding in the car as we drove up to Brainerd International Raceway to watch the IMSA Camel GT series run. I remember my school age friends looking at the speedometer in awe, simply blown away that it went up to 180mph. As a kid I affectionately referred to the car as "Speedy."
Long story short, the car fell into my possession many years later following my father's passing and would become a reminder of the great times I spent with him. The car spent the majority of the last 20-years languishing in our garage. It was brought back to life mechanically, but had a number of battle wounds that accumulated both by me as a lackadaisical kid and from corrosion on the non-galvanized body. Knowing that a car does not do wel sitting, I enthusiastically drove it whenever I could. In fact the last couple years I had it on the road I probably average 3k miles per year, which is a lot for a sports car in Minnesota where it snows 6 months out of the year...more on this later.
Deep down I knew that the car suffered from corrosion and I finally faced it head on when I removed the rocker covers just over a year ago. I soon discovered that the car suffered in the usual rust areas. So much that I was no longer comfortable driving it. The passenger side needed an inner and outer long. The drivers side needed an outer panel. I found that the rear half of the floorpan required replacement. Surprisingly, the hell hole was in pretty decent shape.
Despite having some little welding experience under my belt I knew the repairs weren't in my wheelhouse. After consulting the 914world brain trust I quickly learned that that the solution to my problems was just a couple hour drive away. Rick, aka Rick918S, has torn apart a number of 914s and after some back and forth he agreed to tackle the project.
Before hauling the car up north, I pulled the engine and interior. Upon pulling the engine I learned that the car no longer has it's original motor, rather is has one from a 68s. For the record the engine is stamped with 901/02 and serial number 4080519. Makes sense since the car seemed to have more zip than 110hp brings. Once stripped of the engine I loaded it up on my trailer in anticipation of the pilgrimage north.
So, this morning at the crack of dawn I hopped in my truck and made the 2.5 hour trip to Duluth, MN, with the car. Normally a trip to Duluth isn't a big deal, however the weather made it a bit more exciting. Earlier this week we got dumped on by snow. In the Minneapolis metro we got about 8-inches. Duluth got closer to 18-inches. If the snow along wasn't enough, the temperature brought things to a new level. When I left my house in Minneapolis the temperature read -7 degrees. As I got closer to Duluth the thermometer dropped to -19F. Soon thereafter it dropped to -26.
Part of me thought the car would break down and I would become a human popsicle. With inconsistently plowed roads part of me also thought I would careen off the road, but with a stroke of luck I made it to Duluth in one piece.
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Rick and I unloaded the car quickly in an effort to escape the cold and rolled the car into his shop.
At present the car sits in good company next to a 1960s Mercedes roadster. Whereas the 914 normally hibernates during winters, this year it will partake in a makeover program. The aforementioned structural elements will get repaired. Concurrently I will be putting the engine on a stand to adjust the valves and replacing gaskets and seals as needed. I'll open the transmission to make sure everything looks good. I plan to replace the sail panel vinyl, carpet, shocks and rechrome the rear bumper. Inevitably, the slop will get more slippery. The goal is to have a stong structural and mechanical foundation come spring. Once complete, I'll drive the car for a few years before tackling the superficial cosmetic blemishes.
Stay tuned for a photo diary of the progress.
Whats that white stuff? '
Rick is a master, you won't be disappointed.
Nice story. Nice photo too
You're car is in good hands now
It's in Good hands with Rick!
Beautiful car!
So great the 914 stays in the family. Keep us posted on the progress.
thats a great story and thats one incredible car, your dad would be proud that your doing this!
Please keep us in the loop how it goes.
-26 Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
This is a great story. But not just a story. Once again our little cars are about more than shiny paint and gas and oil. Ben's car comes with a legacy and a connection to family. I am going to enjoy being involved with the start of a new chapter and future for the car and a continuation of the fond memories this car evokes.
Ben has be gracious enough to allow me to use his car in a video idea I have had for awhile. Many of you have asked about how to go about repairing the chassis of your 914. Or "What the heck did I do ?!?! My door won't shut and my top won't align!"
I'm going to start with evaluation and documentation. A step many never think of and move on from there.
Ben's car will be the first part of the video. I will also include the chassis repair on the 6 Ethan agreed to sell me. This will be a full on chassis repair with the Celette.
So because of the video I will have a slow start with photos of Ben's car but by the end of December and on into the beginning of the new year Ben and I should have some nice photo documentation. My goal is to have the chassis sewn up by the third week in January.
I just love the story and the fact that Ben has entrusted with his family heirloom. He are the right choice having a professional tackle these issues so that once it is fixed he will never have to address those problems again. I have always believed that when building anything, even a car, you need a rock-solid foundation to begin with or you are just throwing money away.
I am really looking forward to seeing the progress this car makes.
I am very thankful that Rick decided to take on this project and look forward to watching the progress unfold. It is a great car and I look forward to it being structurally sound enough to put back on the road for many more years to come. I now have a two year old, Benjie, and look forward to spending time with him in the car.
Since the car has been in the family for about 30 years we have a lot of the service history. More impressive though is the stack of repair and purchase orders from the previous two owners.
After looking through big stack of documents I can piece together the cars history, beginning in Louisville where it was sold new and then in the early 80's when it traveled north to Minnesota.
Ownership History:
1970: Purchased by a Mr. Mike Losey at Don Corlett Porsche/Audi
1982: Carousel Porsche/Audi in Minneapolis aquires the car
1982: Carousel sells the car to Kevin Kirby of Sioux Falls, SD
1984: The car returns to Carousel and my father purchases it shortly thereafter
I find the Carousel connection pretty neat. My dad initiated a relationship with this dealer upon buying the 914 and maintained a strong relationship with them for his years thereafter. It was through this connection that I got my first real job working there. Any high schoolers dream, they hired me on at the ripe age of 15 as a lot runner. I worked there through high school, college and a couple years out of college concurrently moving from lot runner to service advisor to sales associate. Bottom line, much like Carousel was an important part of the 914s life, it was also a big part of my life.
So, back to the service history... In the file I must have 15 odd repair orders from the cars first 15 years.
It's certainly fun looking back at was done and the incredibly low price charged to do some of the work. Digging through the documents I can see that the car had persistent carb problems. They were rebuilt a number of times and ultimately replaced. There was an engine fire that likely stemmed from fuel issues.
It's also interesting to look back and see problems that still persist. Here are just a few. There is a repair order for a rattle in the passenger door panel. That rattle is still there today. A new dash was added at one point, which explains why the dash looks so nice. The odometer was replaced at 53k miles in 1982. This explains why the current odometer reads in the 18k mile range.
All in all, the comprehensive packet of records really helps to reconstruct the car's history.
This thread will start the documentation of the cars future.
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That's cool, having all the service records.
I purchased a '66 912 from a gal that owned the car from new. Her dad bought it for her when she started college. She finished her education and became a successful lawyer. When she became established, she bought a new 911SC, but kept the 912 for several years afterward.
I acquired it in 1988 and it came with a 3/4" thick envelope of service receipts. When I got home, I went though the receipts and found that some parts, like the heads and the carbs, were replaced 10k miles ago. I'm also happy to say, that it is the most rust free early 901 series body car I've ever owned (and still have it)
Looking forward to seeing the repair progress and completion of your car ...
Very nice story. I look forward to the video and hearing about the rest of the restoration.
Always loved that color, it just looks right on a 914 ...
Nice car!
Great story!
Hope my son takes custody and care of mine, when I am "not".
Paul
Love the wheels on the car, with that color of paint, nice touch, and different.
for hopefully more pics of this -6 ...
I always thought cookie cutters would look good on teeners, and meant to hang on to the ones from my first P-car (early '85 944).
Great story, thanks for sharing it and looking forward to more!
Thanks, everyone, for the kind words. Since a couple people requested more pictures I must oblige.
I did a little forensics tonight. Ben's car is really pretty good as 914's go. Here are a couple photos of the issues at hand.
The car had a strange battery shelf installed at one time This isn't the first one of these we have seen. As funky as it looks it is actually really good that they did this many years ago as they cleaned up and painted the hell hole area. I need to replace the engine shelf, stand and tray. I may have to weld in a small patch on the top of the rail but again we have all seen way worse than this.
Oh, and the trunk hinge is welded in the wrong place. The lid is high. So that needs to be corrected.
Here is the worst of it. Typical right side jack post rust and rear floor pan on the passenger side. I'll know more when the tar is off the floor but I think this will stay on the passenger side floor only. Driver side needs a jack post and maybe some rail repair. We shall see.
Are those 15x7 Cookie Cutters?
Thanks,
I, too, am looking forward to following this thread!
Rick's got mad skills, yo! You will be amazed at the quality of work he can put out.
Konrad
Slow start fellas. I'm trying to get the Mercedes off the Celette and get it to Michigan to be e-coated. I'll have some progress to post soon. I'm not going to post here but I have to build a trailer to haul it. I'll post in my welding thread.
Hi Rick: What does it typically cost to e-coat a car? Is that a process where the entire car is submerged like you see on factory build shows? Thanks for the info.
Michael
Great pics of the -6 ......
Love this color and the car. Good luck with the restoration. I'll be following too.
Please post pictures of the process if you can and I would like to know the shop where it gets e-coated. Just thinking….
Rick has been plugging away on the car and just sent me some photos. As is normal, there is a bit more rust than originally anticipated, but nothing Rick can't handle. I'll let Rick chime in with commentary.
Braced and ready for some rust removal...
Some unexpected rust in the pedal area. Most appears to be on the surface though and can be patched using a pan section on hand
Passenger door sill and part of the door jam will need to get replaced.
Driver's rear floorpan needs some love as does the passenger side
So, with some unexpected repairs required I placed another order with the folks at Restoration design. To prove how small the 914 community is, I noted that the parts should ship to Rick in Duluth. The guy at RD, I forget his name, said "Oh these are going to Rick with the V8 914....you own the blue 914-6 he's working on...."
I'm excited to make a trip up north to check on progress soon.
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Great bunch of guys up there in the Great White North! I called R.D. and left Mike a voicemail and then sent an email with a question about their online catalog. I thought that's odd they didn't call back... Then it dawned on me. It was Sunday Duh.
Ya I found a little more rust. I called R.D. to see if they had a short rail section as there is no need to get nuts and cut out the entire rail. I will just do a short patch at the jack point and it will be fine. I'm actually really happy with the floor condition. After the removal of the tar boards there was very little more rust than was showing. There is an odd rust hole at the front of the right foot well with no real reason for it. Very easy fix though. I have a cali front floor section that will fit it right up. I removed the home made battery tray and broken hinge.
There should be some real progress by the end of the week.
***subscribed***
Is it done yet Rick?
Can't wait to see the progress!!! Waiting for an update~
Love the colour (that's colour...not color, for the illiterate)!
Love the wheels!
Amazing how much rust can lurk behind such a pretty little car.
Good luck with the resto....can't wait to see it done!
I'm building a jack so I can get it up on my new wheel stands. The real progress will start then. Here's a photo my son took the other day. Progress soon I promise.
The rust removal continues. Rick is working away to get all the bad metal out in prep for new pieces.
While Rick has been working on the body, I've been tearing the engine apart. I will be replacing the valve cover gaskets, replacing the oil cooler seals, thermostat seals and chain housing gaskets.
When I went to adjust the valves earlier this week I found that a previous mechanic put the distributor in 180 degrees off and then adjusted the wire locations to compensate. I don't know why he didn't just flip the distributor, but I've learned this happens more than you might expect.
Nice work Ben. I'm just closing up the hell hole tonight. I have the inner reinforcement all rebuilt. The bottom of the rail is finished. Here's the bottom of the rail and the inside shot showing the reinforcement and ribs repaired. This is all double walled. I used the spot welder on the flange like the factory.
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Incredible work, Rick!
Top of the rail closed in. There is an inner panel under the outer skin of the hell hole that had to go in first.
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All the usual rust spots and another cool thread to watch. If Ricks Saucer wasn't on jackstands I could have used his skills on my project, great work
Looks great, Rick! What kind of primer did you use on the inside of the long in the pics above: epoxy or self etching?
Blew up the compressor tonight! Drats! I have to order a new pump tomorrow.
I did get a bunch of stuff done since last night though.
Transferred the carpet holding buttons from the rusty strip of floor pan.
Punched the holes in the floor brace.
Welded the brace to the floor pan with my spot welder. Test fit the floor.
I'm leaving the outer clam shell off until I have the floor pan welded in. That way I can use my pinch spotter on the longitudinal like the factory. I cut in the floor plug hole. Most don't bother but this is a factory 6 and I want the work to look as close as I can to the factory.
Thank god the Mercedes is gone , you're rippin now...
It looks like its really coming along ow
I've always wanted to see a 914 on cookie cutters, very nice indeed!!
Sux with no compressor! Pump won't be here until next week.
Here's a couple photos anyway.
Hi Rick
I will be working on door gap issues on a car later this Spring. I am watching your comments on correcting these problems. I notice that you have the car support high off the ground at the wheels. The door gap is braced. It looks to me that the car would want to close at the top. The brace is stopping this. Is this how you intend to weld in the long repair? It seems a little odd to support the car this way when we are so concerned about warping/ twisting when welding. I assumed it would have been best to have the car fully supported. Can you explain this please.
By supporting the car under the suspension you are spreading out the weight where the chassis naturally carries it. You are adding less stress and pulling force to an already weak point.
Here's an example: take a piece of 11" X 17" poster board. Set up 4 pencils at the center 1/3 square of the poster board to support it. You will notice the poster board will sag dramatically at both ended.
Move your pencil supports out 2" in all directions and you will see an dramatic decrease in the sag.
If your repairing a car with no suspension you still need to try to move your support points out to the strut and shock mount points. this will decrease your odds of introducing stress in the chassis from heat and weight.
Other considerations are having a chassis stretch at the long when you have removed a huge section. Any time you do this you really need to plan ahead and add a second brace. You could hold the length with a brace from the door latch bolt holes to the upper hinge. This will sort of add a triangle to the targa brace.
The compressor is back up and running. I installed a new pump last night. I was able to cut some sheet metal today and fab up a couple pieces I needed to close in the base of the rear bulkhead.
While you have the floor off, could you please take a picture of the bottom of the long, drivers side, right under the seat belt nut?
And then with the floor board in place??
I need to fix it, just like to see the assembly
I started welding in the floor pan on the passenger side. I drilled through the bottom of the long and plug welded the pan from the top side. Then I used my spot welder and spot welded the pan also. It looks stock with spot welds not big mig rosettes.
I left the long clam shell off until I have completed all the pan welds. I was able to use my pinch spotter that way.
Made up a new bracket of the heater tube.
Here are a couple photos of the sill supports. They actually curve on the bottom edge. I reshaped them to match the factory parts.
Couple more photos. I installed the sill brackets onto the outer long with my spot welder. and test fit it onto the car.
I will be closing up the right side long tomorrow and installing the right Jack post. I have a few more details to finish on the right side rear floor pan but it's close.
I still have lots to do but some stuff will move fairly quickly like the Battery stand and tray and the right side engine shelf.
I have the right front floor to repair, clean the surface rust on the left floor pan and repair the left jack post.
I have 18 GA. chassis stiffeners built into the inner structure where you don't see it. The chassis will look stock with spot welds but I have mig and tig welds hidden throughout the repair. This takes considerably longer to do but the end result will be worth it.
Nice work! You sure are getting your money's worth out of that spot welder.
Quickly....
The floor pan welds over (under really) the inner long?
So it's just laying on the inner long in that area where you show a picture above?
I know I have done this before, but I cannot see it ......
Finally closing up the right long. I sleeve all the butt seams. For the forward seam I installed the sleeve and plug welded it to the forward rail section. Everything is cleaned and sprayed with cold galvanizing.
The rear side sleeve is plug welded to the long first then slipped inside the rail as it's installed.
Notice the sleeve extends under the hell hole repair and is plug welded to the long.
I welded the jack post to the long before installing the outer section.
The jack post cover was plug welded first. All the welds were ground flush then spot welded to look stock.
The seam and plug welds are ground flush. the rail has a stock appearance.
Nice work, Rick! I hope you're still making that how to video...
That's a nice car ............ Wow.
No we....just me.
Boy went missing again...seems to happen each time lately...
Impressive metal work !!!!
There is a new inner long for the right and left being made in Germany that appears to have more of the factory details formed into it.
maybe even OG dies ? HESS , is a VW parts supplier
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That is a nice piece! Who carries those?
Great work on the repairs Rick. I have the same rust issues with my 914-6 and watching this thread has answered a few of my questions. The one main question and concern of mine is how do you keep the chassis as straight as possible while cutting then welding in the new metal. I have a brace similar to yours but mine attaches to the forward door post. I took the car off the rotisserie then placed it on jack stands to keep things level so I thought. I checked the roof to door/windshield gaps and found them to be off. A quick adjustment to the brace and things looked good again. My question to you is what do you think is the best method other then a bench to keep things straight? I see that you have this car on some type of wheel stands. Does this seam to help or is it just for a working height thing?
Keep up with the great work and pics.
TIA,
Luke
I hope you remembered to re-install the heater tube before you buttoned it up!
Not much progress today. I spent most of the day cleaning the shop. Really Alllllll dayyyyyy........ I did get the front vertical seam finished.
I spot welded the outer long today. I used a pinch spotter to close it up like the factory.
I misted on some self etching primer and added a bead of urethane seam sealer to the top edge as the factory did.
Then I added the sill panel. I used my Lenco panel spotter to face spot the panel and used the pinch spotter to spot weld the braces to the sill.
Here is the bottom of the sill after installing. The seam sealer is squeezed out and prevents moisture from starting rust under it.
That is beautiful work.
I wasn't happy with the restoration design panel and the way it was fitting. I have used the panel as a whole section before but as a partial repair it was easier to just fab up a small section. So I fabricated a panel instead.
Can't wait to see the car in person tomorrow.
Nicely done sir...
Not much progress. I closed in the firewall this weekend in preparation for the engine shelf. As I was shutting down for the night I think my new compressor pump blew up.
Quit buying Harbor Freight S#IT tools
Finished up the engine bay including the rear lid pivot mount. Shot some self etching primer, Added seam sealer and Gravitex. Still lots to do but I feel like I'm getting somewhere now.
I'm not adding the battery tray until I paint the back of the stand and engine bay. there is no way to get some good paint protection with the tray on. Once I have color on I will use my spot welder and spot weld the painted tray to the stand.
NICE ..
I have been working on this car but just finishing little details that don't really photo. I should have some photos in a couple days. Adding seam sealer and finishing welds. I have a patch cut for the front floor almost fit.
Still have to do the left side.
Such impressive work !!
Couple progress photos. I have all the structural welding done of the right side. I am starting the left side this week.
Nice work, Rick
I was side tracked with a 911 project but I'm back on Ben's cars. Here are a couple photos of the progress.
I cut out the left side jack post and examined the inside of the rail. It was really nice. I washed it out and clean it up then sprayed some Eastwood encapsulator inside and closed it up.
I only had to remove one triangle and the sill. When I went to install the triangle I realized the ones I have are for the right side. I called Restoration Design and was informed they only make the right side. I was told to face the flange backwards to install it on the left side. I couldn't bring myself to do that so I made a left side triangle.
Here the jack post and long all closed up.
I'm only painting the areas I repaired for now. I'll have it finished this week.
This is a great educational thread to read! Your work is outstanding and attention to detail ditto. I especially appreciate that you are taking the time to make things right and not taking shortcuts.
Nice work Rick! I love your wheel stands! How the heck did you get the car up there?
Looking good, Rick. I'm looking forward to seeing the car this weekend.
The welding is officially finished. The only real issue with the left floor pan was some holes through the reinforcements under the driver seat. I was going to try to plug weld the holes but changed my mind last minute.
The passenger side floor was rusted through at the cross member and at the engine bulkhead. But the reinforcement ribs were clean as was the metal around them under the seat area. I recycled the good parts of the right side pan, made a repair panel and replace the left side under the seat.
Here is the repair panel fit and ready to weld.
Here is the section I cut out laid over the finished repair.
I used Eastwoods frame encapsulator spray in all the places I couldn't reach to clean. I used it in inside the longs, inside the tunnel, inside the lower engine bulkhead and inside the seat hinge stands. I flooded the areas and used my blow gun the move the excess. Then wiped up the excess. Here is the finished floor.
Still some work to do before paint.
Lookin Good..
Beautiful work as usual!
Wow I wish the repair patches in mine were done as nicely as this one is!
Jealous !
very nice. good work rick.
Just beautiful work as always. Adriatic Blue? Very nice color indeed.
Your "lift" looks like a challenge to get a car up there...
My turn? A nice 356 custom rod...
Ben
VERY nice car.
We have had our two cars together , but it has been awhile.
A Nord Stern event almost 20 years ago, right after my '74 - two litre was repainted it's one and only time.
So, its been a number of years and I anxiously await to see it back on the road and in the show field.
Do you plan to have it at the All Porsche Show in Roseville this summer ?
Hope to get the opportunity to view it up close and personal once again........ nice history on it thru Carousel and then S/F and back again to it's home turf.
Rick, WHAT an exceptional job. VERY nice work..... Thanks for your diligence. And helping Ben keep it looking great for what we all hope, is a very long time.
Many thanks to Rick for taking on this project. After seeing his work I don't think the job could've been any better. He is a true artisan that really cares about the work that he does. If you need work of this nature done to your car and he had the bandwidth I would highly recommend him.
Now that I have the car home I've been slowly piecing it together. Between my 2 year old, pregnant wife and disastrous weekend at the track in my other 914 I haven't been too productive.
I did get new sail panel vinyl put on and reinstalled the aluminum targa bar trim.
I also started installing new vinyl on the floor pan and rear firewall.
The stock steering wheel is pretty ratty, and I had a prototipo on my shelf, so I installed that.
I also got a start on installing the vinyl interior strips.
Did the shift rod arrive ok? I marked the orientation for you.
This photo was taken before I treated the tunnel and painted the tunnel.
Not a lot of progress lately because we welcomed our second child last week.
There has been one other development. It turns out the engine that was in the car is a 1968 911s motor. Given these are rare and worth some dough, I'm tossing around the notion of selling it, putting a different engine in the car and pocketing some cash.
OMG! Congratulations!!!!
Looks like you're gonna need one of them 914 Limos then
Congrats on the new little one
It's hard to believe that it's coming up on a year since I've last updated this thread. I figured I was overdue so here goes.
As noted in my last post, the arrival of my daughter limited the amount of time available to work on the blue car. I made very little progress on it over the summer because the limited garage time I had was allocated to getting my track car ready for the racing season.
In July I brought the race car to the can't miss Hawk vintage races at Road America. This was my daughters first time at the track and my sons second. I treated my son to a ride into Elkhart Lake for the race car concours. You can see him below peeking his head over the door sill.
The race itself was one of the best I've had. I finished first in class and obtained by best lap time ever. They say that your engine always runs best when it's about to let loose. Sure enough I spun two rod bearings when returning to Road America in the fall...on my birthday. After a tear down a few weeks ago it appears that the engine fell victim to the infamous defective Glyco rod bearings. That's a topic for another thread...
With two non-running 914-6s, and a kitchen remodel slated for the spring, the decision was made to take the following race season off and focus efforts on getting the blue car back on the road.
So, back to the blue 914-6. I should have started putting the engine back into the car last fall, but given the engine in the car is from a 1968 911S I had dreams of selling it for big bucks. After a couple bouts on eBay I had a number of offers and and equal amount of flaky buyers who fell through. A couple month ago I decided to simple put the engine back in.
Roughly nine days ago my wife flew down to Florida with the kids to visit her parents. Originally I had a work trip that overlapped with the trip and when that was cancelled it seemed like a great opportunity to stay home and burn some midnight oil working on the car. It's actually worked quite well given the kitchen and family room are torn apart as the remodelers do their magic.
I started by cleaning the decades of grime off of the engine tin and repainting it. I then managed to barely squeeze the engine between the runners of my lift and into position.
Then I figured I should at least tear into the transmission to see how things look and reseal before putting it back into the car.
Surprisingly the internals looked good, the first gear slider and dogteeth were remarkably pointy. In the interest of not sidelining the project more I determined that things looked good enough. I replaced all of the seals and buttoned it up. I do have to say that I've spent a lot of time inside side-shift equipped transmissions and next to none inside tailshifters. As a result, it took me awhile to figure out the best technique to getting the internal shift selector positioned properly.
I then proceeded to install the transmission.
I had it in in no time, but of course I was weary and when I went back to my bench I saw the throwout bearing sitting there. So, out it came, in went the throw out bearing and in went the transmission...again.
It was about now that I remembered that the CV joints were in rough shape and naturally replacement are NLA. At this point cannibalization kicked in. Knowing that I took a year off of racing, and that I wanted to refresh the CV's in the track car anyway, I pulled them off the orange car and put them on the blue car. Hopefully I don't regret this move in the future.
That's about where things sit today. I'm waiting on some gaskets for where the joint attached to the output flanges that are scheduled to arrive on Friday. I'll make quick work of buttoning the halfshafts up then go about connecting the fuel lines and wiring. Oh, I also failed to install the lower oil tank line prior to installing the oil tank so it looks like I'll have to pull the oil tank to get that installed than put the tank back in. I simply don't have small enough hands to make it work.
I hope to spend a couple hours on the car over the weekend. I'll follow up with more progress updates. Hopefully I can have the car on the ground running in two weeks or less.
Had to bump this. Nice to see your back on the road Ben!
After what's been way to long I'm happy to announce that the car is alive finally.
Once I got the engine and running gear installed back into the car I could not get any spark. Admittedly I didn't do a good job documenting where all the wires went when I tore it down. After too much tinkering I decided to bring it to a pro. Turns out a lead from the distributor wasn't connected properly. To make matters worse, the car needed a new CDI box as well. All told, after a new CDI box, points and a minor carb adjustment I'm told it runs like a champ.
I'm planning on picking up the car tomorrow and will post updates thereafter. I still need to figure out why the driver's rear brake is binding. I did remove the dust shields and possibly didn't install them correctly. The car runs upgraded rear calipers and there's a possibility I didn't put the spacers in correctly. I'll post more when I know more.
Congratulations! Looking forward to seeing the pictures of the big drive.
I agree congrats! Take some video of your first run
Wow congrats! Yeah do a video!
Love this car!
Once I get it home and off the trailer I'll slap the gopro on it and take it for a spin around the block
Rick,
Awesome metal talents. With McMark moving away from the west coast we lost our metal magician.
Dave
And she's back on the road. Drove it to work today. I had to renuild a rear caliper and replace a brake flex line on the other side. Lost a lot of skin on my knuckles doing the latter.
I still have a few loose ends, but nothing serious
-steering wheel is off about 30 degrees. Easy 2-minute fix
-transmission is leaking from the square plate at the very back. My plate is presumably warped beyond seal ability so I'll have to grab on from a spare tailshifter I have laying around.
-need to chase a valve cover and sump plate leak
-install passenger seat belt
-drive it a lot
I hope to put some miles on it this weekend. I'll post a few more pictures and perhaps a video
Where in Minneapolis? I'd love to stalk, I mean see it in person.
Fixed the tranny leak tonight (I think), adjusted the clutch cable and gave the car a bit of a polish tonight. I'm looking forward to driving it to work tomorrow.
Nice! Congrats man that looks great. The drive to work should be an excellent one
drive it like you stole it!
It's close to fifty degrees today and sunny. No better reason to pull the 914 out of hibernation. Quite an early start for MN, it's inly a short window. They're saying it might snow tomorrow ...
Cookie cutters look good a 914 for sure.
I was never a fan of cookie cutters in the past, but man, those look good!
Adriatic Blue is the best 914 color.
Can we take up a $ collection and get "iwanta916-4" a car? Poor guy.
Glad to see someone else giving the cookies some love. I had mine plastidipped to a twotone gold/silver combo but I might actually make it permanent with paint.
Fantastic build, wish I had found this earlier!
Ben's thread "Am I losing my mind" thread prompted me to bump his build thread. Anyone thinking about trying to talk him out of this car needs to know how special it is. Enjoy the read.
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