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914World.com _ 914World Garage _ Mihai's Progress Thread!
Posted by: mihai914 May 17 2005, 07:04 PM
OK, here goes.
I bought this car last year in Connecticut, it was non running, original somewhat documented with 63K miles. Last time the car was registered was in 1990. The reason it stopped running was because of a fuel leak at a shop and the car got evicted from the premises right away and that was it.
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Posted by: mihai914 May 17 2005, 07:08 PM
Oh yeah, it's a 74 2.0. There was nothing missing from the car at the moment of purchase except a fog grille and the rocker panels. All the trim was there, an unmolested car which is a big advantage IMO when tackling a project.
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Posted by: mihai914 May 17 2005, 07:10 PM
Interior shot (picture).
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Posted by: mihai914 May 17 2005, 07:11 PM
Front trunk.
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Posted by: mihai914 May 17 2005, 07:11 PM
Rear trunk.
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Posted by: mihai914 May 17 2005, 07:15 PM
Now the bad part. Being a North East car, rust was free. The battery tray is solid but there are other areas that would have made this clearly a parts car in California. Seems to me, that no one ever cleaned under the rockers, with these results.
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Posted by: mihai914 May 17 2005, 07:16 PM
One more, driver's side!
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Posted by: mihai914 May 17 2005, 07:17 PM
Driver's door gap.
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Posted by: mihai914 May 17 2005, 07:18 PM
Now the really fugly stuff!
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Posted by: mihai914 May 17 2005, 07:21 PM
Rust!
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Posted by: mihai914 May 17 2005, 07:22 PM
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Posted by: mihai914 May 17 2005, 07:24 PM
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Posted by: mihai914 May 17 2005, 07:26 PM
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Posted by: mihai914 May 17 2005, 07:27 PM
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Posted by: mihai914 May 17 2005, 07:41 PM
Upon massive shop-vac work the hell hole seems to be solid but the engine shelf will have to be patched.
Mechanically, there has been a bit of work involved. It was hard to know from where to start! I guess the fuel leak(s) were in order. The gas tank was removed and the crap that was in there is unbelievable. I ended up replacing it with a slightly better one despite the rust it had inside which I cleaned the best that I could.
The car has the fuel pump relocated to the front, what a mess with the 70-74 style pump. Still I replaced all those fuel hoses with a new filter and tank screen to get things started up.
As my luck would have it, the car was leaking fuel at the back also where the fuel pump was originally. An interesting fact is that the varnish that formed in the lines completely blocked the Y fitting for the return and bypass lines. It had to be cleaned with a drill bit!
Injectors were replaced immediately even before trying to start the car, upon inspection, two were blocked.
New cap, rotor, plugs and wires and oil change, the points looked good, so we tried to fire up the car, nothing, there was no spark. Screwed around with coils and other crap, it ended up being bad points even though they looked like new. Put in the replacement points and after that tried again and it fired right up after 15 years of sitting idle.
The shocking part is that the engine actually runs well. Fuel pressure is way up there at 60 PSI, me thinks I forgot all about checking the return line if it was gummed up 
Posted by: mihai914 May 17 2005, 07:51 PM
Next step, stopping the car. It had absolutely NO brakes. No fluid in the reservoir, I filled it up pressed the pedal and it stayed down, crap pedal cluster rebuild, I had purchased the bronze bushing kit years ago and never got to use it before now. Took me two three days just to get the clutch pedal off the shaft, I had to bring it to a shop and they applied the torch to it. A big thumbs up to Eric Shea who has to put up with this on a regular basis!
I clean, repaint and reassemble the cluster and put it back in the car. I then find out there is a big leak at the front left wheel.
The car had been sitting so long that the front brakes froze to the point that the PO split the calipers on the car to probably push it around.
Since I had four rebuilt calipers sitting on a shelf, I just swapped them with new rotors up front and some used ones in the back. Buttoned everything up and bled the system with a Mityvac. I was really afraid that the master or proportioning valve would also be shot; they seem to be holding until now.
Posted by: mihai914 May 17 2005, 08:08 PM
So now I'm at the point where I need to tackle all that rust. I decided to try and do it myself as opposed to have someone else fix it, even if it doesn't turn out pretty as other's members cars I would still be happy with what I can do (not that the other members can't be proud of their project, in fact their choice is much more logical i.e. less trouble = better life!)
I bought a right side replacement outer long panel from RD. My initial idea is to use two thirds of that panel to fix the right long and the other third to patch the left long.
So mainly I'm at the point where I need to either make a brace for the car or get some of these bars and get things going for the Canadian meet and ECR! I have to kick myself 
More will follow as it will develop.
Mihai
PS: actually while I'm in there...
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Posted by: Grimstead May 17 2005, 08:18 PM
Good luck with your project. You have a lot of work ahead of you but I'm sure it will work out great 
PS, keep posting the pictures as you go cause I think this will be a good thread!
Posted by: Eric Taylor May 17 2005, 08:29 PM
Looks like a good learner 
. Should be a fun project you'll sure know how to cut and weld when your done! It's going to be great when you have it all rust free and looking beautiful.
Eric
P.S.
What's the deal with the floors? Are those some sort of replacement panel's on the drivers side?
Posted by: mihai914 May 17 2005, 08:33 PM
| QUOTE (Eric Taylor @ May 17 2005, 09:29 PM) |
| P.S. What's the deal with the floors? Are those some sort of replacement panel's on the drivers side? |
That was the floors used to fix the car in my avatar! Rectangular piece of sheet metal with some bends in it for reinforcement, served well when nice replacement parts were out of reach due to the exchange rate.
Posted by: macpro Jun 18 2005, 05:37 AM
keep the info coming! Yu know these little cars look good just sitting still...but as ClayP says "Better to wear it out than to have it rust out"! I too have aquirred a machine that has been off the road for years. '74 2.0 Carb. Just starting to dig around and find out where I stand. So far very little rust. I going back to FI ...ASAP ! The fuel line will be Stainless and I'm thinkin' I go with aftermaket injectors. have you check any of those systems out? Anyway keep the progress going...I'm sure many of us are watching. We'll keep cheering you on!!!
I'll be posting my progress as well starting in July.
Posted by: MecGen Jun 18 2005, 06:03 AM
So thats what you've been doing...missed it the first time...
Later Dude
Joe
Posted by: derelict74 Jun 18 2005, 09:12 AM
Looks almost exactly like my project !
same rust( maybe even worse than yours) , been sitting about the same length of time
Once I've moved to my new house, I'll be getting into it properly, presently just dicking around with fuel to see if the thing will fire....
probably has the same blocked injectors/fuel lines etc etc..... 
but I look forward to seeing how one goes about the rust replacement.
cheers,
ryan
Posted by: mihai914 Jun 18 2005, 10:48 AM
Well finally I have some sort of progress; I got hold of the Autopower Roll-bar that I want to install in the car to stiffen it up a bit and mostly for my security...
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Posted by: mihai914 Jun 18 2005, 10:50 AM
I'll have to see the fitting of it, any help BTDT would be of great help. I want to keep it a bolt-on application and while I'll have the logs open, I'll weld some mounting plates inside the car to have a cleaner finish and if I take the roll-bar out you won't be able to tell.
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Posted by: mihai914 Jun 18 2005, 10:54 AM
I also scored on this part from a fellow teener that doesn't need it; it was the part that I was the most troubled with fabricating since I'm partly a CSOB, patience is a virtue with this car.
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Posted by: MecGen Jun 20 2005, 07:14 PM
Mihai
Thats a cool patch panel, much better the fabbing.
Score
Later
Joe
Posted by: mihai914 Jun 20 2005, 08:03 PM
| QUOTE (JoeSpark @ Jun 20 2005, 09:14 PM) |
| Mihai Thats a cool patch panel, much better the fabbing. Score Later Joe |
Putting it on will be another story! Today I was supposed to go and buy cutting discs and blades to get going but the 420 took a dump on me, no fuel out of the blue (at least it was in front of the house), prolly the fuel pump relay! How are your cars coming along?
Posted by: rick 918-S Jun 20 2005, 09:14 PM
Were watching you.... 
Posted by: mihai914 Jun 22 2005, 08:55 PM
Well today I made the brackets to mount the roll-bar and keep it removable. I know it's not the best method to install it, but I opted for a mounting solution that would not interfere with the longitudinal's outer appearance in any way. So I made these up that will be welded inside the longs when they will be open for surgery. Why 2 pieces on each side? It's because where the roll-bar mounts, there is a bracket for the heat tube right in the middle and it will stay there.
For more info on the fabricating of these you can see this other http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?act=ST&f=2&t=33571.
It took me quite some time; it was my first real fabricating experience, and my second time welding so the welds are not so pretty.
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 1 2005, 06:16 PM
Yesterday I worked some more with the car. First thing I played with the roll-bar to decide how close to the firewall I would mount it. I came to the conclusion that I'll put it as close as possible without rubbing the trim in the car. The main reason behind this is that the closer you get to the firewall, on the long there is a spot where you have more meat on the car, basically where the long and firewall are joined. As a bonus, there will be slightly more clearance for the passenger seat.
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 1 2005, 06:18 PM
I also started playing with the car measuring and straitening (sp?). I don't have a jig but as I've mentioned before I have these bars to extend or pull the car at the door opening.
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 1 2005, 06:20 PM
You just need to bolt those white clamps to the body.
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 1 2005, 06:21 PM
And then slip the bar on them and secure it.
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 1 2005, 06:22 PM
Driver's side.
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 1 2005, 06:25 PM
Now it's possible to play with the bars to stretch the car as desired, all I wanted to do for the day is to check the squareness of the floor. First measure I took was the distance between the seam of the longs with the lower corner of the windshield frame.
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 1 2005, 06:27 PM
This will tell you if the windshield frame is bent in any way, if it is it screws up further measuring. Driver's side.
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 1 2005, 06:28 PM
Passenger side. Good enough for me, they match and that's what's important. Factory spec calls for 788mm, but that's an empty shell and there is no trim in the way of measuring.
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 1 2005, 06:34 PM
Then I started turning those bars to extend the car, first was the passenger side which also slightly extended the driver's. Then I adjusted the driver's side bar to be at the same level as the passenger. Factory calls for 638mm at the opening.
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 1 2005, 06:36 PM
I shot for 640mm based on a fellow member that is local to me and that is pretty much the cleanest tub around here for reference, if I had the money I would have bought the car in a heartbeat, thanks Joe (JoeSpark).
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 1 2005, 06:37 PM
Driver's side on my POS.
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 1 2005, 06:41 PM
Passenger side. Perfect match again, even if I'll end up having a wider upper door gap, I prefer it that way than too tight plus I expect it to slightly shrink during the welding of the replacement panels.
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 1 2005, 06:44 PM
Before I forget, I had planned to get the car straight, attach the roll-bar and use that as extra bracing while repairing the car, but there are clearance issues with the roll-bar and the door bars I'm using. So that part of the plan is no good.
Posted by: mihai914 Jul 1 2005, 06:49 PM
Now the biggest part IMO in knowing what will have to be done to the car. I measured the diagonal on the roof. This will tell you if the chassis is twisted or not. As a note, I tried to bring the car in spec with the old jack-up the car tricks as it is often mentioned when installing the clamshells. As hard as I tried, the rear would be twisted which is worse than a closed door gap (that's what I think anyway).
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 1 2005, 06:53 PM
It's easier to take this measure with two people, that hard part is to get the reference point on the roof, eyeballing it is very hard, so I used a ruler, the factory calls for 1337mm. That measure must be taken inside the roof seal at the corner which I will not remove! Here is the first.
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 1 2005, 06:54 PM
And the other side. I'm very happy with it; it means I can get the passenger compartment square.
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 1 2005, 06:59 PM
Last thing I did was mark the bottom of the car on each side to be able to see if the lower part of the car will try and close while doing the repairs. You just need to take an easy to remember (1200mm) reference point and try to maintain it while working on the car. If you want to adjust the lower door gap this is also the best way to do it.
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 1 2005, 07:00 PM
Important to keep a straight line. Ah yes, the front reference point is the fender and not the door.
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Posted by: ! Jul 1 2005, 07:22 PM
Let's ee some pics when them rust holes be fixed...gud luck and have plenty of beer, eh....dooodoo da doo doo dooo.... 
Posted by: mihai914 Jul 4 2005, 09:15 PM
Well, here it goes again! First step was cutting up the door jamb (sp?) area to gain access to the rear part of the long. I preferred this method versus cutting up the fender that I know I would of never put it back in a nice finished way.
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 4 2005, 09:16 PM
This is what came off, I wanted it to be one piece but the rust took care of making it two!
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 4 2005, 09:18 PM
At the same time I drilled the holes for the roll-bar in the inner long.
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 4 2005, 09:19 PM
A more inside look of the affected area.
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 4 2005, 09:21 PM
And more rust.
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 4 2005, 09:27 PM
The plan is to use the front part of the right replacement panel from R-D to patch the left rear
I decided to give it more meat and also join two reinforcements together in order to gain strength in that area of the car.
Usually there are no ribs in the sheet metal past the door jamb area, the jack plate acts as the reinforcement but also as a rust trap!
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 4 2005, 09:28 PM
After some more trimming, grinding and cleaning I'm down to this.
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 4 2005, 09:30 PM
This is the replacement panel once it's cut off from the original piece and trimmed and opened to fit over the lower wheelhouse.
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 4 2005, 09:34 PM
Trial fit of the panel, it still needs some work.
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 4 2005, 09:34 PM
This tool is really nifty, it punches holes on one side and you flip the head and it can make a flange. It was lent to me by the same guy who lent me the support bars.
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 4 2005, 09:37 PM
I saved lots of time here, plus it made for a better finish.
I should of kept those little metal thingies for my old days playing Bingo 
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 4 2005, 09:38 PM
The rest of the holes had to be done the good old way with a drill, here is the part marked for drilling.
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 4 2005, 09:40 PM
I tried to line up some of the holes with the ones on the body, some turned out good some other are out, here is the patch in it's final version (unless something new pops up through my head).
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 4 2005, 09:42 PM
More cleaning of the receiving area.
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 4 2005, 09:48 PM
I have to say that I was expecting that the door gap would close with the cutting of the rocker, but it didn't.
But as soon as I poked around the metal heater tube to remove some rust, that's when it hurt. The car closed by around 1mm at the top, you could feel it at the door.
It was too windy today for the plus I was dead after three days of working at this, kind of took my time and using a Dremel to cut didn't speed things up!
Posted by: Dead Air Jul 4 2005, 09:52 PM
Good job.
Come down and fix mine.
Posted by: mihai914 Jul 4 2005, 10:01 PM
Thanks! I'll be there in August 
Posted by: mihai914 Jul 9 2005, 07:52 AM
So I stepped on the fixing this week and got the easy part done. The following picture is the bracing of the car prior to the welding. Fitting the replacement part took very long as usual.
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 9 2005, 07:55 AM
Welding took me quite some time, I wish I had done some prettier welds but at least I know they're strong. I used a wet rag to cool stuff regularly.
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 9 2005, 07:56 AM
More...
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 9 2005, 07:58 AM
Then it was grinding time for plenty of time actually...
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 9 2005, 08:04 AM
Now it just needs some paint.
I measured the gaps again after everything was done, the good news is that nothing pulled. The car came back to its original state even though I set the braces wider. My first thought is that the busted passenger side is pulling on the driver's side also.
I know that when I first braced both sides two weeks ago to take measurements, by doing the passenger side it brought up the driver's side also. Final result will be seen when everything gets done.
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Posted by: macpro Jul 24 2005, 09:29 AM
We have been watching for an update...we know that you have been work hard and would just like to see how far you've come.
Posted by: mihai914 Jul 24 2005, 09:38 AM
There hasn't been any progress really, it's just been too hot and humid to be able to work, as a plus when it was nice some beetle deadbeet guy had me prepare a bunch of Fuchs, seats, tires to back out at the last minute not even calling to say that he won't be on the spot as promissed 
And summer is so short here that you have to go with the buddies and watch the short skirts... ugh! I mean the flowers...
Today though, I should get back on the wagon.
Posted by: Quebecer Jul 26 2005, 10:41 AM
Freakin' amazing work! 
I can't wait to start working on mine.
I'm bringing it back to my new house in Lachenaie in a couple of weeks.
Mine also need some TLC in the longs area, but not as bad as yours, at least I don't think it does.
We should have a Montreal area get together sometime!
Keep up the good work and the pictures as well, they'll be very useful.
Thanks,
Dan
Posted by: mihai914 Jul 30 2005, 07:59 AM
Finally got back working on the car, first step was to raise the whole passenger side on it's wheels to be able to work more easely on the car.
I used some ramps, getting the car up there wasn't that easy, I used wood and construction bricks to give it enough height and be able to fit the rear ramp.
The idea is to repair the car with it's weight on the wheels so the tub won't tweak.
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 30 2005, 08:01 AM
Started cutting the rocker and drilling through the spot welds, man does it take forever!
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 30 2005, 08:04 AM
Once things are cleaned up this it how it looks. I did check where it was solid metal on the rocker and went over around six inches just to make sure plus I'm limited by material, basically I can't go over that door sill bracket.
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 30 2005, 08:05 AM
So much crap falls out when you're repairing rust!
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 30 2005, 08:09 AM
Took some exploratory picture in the long, there some rust in there but then again where isn't on these cars, since it's solid I'll clean up and spray something inside. I tried to remove the heater tube but it won't pull YET from up front.
I'm still thinking of removing the tube on the passenger side, the blower in the engine isn't even connected with it.
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 30 2005, 08:10 AM
At least the upper part is nicer!
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 30 2005, 08:12 AM
Since my metal fabrication skills are not up to the task, I had some made (the shiny pieces) and bought a replacement panel since it was available.
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 30 2005, 08:18 AM
I wasn't expecting that the part that was pre-fabbed was made of two layers of metal. And since while poking around yesterday I found more rust than I would of liked on the suspension console I'm leaning towards patching the area around the exterior ear mount which is solid and at a later time redo the whole area.
I can still use the reproduction part as a template to make my patch.
The suspension console (inner part) seems pretty solid to be repaired for now, when I had those two pieces of sheet metal made I had to drive the car to the shop. The car held good and the wheel didn't collapse, and this on our shitty roads which the only equivalent I've seen is Detroit!
Posted by: mihai914 Jul 30 2005, 08:25 AM
I forgot to mention, while at the metal fabrication shop, they had seen an repaired a couple of 914s. One of the shop guys tries to play smart and asks me if I knew what a 916 was, I go yeah sure. 
He tells me they had one for repair and that they did both rockers and a front valence??? Wow that must of been some 916... Tried to explain to the guy that it wasn't a real one but he just kept going!
Posted by: mihai914 Jul 30 2005, 08:29 AM
| QUOTE (Quebecer @ Jul 26 2005, 12:41 PM) |
| Mine also need some TLC in the longs area, but not as bad as yours, at least I don't think it does. We should have a Montreal area get together sometime! Thanks, Dan |
That's what I thought also, but like someone said, whatever rust you see on a 914 multiply by 10!!!
Yes we should get together, there's a bunch of us in the Montreal area but we don't even get together once a year
It could be as simple as going to the Orange Julep, Serge is trying do get something going, c'mon people!
Posted by: mihai914 Jul 30 2005, 04:44 PM
Some little progress today, first I decided to remove that heating tube. It's in good shape and still useable. I may not put it back though.
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 30 2005, 04:46 PM
Took a better look inside the long and with the tube out I will be able to do a better cleaning and prepping job. You can't see it but all the way up front there is a mouse nest, I guess it wanted to be in first class way up front. 
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 30 2005, 04:49 PM
I then finalized the drilling of the holes on the long for the roll-bar and test fitted the whole thing.
No clearance issues, it's tight to get to the rear targa latches though.
The passenger seat has to be way up front.
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 12 2005, 06:11 PM
Worked some more this week on the car and advanced things. I made some extra patches for the car to get strenght and cover holes. I decided not to use for now that lower wheelhouse panel and to make a patch instead aince I have a nice template. These are what I made from the thickes sheetmetal I could bend on a vise and with a hammer, 20 ga.
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 12 2005, 06:12 PM
I'm particularly proud of the triangular piece since it took me a good four hours of labor.
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 12 2005, 06:13 PM
Removed the door and braced and extended the car.
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 12 2005, 06:15 PM
I treated inside the long with some phosphorous acid, rinced with water and when dry I gave it a shot of weld through primer. Doesn't look bad.
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 12 2005, 06:16 PM
Clean up front.
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 12 2005, 06:18 PM
As clean as I could get in the back, notice the damage near the outer suspension ear, in 2-3 years I'll redo that portion with the proper reproduction part.
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 12 2005, 06:20 PM
Replacement panel prepped for welding, it will tie from the engine support mount to the inner long. Sanded, ospho and primed before of course.
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 12 2005, 06:24 PM
Tied to the rear. this is where I started the welding, I had alot of difficulty to get penetration since the contact area for the wire wasn't the best. After a little more sanding and welder tweaking I got it there pretty solid. Not the nicest welds but they hold very well.
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 12 2005, 06:27 PM
Up front same story, went over a long portion to be sure everything is good.
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 12 2005, 06:29 PM
This is the other patch made to cover the holes on the sides where the fuel lines bend upward froom the firewall, I made sure those were out of the way 
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Posted by: redshift Aug 12 2005, 06:32 PM
| QUOTE (mihai914 @ Jul 30 2005, 06:46 PM) |
| I guess it wanted to be in first class way up front. |
lol!
Looking good, buddy!
M
Posted by: mihai914 Aug 12 2005, 06:35 PM
Welding went much better since most of the base was new metal, it tied well the lower part of the inner long with the vertocal part. I pulled on the whole thing and it got the car moving. Unfortunately it started to rain very little so I calle dit a day, but for the heck of it I loosened the braces to see if it improved something on the car.
The result was that the car came back to original spec , since I'm not done I streched back the braces to support the car, don't want the new pieces to sag allready.
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 17 2005, 05:11 PM
Got some more stuff done over the week, I'm getting close to a driveable car.
First I took some measurements for the replacement rocker panel, mainly where the heater tube starts and where this panel will overlap the lower wheel house.
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 17 2005, 05:14 PM
Then I welded a piece of angle iron inside the patch whereabouts the jacking plate would be. Since I won't be putting the jack post and plate, I did the reinforcement from inside.
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 17 2005, 05:15 PM
Here is the second piece, these do not interfere with anything. I did the same thing on the other side of the car but had forgotten to take a picture.
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 17 2005, 05:18 PM
Since the seat belt support inside the long was completely rusted out I had to remake a bracket. I had to take the old piece and save the threaded part that I attached to some angle iron with a hole in the middle.
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 17 2005, 05:21 PM
I could of used a simple nut to the back of the new bracket but decided to keep the original insert. I carefully drilled the hole and the pressed in the thing (I don't know what it's called exactly).
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 17 2005, 05:22 PM
Here is a general view of the rocker replacement section with the inner reinforcements.
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 17 2005, 05:26 PM
Another replacement patch for the suspension console/engine mount area. The main function of this patch is to elongate the flange that you see from underneath the car.
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 17 2005, 05:28 PM
Here it is welded in, the upper part is useless for now, I just left it there, you never know when it might be needed.
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 17 2005, 05:31 PM
Another reinforcement panel to be put in. This is the one that has the seat belt bracket on it. This thing is overkill but I'd rather be safe than sorry!
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 17 2005, 06:08 PM
All welded in first picture.
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 17 2005, 06:09 PM
Second.
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 17 2005, 06:11 PM
Heater tube brackets are back in place.
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 17 2005, 06:12 PM
Cleaned the weld splatter with a vacuum and some compressed air and applied primer to the finished inner section.
Here is a general view.
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 17 2005, 06:13 PM
Rear view.
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 17 2005, 06:14 PM
Front view.
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 17 2005, 06:15 PM
And to top things off, the sealer, undercoating.
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Posted by: michelko Aug 18 2005, 12:05 AM
very very nice work. 
Why didn´t you do this a year earlier. Maybe it saved me from some headake if i saw it befor i started my restauration.
Keep on going
Posted by: mihai914 Aug 18 2005, 12:41 AM
| QUOTE (michelko @ Aug 18 2005, 02:05 AM) |
| Why didn´t you do this a year earlier. Maybe it saved me from some headake if i saw it befor i started my restauration. |
I have to thank YOU, since you motivated me to do things right, I spent alot of time looking at your thread
and given the time and space, I would of done exactly the same as you!!! I think your thread should be in the classic section.Thanks again michelko!
Posted by: mihai914 Aug 24 2005, 08:17 PM
More in the works today!
First step is to get back the heater tube inside the long. Not easy but I managed to have it back in, the problem lies in front where you have to get by one tube clip and then get the tube on the metal J-tube up front, I think it's more a question of luck than technique.
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 24 2005, 08:19 PM
Then this is the rocker patch all drilled and in primer ready for install. It's always scary to see your replacement panel that looks like a piece of swiss cheese!
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 24 2005, 08:20 PM
Aligned and clamped and ready to go!
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 24 2005, 08:21 PM
First spot weld, don't worry I didn't take a picture at every step.
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 24 2005, 08:22 PM
Clamped at the bottom for tight fit.
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 24 2005, 08:24 PM
Upper part done, at that point I knew I was having an incredibly great day with the welding, so I gave it a go!
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 24 2005, 08:26 PM
To align the lower part I had to use a jack and some angle iron to push the whole thing up a bit.
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 24 2005, 08:27 PM
Welding where both rocker pieces meet, the underneath part which you can't see wasn't as easy though.
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 24 2005, 08:30 PM
Spots at the rear of the patch, there are still a couple left where I couldn't reach with a clamp. I'll have to do those tomorrow after I buy a proper Vise-Grip.
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 24 2005, 08:30 PM
View from inside and how things lined up.
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 24 2005, 08:32 PM
Couldn't resist installing the door and checking the door gap.
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 24 2005, 08:39 PM
This is the overall door gap. I'm a bit dissapointed that it's tighter as you go lower on the car. There is still plenty of clearance and door adjusment isn't final. One thing I noticed is that if I pry with a screwdriver in the lower part (area where the door jamb was cut) the gap will become nice and the fender more rounded at the arch.
I don't know if it's part of the hand made stuff on the car, since by taking measurements the car didn't shrink (at the bottom) after the welding.
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Posted by: MecGen Aug 25 2005, 04:28 AM
Hey Man
Busy weekend
The door looks a little low but with some adjustments it should be bang on. Doors seem to move around after frame work, even when you lock it down. I suspect it has to do with years of fatique when the rockers were rusted.
This is a profesional repair !
Later
Posted by: joea9146 Aug 25 2005, 05:34 AM
Looks good u are doing a great job.... make the swiss cheese holes bigger ... the tip
of the welder will fill the holes rather the bond to the material undermeath if they are to small....
Posted by: mihai914 Aug 25 2005, 05:58 AM
Hi Frank, Joe!
Yes the doors are still out of wack, and the passenger one has some fatigue in the hinges. These thing are heavy!
As for drilling bigger holes, I learned it the hard way on the other side of the car. The car looks better than when we showed up at your place. Actually it still looks as crappy from outside but much better in the inside where it counts!
Posted by: si2t3m Aug 25 2005, 06:50 PM
OMG Mihai,
That's some skills you have there!
Great job man!
Marc-André
Posted by: mihai914 Aug 27 2005, 07:15 PM
Yesterday I think I fixed the transmission leak. I thought it came from the seal at the shifting pivot. When I got everything clean and removed, I noticed that the backup switch boot was full of oil. I guess that's where it leaked in the first place.
I changed everything anyway and tightened the switch since you can't change the sealing washer.
Today since it was too windy to do any welding, I decided to fix the rear window since it was ratteling pretty bad.
The window was allready loose, so once the roll bar pads removed, it just came down.
The butyl tape was so dry that it just peeled off pretty nicely actualy.
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 27 2005, 07:17 PM
I cleaned the channel with some paint reducer and the car was ready for install.
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 27 2005, 07:20 PM
Even though butyl was the original material, I decided to go with urethane. I bought two of these tubes just to be safe. Note that this type does not need the application of a special primer to body and glass prior to installation. I ended up using half a tube.
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 27 2005, 07:25 PM
I applied the stuff; I thought it was painful because of the awkward position and place to apply the stuff. Since you need to have a good bead to be sure the window will seal it takes some time to apply the product if you don't do it routinely. Once applied you have maximum 30 minutes before the urethane makes a skin.
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Posted by: mihai914 Aug 27 2005, 07:34 PM
I had a spare defroster window so I decided to replace the plain one.
Finally placed window with the help of my brother and pressed it in making sure it was sticking/sealing everywhere and also making sure no one touched the edge.
I didn't need to keep it pressed with sticks or anything, I just waited a bit for the urethane to get harder and pressed again to make sure it was in properly and aligned.
It seems that I put too much urethane on the upper part of the roll-bar since it oozed out a little, but that is pretty easy to fix once it will dry I'll be able to cut it with a knife.
I checked five hours later and the sealant was dry to touch but you could feel that it still needed to cure. Nonetheless I checked the strength of the window and I'm sure it won't rattle for a LONG time.
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Posted by: redshift Aug 27 2005, 10:59 PM
If you keep this up, you can do mine!
You are a 914 Hero! (like Ginty, only more north!)
M
Posted by: davec Aug 28 2005, 08:47 PM
Me-Hi,
What a great job you are doing. The first time I tried metalworking, I was lucky enough to have an experienced brother, and it didn't come out as nice as yours!
Will we see you at the East Coast Ramble in September?
Dave C
Posted by: mihai914 Aug 28 2005, 09:32 PM
Thanks for the kind words from everyone.
Dave, yes I'm planning to attend the ECR no matter what with THIS car in whatever shape!
Miles, since I'm going back to school for a year I won't have time for your project but I can recommend you a good place in Georgia Forget about it, I wouldn't even do that to my enemies!
Posted by: MecGen Aug 28 2005, 09:39 PM
Hey Dude
Hows the appartment hunting? Where you gonna put it for winter?
Looking good as usuall
Later
Posted by: mihai914 Sep 4 2005, 07:29 PM
Update on the work, I had stopped the rocker repair with only the triangular part to repair. This is one of the pictures of the fabbed part which is by far the most complex one that I made.
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Posted by: mihai914 Sep 4 2005, 07:30 PM
Flanges and bends everywhere!
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Posted by: mihai914 Sep 4 2005, 07:31 PM
Teat fitting of the part, it fits pretty good. Nowonder after all the work that was put in this small piece.
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Posted by: mihai914 Sep 4 2005, 07:33 PM
That bottom hole that came out unintentionnaly finaly wasn't a very bad thing since it permitted proper clamping in a normally impossible area.
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Posted by: mihai914 Sep 4 2005, 07:36 PM
Welding all done, I made a mistake with the primer though. I ran out of weldable primer and coated the exterior of the part with some gray rust inhibitting primer laying around. It made for a hard and messy welding job.
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Posted by: mihai914 Sep 4 2005, 07:37 PM
Looks good from 10 feet
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Posted by: mihai914 Sep 4 2005, 07:50 PM
Finally after over a month with the car on the ramps she went back to ground. Even though there's no seatbelts and I have yet to register the car, I took her for a spirited spin. Glad to report that the engine goes to redline, that the front wheels lock under hard braking and that it smokes like it use to.
The transmission leak is gone which was the worst by far, the pushrod seals will wait.
The rear window doesn't rattle anymore which is a big relief.
I had forgotten the rear targa pad on the engine lid which I lost in the first corner I took at a better speed. I went back on my steps and found it in the middle of the road, fortunately no car had gone over it!
And from now on it's going to be impossible to work on it in a serious way 
I started school and the work load is just insane meaning that I have to study even week-ends. All I want is to make it to the ECR and then it's storage.
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Posted by: redshift Sep 4 2005, 07:55 PM
YAY! You make a great fake Porsche factory! That part you made looks awesome!
Just great looking work, congrats!
M
Posted by: mihai914 Sep 4 2005, 08:02 PM
| QUOTE (redshift @ Sep 4 2005, 09:55 PM) |
| YAY! You make a great fake Porsche factory! That part you made looks awesome! M |
Thanks for the compliment Miles, I was so proud of the part that I almost felt like not installing it and running a reverse brake cooling duct for those high speed reverse chases, like the ones you see in movies
Hmmm, reverse autoX© now that would separate the men from the children, I have to apply for a patent now.
Posted by: redshift Sep 4 2005, 08:07 PM
lol
You just need to © it right now...
M
Posted by: michelko Sep 4 2005, 11:59 PM
well done, sir!
Isn´t it a great feeling the first drive out after such a big operation?
Keep on
Posted by: swl Sep 5 2005, 06:22 AM
A job well done Mihia. Get her registered and have some fun before the snow flies - ya can't study all the time.
Posted by: SpecialK Sep 5 2005, 12:47 PM
| QUOTE (swl @ Sep 5 2005, 06:22 AM) |
| A job well done Mihia. Get her registered and have some fun before the snow flies - ya can't study all the time. |
Yep, you gotta drive something down to the store for six-packs of Red Bull for exam cramming!
Nicely done!!
Posted by: thesey914 Sep 5 2005, 02:13 PM
will the spot welds be strong enough for what is a very structural part? I would think it all needs seam welding.
No way meant as a criticism for some beautiful fabricating
Posted by: thesey914 Sep 7 2005, 12:29 PM
Mihai, no criticism intended....just wanted to know what the protocol is as I need to do a similar repair. I have a hole in one of my 'longs where the front support for the door step has rotted? out. As its hidden by the sill covers I will weld a hefty thick patch on and seam weld it.
My way of looking at it is although the car is spot welded at the factory the piece I'm repairing is one complete metal pressing and therefore needs to be solid.
Posted by: michelko Sep 7 2005, 02:01 PM
German TÜV does not accept seam weld on chassis parts. You have to spotweld those areas because of the "heat-treatment".
The heat will cause a hardening effect on the metal and it maybe will crack at these hardened areas. Spot welding didn´t put that much heat in the structure then a coninuous seam weld.
Posted by: thesey914 Sep 7 2005, 03:07 PM
Thanks michelko, what the TUV says is good enough for me!!
Posted by: Evill Ed Sep 7 2005, 03:47 PM
Technically what Mihai did was plug weld, where he filled in a predrilled hole with weld. These are very strong welds. I use plug welds often with some short stitch welds around the perimeter. This is exactly how I made the same repairs to my 914, and believe me, I tested the integrity of those welds on a regular basis
Good job Mihai, you should be proud of your work, it looks very professional.
Look forward to seeing you next week.
Regards,
Ed
Posted by: mihai914 Jul 31 2006, 07:38 PM
Well it's been quite some time I haven't done anything except freak out when seing the work behind and ahead of me. I finally have some worthy progress!
I finally pulled the engine out due to major leaks everywhere. Everything went smooth. I don't event know where to start to clean all the mess on the engine.
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 31 2006, 07:45 PM
And this is reason number two for pulling the engine out 
I know replacing the console would be best but time is a factor since I want to drive it to the ECR.
Camber on both wheels is the same, and I don't have 20 shims on the passenger side. I drove it like this over 1000 miles waiting for the wheel to start going in and nothing yet. That's why I'm considering patching especially after seeing Racer Chris fixing that track car.
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 31 2006, 07:47 PM
At least the Hell Hole and battery tray are pretty solid!
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 31 2006, 07:49 PM
The other Hell Hole was nasty, it turned into a compost maker.
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Posted by: mihai914 Jul 31 2006, 07:52 PM
Finally for the interested, a picture of the engine bay sticker with some specs, the most interesting one is the oil temp 122-158°F ???
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