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Posted by: brant Apr 5 2006, 04:35 PM

I felt like starting this thread to document some of the "fixer upper" work I'm getting done.

This car has a lot of sentimental history for me as dad and I bought it back around 1985 as a father son project.

Like most 914's it was an endless project, but we color changed it and restored it... It didn't really hit the road until 1988

It was about that time that I started doing Drivers Education and got pretty much hooked on that. Dad started doing it with me and the car morphed more and more into a track car. Eventually it turned into a trailered only -4 race car with PCA club racing.

modifications evolved over and over. For example the chassis has seen 5 different rear spring rates, 2 different 4 bolt suspensions and 2 different 5 bolt suspensions, 4 different brake systems, not to mention 5 different black paint jobs......

When we decided to build the vintage chassis this 1974 chassis was too new to be legal for colorado vintage rules so it was decommissioned at that point from its life as a race car in 9/2002 (the weekend after setting my personal record, on my favorite track)

Street suspension went back on, interior went back on, race motor out - street motor in, roll cage went out... On and on...

basically it was on jackstands for over a year while race parts (motor/tranny) were unbolted and put onto the orange car... And stock parts were dug up from the stash or other club members to be put onto the shell.

It briefly debued on the street back in the summer of 2004 with a 1.7/4 that was a spare parts motor.

Fuel injection issues hounded the project all summer and finally the motor let go billowing a HUGE cloud of smoke down interstate 25. At that point the tranny was bad and the motor was blown, so it was parked again to cease being a distraction from finishing the vintage car.

During its hibernation, a roof brace fell on the front fender and smashed it pretty well. Also, for a while it was on a driveway and got backed into.... leaving the headlight crooked and the front hood a tiny bit twisted...

This brings us about up to the current time.
I started the body work on the car a month ago and hope to shoot primer or even some paint on it this weekend. The driveline currently is a unknown mileage 2.0/4 out of washington with a trannsmission from the ever helpful Ron Meier. The paint is going to remain black, and in order to meet the time frame of the upcoming Colorado 914 track event, I will only paint the front half now and shoot the back half in June-ish or after the track event has passed.

More pictures will follow, but for now here is the car on the road in the summer of 2004:


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Posted by: brant Apr 5 2006, 05:17 PM

Since I'm storing old pictures on this thread....
here is the oil cooler on the black car.

The car has had 3 different oil coolers systems installed on it since I've owned it.

(and before that it used to use water spray or the "rubber maid" solution on the track)

I've said this repeatedly... but cooler exit makes a HUGE difference. As mentioned this was the 3rd style of exit used and made a significant improvement over the 2nd style (which was an improvement over the 1st)

Cooler exit:


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Posted by: brant Apr 5 2006, 05:18 PM

Cooler duct work...
fabricated out of aluminum by dad of course:


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Posted by: brant Apr 5 2006, 05:18 PM

last one for now:


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Posted by: Joseph Mills Apr 5 2006, 09:42 PM

Good story. Keep it up.

I'd like to see some close up shots of that hood.




..

Posted by: brant Apr 5 2006, 10:00 PM

QUOTE (Joseph Mills @ Apr 5 2006, 08:42 PM)

Good story. Keep it up. I'd like to see some close up shots of that hood. ..

If I get any primer or paint work done this weekend, I'll update

brant

Posted by: brant Apr 14 2006, 08:55 AM

Update.
lots of progress last weekend on repair and repaint.
lots of boring pics too:


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Posted by: brant Apr 14 2006, 08:59 AM

Front half of car (that is getting painted for now) was sanded down in prep.
boy lots of rock chips from the old track use.
had to go pretty deep to remove all of the pitting:


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Posted by: brant Apr 14 2006, 09:01 AM

more of the hood:


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Posted by: brant Apr 14 2006, 09:02 AM

You can see the body work repair on the drivers front fender.
a large steel beam fell on it. I pounded it out and body worked it as best I could and then skimmed it


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Posted by: brant Apr 14 2006, 09:04 AM

fancy mask job.

this is all so deja vu... from the last time we painted it about 7 years before:


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Posted by: brant Apr 14 2006, 09:05 AM

let the priming begin:


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Posted by: Ferg Apr 14 2006, 09:43 AM

Great Pics Brant.

Tell Bob he sure dresses nice to shoot primer

Ferg

Posted by: iamchappy Apr 14 2006, 10:31 AM

Are all Black 914's previously signal orange, it sure seem that way to me.

Posted by: Aaron Cox Apr 14 2006, 10:35 AM

rofl...

minewas zambezi green

Posted by: brant Apr 14 2006, 10:38 AM

bob dressed up for the ocassion since he saw that I grabbed the camera....

hmmm... wish I had been smarter when I was 15 and stuck with the signal orange.
too much effort to change it back now...

LOTS... of pictures still.
I know they are repetetive and a bit boring but I get a kick out of documenting it
here are some of the small parts after we body worked them...
the bumper is far from perfect, but we use a dull ruberized top coat on it so it will still look good without being perfect:


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Posted by: brant Apr 14 2006, 10:40 AM

I just like this one because the garage is nearly full of teeners:


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Posted by: brant Apr 14 2006, 10:41 AM

dad in action:


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Posted by: brant Apr 14 2006, 10:43 AM

primer step done...
more hood angles:


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Posted by: brant Apr 14 2006, 10:45 AM

The last of the primer pictures:


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Posted by: brant Apr 14 2006, 10:47 AM

Next step is guide coat.

after letting everything dry well... its kinda fun to "graffiti" the car.
looks like vandals broke in:


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Posted by: brant Apr 14 2006, 11:19 AM

more guide coat pictures...

which were followed by lots and lots of sanding...

oh boy sanding is soo fun!


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Posted by: 914forme Apr 14 2006, 11:20 AM

Love watching cars get painted it is such a big change. Even though it is such a small step when you consider all the prep, it is pure porn!!

Keep up the good work.

Posted by: Scott Schroeder Apr 14 2006, 11:50 AM

You cant imagine the absolute hell fire I would have experienced if I had ever done this!!!!!! Even now!
Wow, it is actually hard for me to look at!! My dad just got a headache, and he has no idea why.....





Looks great Sir - looking forward to seeing you at Gints tomorrow.

Posted by: brant Apr 14 2006, 11:57 AM

scott,

hmmm.....
my dad doesn't like to get the concrete dirty usually.
(my priorities favor the car over the concrete)


more picture.
single stage poly went on:


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Posted by: brant Apr 14 2006, 12:00 PM

The hood never shows it's shape well in black (much better in primer)


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Posted by: brant Apr 14 2006, 12:02 PM

Alot more orange peel than I had hoped for...

but oh well... it'll buff out:


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Posted by: TROJANMAN Apr 14 2006, 12:26 PM

that's a realllly nice van

Posted by: brant Apr 14 2006, 12:33 PM

hey funny boy...
you'll be happy to sit in that "rad" van when we get to the race track!
its the primo 1970's velour interior too...

plus I can watch track footage on the built in TV!

Posted by: TROJANMAN Apr 14 2006, 08:30 PM

are those purple stripes I see?

Posted by: Gint Apr 15 2006, 12:35 AM

Lookin good Brant! And Bob too of course.

See you tomorrow.

Posted by: brant Jun 7 2006, 01:35 PM

I needed to get a few "assembled pictures" for the insurance policy and thought I would add them here:


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Posted by: brant Jun 7 2006, 01:35 PM

and the other end:


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Posted by: brant Jun 7 2006, 01:37 PM

last for now:


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Posted by: Aaron Cox Jun 7 2006, 01:39 PM

looks like my narrow body twin

Posted by: brant Jun 7 2006, 01:45 PM

very close...
except for my funny hood

and your rocker panels have to be better looking!

those 14inch fuchs don't do the wheel wells justice.
I have 3 inches of clearance back there.
usually run 225/50 on 7's for the track under there.

brant

Posted by: Aaron Cox Jun 7 2006, 01:56 PM

my rockers have standoffs at the bottom, to follow the line of the body, instead of tucking in like stock

Posted by: brant Jul 3 2006, 11:35 AM

The insurance company didn't like my pictures before enough to agree on the policy value.

they want new pictures taken in daylight.

so I dusted it off and put the fancy race wheels onto it for appearance sake and snapped new photo's

sorry for using up all of the bandwidth:


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Posted by: brant Jul 3 2006, 11:36 AM

similar picture with more wheel showing:


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Posted by: brant Jul 3 2006, 11:37 AM

another:


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Posted by: brant Jul 3 2006, 11:38 AM

other side:


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Posted by: brant Jul 3 2006, 11:40 AM

and


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Posted by: brant Jul 3 2006, 11:41 AM

hood shot:


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Posted by: brant Jul 3 2006, 11:43 AM

and


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Posted by: brant Jul 3 2006, 11:43 AM

dash:


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Posted by: brant Jul 3 2006, 11:43 AM

seats:


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Posted by: brant Jul 3 2006, 11:44 AM

and


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Posted by: brant Jul 3 2006, 11:45 AM

finally...

I actually got to drive it.
we hooked up an innovate LM1 to and XD16 and tuned the MPS

I drove it from dad's house to my house (about 240miles)

here is the tail pipe as I rolled in:


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Posted by: GTeener Jul 3 2006, 11:49 AM

Pretty car, Brant

Posted by: brant Jul 3 2006, 11:52 AM

thanks Gwen...

it doesn't really look quite that good in real life.
I kinda tried to not "capture" any of the blemishes..

but don't tell the insurance company ok...

and those are the race wheels, that I'm trying to match.
they don't normally go on the black car
in fact I couldn't find the correct hubcaps, so those are the wrong ones being held on with duct tape inside...

Again, don't tell the insurance company please!

ha...

brant

Posted by: GTeener Jul 3 2006, 11:57 AM

Your secret is safe with me.

Posted by: shelby/914 Jul 3 2006, 05:32 PM

Lookin Good!!!, I've got another one you can "practice" on now that you are getting to be a good painter.

Posted by: brant Jul 3 2006, 05:51 PM

I don't want to practice painting...
but when are we going to put your engine tin/f.i. back together?
that is something I do want to see happen

brant

Posted by: JPB Jul 3 2006, 05:57 PM

You have a cool car but your dad is cooler.

Great work!

Posted by: Gint Jul 3 2006, 09:48 PM

You and Bob did a nice job Brant (again).

Posted by: brant Jul 3 2006, 09:55 PM

I agree.... JPB


thanks Mike (also)

when we going to do another colorado drive now that I have a non-ford car that runs.. how about when you get back from WWC?

brant

Posted by: Gint Jul 3 2006, 10:00 PM

I need a few weeks after I get back. Unless we can tack something onto Brian's BBQ. That sounds like a good idea.