I've had this 71 for 3 years now and I've only driven it for 10 minutes before I bought it. I figure if I haven't made serious progress by the spring, she is getting stripped and scrapped. You'll see why. Its probably only a parts car, but I want to learn how to weld, and if I can get this thing back on the road, I think I will be well on my way. I'll start from the beginning:
The exterior, looks harmless enough:
The interior, looks pretty good (wait, what was that saying about wrapping a piece of poo in a pretty package):
Long looks okay at first glance:
Wait, umm, is this factory installed golf ball sized hunks of epoxy and bondo:
Yum:
Delicious:
Craptacular:
Brace yourself (also have another brace running to the drivers side door jamb, couldn't find that pic):
Couldn't find any pics of the lovely riveting and brazing job a PO did with re-attaching the portion of the fender below the sail, but I hacked that focker off:
Mmm, clean:
Also found after removing the interior that the passenger side was once used as a pool, the entire lower inner corner of the long and bulkhead was gone. PO crappily arc welded a new floorpan in, but didn't fix any of the other damage:
Quick break, then pics of the repairs so far . . .
Pics too big? I'll resize if needed.
Repairs thus far:
Rotted inner long corner repair:
Inside:
More recent work (skipped the part where I hacked out the heater tube and a bunch more metal, I'll see if I can find those pics too):
Pieces welded in:
Ground down for another layer:
The next piece to go in:
To be welded in tomorrow. GREs are done, applications are done, its time to get this thing off jackstands.
Last for the night . . . 914 and garage on the move from my rents house to my own garage in Philly:
Open invite to whoever wants to come down to help with this thing, needs help on their 914, or just wants to BS. Grill is only a few steps away from the teener.
-Chris
Don't scrap. Why give up after you've gone this far?
yeah man! Awesome work. I really admire people who are willing to do this. I need to learn how to weld too. Hummmm, maybe I should find a rusty old teener. Anyway keep up the good work, it's gona be such a sweet first drive.
Eric
Scrap? Give up? Did I miss something? He's just moving.
Looks great. BTW, is your thread title supposed to be a reference to Arrested Development?
Nice work Chris. Where are you in Philly? I have a similar project going, hopefully not as extensive as yours but you never know. I've started the cutting but could use some tips and would love to see what you've done. I'm out near King of Prussia.
Not really a reference to arrested development, but it does remind me of Gob using that Europe classic as his theme music. Really just a reference to the song I suppose, made sense considering that if I don't make serious progress in the next few months, I will part this car out. But I am pretty motivated right now, so things are looking up.
-Chris
Jerry-
I'm in Northern Liberties, about 1-1.5 miles north of Center City (between 5th and 6th and close to Girard). If you want to meet up some time, just let me know. I'll be working on my 914 probably every night this week, let me know if you want to stop by. Maybe next week I can stop by KoP to check out what you are up to.
-Chris
Mark, missed the youtube movie you posted until now, great AD clip!
tacked
fully welded
Welds are getting better, starting to get a feel for how to make the bead flow . . .
Next to grind down the welds in the areas of those bump outs, fab the bump outs, and weld in.
Looking good!
Watch out for warpage with those long beads. It's surprising how much a car can bend. It looks like you're doing them in 1" segments which is good. Jump around a lot and let the welds cool. Take your time.
Those are some great shots of the inside of the long. Very informative for people who are wondering "What's in there?"
Keep going!
thanks burger boy...I'm going to have that damn Europe song stuck in my head...
I was doing 1 inch welds on front fender filling in side marker lights- going slow. I still toasted it and watched it tin-can right in front of my eyes one minute later. Ouch. On the next side I went REAL slow, only tacked small spots, and used a damp cloth to keep things cool and never let heat build up. Turned out much better. I think welding a complete seam is overkill- cars were originally spot welded and seam sealed on the rest. I think if a part is getting too hot to 'nearly' touch it with your bare hand- then it's time to cool down. But also- I'm just a beginner so I don't claim to have infalliable info. Just had 15 minutes of practice on scrap sheetmetal before I fixed my hell hole, rear suspension console, floors, ect. 2 weeks later- car is on four solid wheels again!
Sadly the weekend was mostly a waste, got a little grinding done but spent most of it either hungover or watching football or both. Fabbed a couple little pieces today to extend the inner long "gussets":
Welding time tomorrow!
Also nabbed a pic of the adjustable strut/brace setup I have in the car to keep the gap between the targa bar and windshield right:
Please note the high performance steering wheel I have to use now do to the constraints of this new rollcage. Patent pending.
-Chris
jesus! that is an insane project. congratulations on making it this far.
Thanks! I wish I was putting all this effort into a 6 chassis, because I know my effort would be more worth it in the end. Then again, I don't think learning to weld on a 6 chassis is a great idea. Really it hasn't cost me very much to get this far, and I don't see it costing me very much either. Some sheet metal, cut off wheels, drill bits, etc. Real expense is just time . . .
Things weren't going my way today. Welds kind of sucked, 3 molten chunks of metal found their way through my clothes (part of the reason why the welds sucked), and I didn't get a whole lot done. Anyway, enough bitchin, here are the "gussets" welded in:
Had to do more grinding than I would have liked, but I think I can declare this area just about done.
That's lookin' really nice.
I love what you have done there, looks nice and solid...
My advice...
BEFORE you pick up the grinder..ask yourself two questions.
1 Will it get in the way if I dont grind it?
2 Will anyone else besides me ever see this?
It greatly reduces the amount of grinding that is needed...
Have fun
Rich
Lookin good..... keep it up
Thanks for the kudos, hopefully it is as strong as it looks. Only did some grinding just to make sure the crappy looking welds were strong. Now I have to make another internal doubler under what will be the cutout for the heater tube and an external piece to complete the shell and this inner long will be done!
With the replacement metal sold online I've noticed that it is only one layer thick . . . do any of you know if that one layer is as thick as the double or triple layers Porsche used from the factory? Seems like if it isn't you could end up with a pretty flexible car if you use them.
-Chris
Got a little done this weekend. Ground some welds down for another layer to tie some of the patches together:
Piece made and primed:
Welded in:
I found that 3/16" holes work much better than the smaller holes I was using previously for the plug welds. Definitely did not need a full seam on this piece.
-Chris
Lookin good!
<<<<<-------
Some serious work there!
Some more progress, piece fabbed:
Areas cleaned up where the new piece is being added:
Started using a high content zinc weld through primer. Allegedly more durable in the long run than the aluminized primer I have been using, but definitely does not hold up as well to the aluminized stuff when exposed to clamps, etc. Seems to scratch right off. Anyway . . .
Pieces welded in and ground down:
Its time to drill for and weld in the seatbelt mount, then its looking like it is time to finally re-install the heater tube!!
-Chris
Here are some pics of the Brad Mayuers piece. Top pic shows reinforcement piece on the ground and bottom shows it installed:
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how it attaches
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GO! GO!
wow. build-it-yerself car. Neato.
incredible job. feel good about it.
Thanks Scott!
Dave, your long looked pretty good, why did you think you needed the extra reinforcement? Definitely plenty strong now, although that doesn't seem like that many spotwelds to attach 1/8" plate to much thinner sheet. I would worry about the spots pulling out, but I think I tend to do things a little overkill. Anyway, I'm sure the guy who made it knows better than I do. I am planning on installing an inner long kit once I have the car back together and a better idea about the gaps. It overlays the exposed long in the passenger compartment and ties them into another plate that overlays the rear firewall. Can't remember off hand who made it, but rest assured, when I get to it, it will be a part of this post.
More recent progress, safety first (seat belt mounting plate install):
Roughed out the cutout for the heater tube:
-Chris
Chris,
The reinforcement piece welds in along the whole length of the piece to the botom edge of the inner rocker panel.
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My car was in similar condition to yours.
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I ended up cutting away all that rust and recreating the inside and bottom of the long. The piece I made wraps around the top inside of the long. Unfortunately I don't have a pick from the inside of the car.
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my only two comments here are:
1 What a hero to save this 914!
2 Why hours and hours and hours and hours and hours of patching when aftermarket panels are readily available, cheap would have saved hours and hours of hard labor, kept the car more factory original, made it stronger, more valuable, and made it last much much longer?
well, y'know, sometimes we got time, sometimes we got money...
(sometimes we got neither!)
My intitial plan was to also fabricate the inner rocker panel myself and then reinforce the whole thing with that 1/8" Brad Mayeur piece, but it was too hard to fabricate an inner rocker panel that BM's part would attach to...so I ended up buying the reproduction part from Restoration Design. It hurt covering that nice new inner rocker panel, but I was already commited to BM's reinforcemnt kit.
If I had it to do over again I would probably go the route you are. get the repro inner rocker and reinforce the long with the Engman inner long kit.
Fortunately my driver's side seems sound right now . . . Have you braced your car at all? My biggest worry is that when I am all done, the car will be all warped out of shape. Hopefully the bracing I have fabbed will mitigate that.
some pics
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more:
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Car is a parts car, I reviewed your website, and to buy the panels needed I would be way over the purchase price of the car. Simply not worth it in my book. Plus I only would have needed sections of parts you have available. You aren't talking about complicated parts here either, fabbing isn't that difficult, moreover, I find it enjoyable and a good stress reliever.
From the outside, the repairs I have made will be pretty damn close to factory original. And I know my repairs are as strong as original since they are modeled after what was there originally. Question for you, are your repair panels thickened in areas where Porsche had mulitple layers (like in the long and many other places in the "frame")? Or are they simply the mulitple layer thickness throughout? From the pics it seems like they are only single layer, so either they are too thin (compared to original) or too heavy (again, using original as the benchmark).
More valueable? Again, if it looks stock from the outside . . .
Last much longer? Ummm, you have somehow sourced a grade of steel better than mine? I don't remember posting the material specs of what I was using anywhere . . .
Nice work Dave, looks similar!
This thread is great and these pictures are very helpful. I'm, shamelessly, cheating off of all the hard work you guys are doing.
Bonus real man points to you for doing this in January in Philly. I know it was 19 degrees in my garage last night.
Ha, well I'm lucky in that my garage is the first floor of a row house, I steal a bit of warmth from the second floor of my place, the furnace in the garage, and the two houses on either side. I also wear long johns, flannel pants, jeans, 3 shirts and a fleece jacket. Feel kinda like Stay-Puft Marshmellow Man.
Also just bought a small portable propane heater off amazon, had them on sale. Its more for painting though, gotta get the area warm if I want the paint to stick!
resale value??? I plan on being burried in mine!
Dr.,
It's a rare talent you have. It's not easy to offend someone with a compliment. You are a master.
I'm assuming it's not your intent, but somehow it comes across that way. I guess that's one of the dangers of "talking" this way. You can't hear the other person's tone of voice or see their eyes rolling.
Dave
[quote name='dkos' date='Jan 30 2007, 01:36 PM' post='856245']
"And Chris I completely defer to the man who has put that much time into his 914 and congratulate you."
[/quote]
Dr.,
It's a rare talent you have. It's not easy to offend someone with a compliment. You are a master.
I'm assuming it's not your intent, but somehow it comes across that way. I guess that's one of the dangers of "talking" this way. You can't hear the other person's tone of voice or see their eyes rolling.
Dave
[/quote]
Good point and it really is hard to tell the intention when just typing. However i am sincere in my comments. ANY man who puts that much personal labor into restoring a 914 should always be commended and NEVER put down! I am the first to commend him. My comments were only to make a point that there IS an easier more efficient way to do it as others have made it easy for us to restore these cars!
Please keep in mind however that I have rebuilt/restored well over 500 914s over the last 32 years so there is some credence here in what I say, just from my experience, to hell with my skill. Man learns the easiest cheapest laziest way to get something accomplished, (BUT PROPERLY!!!!) and I am a good example of that man.
well said!
so Chris...any new pics?
Wow! Dr. 914 defers to me!! Such responsibility, I haven't even been to the 914 University yet, let alone achieve a PhD in 914ing! I think I'll name myself 914 Dictator for Life. Gosh, I'm not sure how I will handle the prestige . . . Guess I'll just have to keep on keeping on, don't start forwarding all your 914 related e-mails to me yet Dr., my head is still swimming from this honour.
Took Tuesday night off, restaurant week in Philly. Good food for cheap trumps working in the garage! Got a little done last night, pics didn't turn out so hot though. Cleaned up the area around the heater tube outlet, lots of seam sealer in that area, also finished up the cutout through the long for the heater tube:
Made some brackets to replace the rusted out sections of the ones that secure the heater tubes in the long
Probably gonna be the last update until next week though, life getting in the way again . . .
Seriously though, Dr. 914, I can do without the patronizing comments. I know you have a lot of experience with 914s, but that doesn't mean that the products you sell are the only or even the best way to fix a 914, depending on the situation. So telling me, or anyone, that using the products you carry will make the car stronger, more valuable, and last longer just comes off as cheap advertisement. Just like the unsolicited e-mail I received from AA touting your repair pieces shortly after I started this thread. I'll never pretend to know as much as you do about 914s, I know I'll have questions for you in the future and I'm sure I will be ordering from AA soon as well. But I do know a little bit about structures, I design 50+ ton seafaring power conversion buoys for a living, so having you tell me your replacement pieces are the best way to go is rather irritating.
-Chris
Heater tube sheet metal tacked in:
Getting closer . . .
Wow!! Kick-ass project & thread! Magnificent, eye opening & very educational. Think I will eventually be doing a lot of similar work to my 6. Please keep up the work and the thread. I'm sure it's a burden but I feel grateful for your work & I'm sure others do as well. Be worth a trip across the Mason-Dixon to come & see for myself. Kick-ass!!!
Thanks Johny! You are welcome to stop by whenever, but, with any luck, I'll be sealing up the long in the next week or two. Tough to see the guts then!
Megasquirt is a DIY fuel injection system. I've tossed the idea around of having hydro lifters, but usually you can't get as much performance out of a hydro cam as you can with a solid lifter cam, so I'll probably stick with solids.
Sunday later on in the day, 3 or so, definitely works for me. Let me know . . .
Another one fight the rust!!!
Very, very nice work. reminds me so much on my project.
Best wishes for you and the car and maybe soon
Chris- let me know regarding Sunday. If not, no biggie but I'd still like to see her.
pm sent
After a rough, but entertaining weekend, I've gotten some more progress done. Heater tube welded in, put some tacks around the circumference to connect it to the inner long, I didn't acheive as tight as a fit as factory:
Welded in the engine compartment. Yeah, welding around the entire circumference was unecessary, but that heater tube is now a piece of the structure of the car. May not help a tremendous amount, but it will help some:
Brackets welded in to support the heater tube:
-Chris
Got a little work done here and there over the past month, but for the most part, life got in the way of my 914 progress. Stupid life. Anyway, finally time for another update:
Heater tube back in -
Painted the rust using Eastwood's Rust encapsulator (looks like I could use a bit more on the "roof" -
Drilled and cut out the inner layer of this corner of the long and fabbed up a new layer -
The bottom edge of this inner rocker panel was a little thin due to rust erosion so I fabbed up an angle to thicken it up in the necessary areas. I also had to cut out and replace two rectangular areas where there were holes from a PO yanking the triangular gussets off that support the threshold-
Hopefully I'll start sealing the long back up later on this week!
-Chris
Great progress Chris.
I can't believe you got all that done last night! You are an absolute animal.
Despite having his own large project, Chris spent most of yesterday afternoon(about 30 degrees in my garage) setting up my welding rig and showing me how to use it. This included several snafus on my part involving a trip to Home Depot as well as a defective auto darkening helmet. He is a very talented, patient and generous dude. I have no doubt that his car will be safely on the road.
Thanks again for the help Chris. I owe you one.
Oh, no, I didn't get all that done last night! That is the culmination of an hour here and an hour there over the past month. Last night I spent about an hour using the measurements I pulled off your car to backcheck against mine and I installed the heater tube brackets/heater tube. Nothing big.
Good meeting you though Jerry, glad I could help out with your welding setup and it was my pleasure passing some of the limited knowledge I have about welding on to you. Now I expect to see that yellow 914 of yours on the road before next winter!
-Chris
Wonderfull!!!
Like those pic´s.
If it wasn´t so stupid, i wish i could do this to my car...again
Michelko- I'm sure there are many 914s out there that could use the treatment you gave your car . . . go save another!!
-Chris
yeah i would like to..
but i need more space to store all those little cuties.
Inner rocker on:
Took a lot longer than I thought, then again, I shouldn't be surprised, it took a long time to drill out all those spotwelds. Crazy to think I did that 2+ years ago.
Spent some time on my Beetle too this weekend, installed an LM-1 and auxbox. Nothing too exciting to show for it except this pic of the o2 bung welded in:
Been busy with the Beetle, trying to tweak the carbs (still), I'll be getting back to the 914 in a week or two. Gunning for a fall cruise, but she will be an uggo!
-Chris
Excellent work Chris... keep it up!
Wow, haven't touched the teener in quite some time, I actually had to search for this thread to bring it back to life. Been working on the Beetle and enjoying the summer . . . got the Beetle is running reliably and cool (600 miles on her last weekend). Anyway, finally had some time to make some progress. First step . . sign the inner rocker before I seal this beast up again (hopefully for good):
Next, weld in the piece I fabbed using the old piece as one layer and a template:
My welding is a little rusty, as are the parts that I didn't treat back in feb/march. Good news is I decided to hold off on grad school for another year, potentially moving out to CO to get it done, so now I have another 10-11 months to get this thing going. Hopefully by the spring, but I think this will be the third time I said that!
So did this weekends car events rekindle the flame a little?
Just a little here and there, and it gets done eventually......
Definitely . . . it was one of the big reasons why I headed down that way. I needed some inspiration!
Nice work Chris. Glad to see your back on the project. I wish I could have made the cookout. I need the inspiration as well. I hope to get back on mine in a couple weeks. Let me know if you need any parts that I might have. I think I still have that front valence in my garage(from Hershey if you still remember that).
Chris- was good to finally meet you. Bug looked great, very 1960s SoCal looking. Now get back to work on that teener!
Nice work Chris. Makes me feel bad about my car collecting dust in the garage. Been too busy with work/kids/home lately.
Jerry-
Definitely still want that front valence, if it is in your way let me know and I will pick it up soon, otherwise the next time I am out your way I will grab it. How's the welding going? Guessing it has been on the back burner.
Al-
Good to meet you too, your black -6 was awesome and I definitely want to check out that creamsicle at some point.
Dave-
Winter is fast approaching! I seem to remember your garage isn't heated. Get something in there so you can wrench when its not fun to be outside. With me, you, Jerry, and Kevin I would say we have a Philly 914 crew (almost).
Anyone wants to stop by for inspiration or to check out progress just let me know.
-Chris
No sweat Chris. It's not in my way. In fact I couldn't even see it until yesterday as it was underneath piles of lumber,drywall, tools etc. from renovating that investment property. I'm just getting that finished up and slowly recovering my garage space. It's pathetic to see my welder sitting there looking all brand new so I hope to get back at it in October. I'll definitely want to stop by for some inspiration.
yeah...no heat in my garage. I'm going to take a week off in October. Hopefully I'll get some work done then.
Hey Jerry...I finally found a rental space in Malvern. I'm at the corner of Bus. 30 and Planebrook Road...right behind the NAPA Autoparts Store. It's smaller than what we were looking for, but it was the best we could find. Thanks for your help.
That's good news Dave. I'm glad to hear you found something. My neighbor used to have a tuner/machine shop right behind that NAPA. I wonder if it's the same space.
Some work completed today . . . Outer shell closed!
Chris,
You seem to keep truckin' along. You make me feel like a sack!
I finally did some work this weekend and so before you ask when I'll just show you where I am...
Your thread has me inspired to finish my engine before you rebuild your entire car.
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Leo - Good to see you getting that engine together, looks great, I still want a lift once you get that thing moving. I gotta see if a 2073 is all I need or if I want to build it up more. Are those biral p+c's or just cast iron painted silver? Wait, have you pulled and tapped your galleys yet?
Too bad you missed the ECC and the AACG, dunno if you caught the other thread but Matt and Evil say hello. Well, Matt said hello and to pass on his best wishes, Evil Said something about passing along a hernia exam. I politely declined. For the good of the land.
Well, glad I could be an inspiration. It is tough staying motivated, I still have a shitload to do. Today I spent 2.5 hours doing some cleanup on that outer clamshell patch, cutting out the old engine shelf and grinding on rust. End result, nothing worth posting. Hopefully later in the week . . .
Hell hole? Hell no!
Also cut out rust due to the battery tray and welded a new chunk in:
Well damn, its been a long time since that long was whole, hopefully repairs start going faster now . . .
Wow, you're doing an awesome job.
Lou, thanks!
Jeff-
I have an engman kit, but I'm not following where you are suggesting to reinforce regardless. I don't think I can reinforce the longs anymore on the inside (nor do I think they can be opened up any more than I had them!), all rusty metal has been removed and at least the (if not more) than the factory thickness of material, doublers, etc was reinstalled. Inner long to inner wheelhouse section, are you speaking of the area where the heater tube passes from the engine bay into the long? That area was doubled, maybe the pics aren't clear. Please elaborate if you can!
Thanks,
Chris
Thanks for the updates Chris. It looks great.
You inspired me to finally bust out the welder again.....well, not on my car but on my dad's John Deere tractor deck. Ugliest welds you ever saw but they're holding strong and he's happy as can be so thanks again for the welding lesson. The car is next!
Nice, always good to find other uses for the welder too!
Don't worry about it, the thread is long in both length and time, hopefully I will be able to end it soon . . .
Jeff - Didn't make the connection with the thread that I recently subscribed to that you were the owner of the thread, looks pretty similar and you are doing some killer work!
My progress for the weekend:
Seems like I am out of the woods but I still have a ways to go . . .
Work this weekend thus far:
You can see the patch vs the pitted metal . . . its kind of thin but with the built up section around it I'm not too worried.
First piece:
Next piece:
Cleaned up:
Other side (a PO "patched up holes with a stick welder . . . friends don't let friends patch holes in 914s with a stick welder like that):
Hmm, that pic kinda sucks but the rusty blob to the right of the section I am building up is a big pile of birdshit stick weld. In this next pic you can see the other side of the section welded in, plus a piece tacked in to replace the stick weld blob and a third hole where there was another stick weld pile:
-Chris
Way to go Chris!
Jeff
I've been reviewing welding and reconstruction threads. The talent and patience to rebuild a longitudinal?!?! That's incredible work. This thread deserves a
No update in a while. How's it coming? And as long as I'm here, how's the grill?
Wow, funny this thread got bumped this weekend . . . today I go in for what will hopefully be the last bit of dental work remaining from the accident. Unfortunately the one tooth that took the most abuse, and that I had to have a root canal on, still is bothering me. So they have to do some work by going through the gum. Good times. Otherwise, caps look good and the scaring isn't noticeable unless I shave. Optional as a grad student. Even clean shaven it really isn't that obvious. So yeah, after today I will hopefully be able to bite into stuff again!
As for my 914, I did shift it around in my garage recently to make it more accessible, but shortly afterwards I discovered that the engine in my bus was about to eat a valve. So I've been spending most of my time messing with that and other "while you are in there" tasks on the bus. Hopefully this spring/summer I'll get back in to it . . .
-Chris
It took a year for my jaw to feel normal again.
Almost two years later since last working on my 914 . . . for shame. Started again on Monday night and managed to cut the middle knuckle on my left index finger open with a cutting wheel on an angle grinder. Didn't bleed, blade must have been hot enough to cauterize the wound but it was to the bone. Love Philly and all but going to a city hospital with a cut that can hide under a band aid does not get you to the front of the line. 10 hours later, couple of xrays, lot of cleaning and only 2 stitches and I'm whole again.
So hopefully I'll have some pictures soon of progress. And some pics of my other projects that have been keeping me from my 914.
-Chris
Other than grad school, which with 9-5 research and classwork is taking up way more time than when I had a full time job with a commute (silly me to think otherwise), this beast has taken up the majority of my time since nov. 07 when I got her:
I've got some other pictures elsewhere. She was a runner when I bought her, but was a death trap with incorrect fuel hoses and rubber brake lines from 1976. Almost all the mechanical bits have been replaced or reconditioned from the front to the rear. Also had to rebuild the engine this past winter after finding that the gex rebuild in her was starting to drop seats. I took the easy route and got a camper special kit. $$$ for sure but saved me a lot of time. Got lucky with that Porsche acquisition of VW stock fiasco a couple months back so it seems appropriate to spend the proceeds from the stock sale on a VW engine. I'm happy with the results, ~20mpg at 75mph isn't bad for a breadloaf on wheels. The increase in power is significant and overall I am pretty satisfied.
Now she is a good runner, overall pretty solid with one rustout in the rear and I'm sure some nastiness hiding under the front windshield. She also has a bunch of surface rust spots that I will someday take care of. But for now, they can wait until the 914 gets some love.
Are you done with grad school now?
I know how you feel with the 914. I have not touched my truck in about a year. Look forward to seeing some updates soon!
Zach
Nope, not yet, I've got about another year to go I think.
Due to the layout of my garage the Beetle is languishing perpendicular to the length of it, probably won't see the light of day for another year or more. Too bad considering it runs pretty well now. Well at least used to 9 months ago . . .
I have too many cars. And my major form of transportation now is my bike! I've put close to 900 miles on it since the first of the year, ha. More than any one of my cars by itself.
-Chris
I still have access to the rear fender for ya. Well talk when I get back to PA after my tour. I need to get some fog/driving lights like you have.
Good thing you didnt cut the tendon on your knuckle.
Yeah, I was lucky.
I talked to Ray Mital a while back about buying the later doors/fenders off a parts car of his so assuming that works out I might not need the fenders you have access to. Heading up to check them out the 10th, I'll let you know.
I dig the look of the yellow fog lights with the chrome housings more but I had these sitting on a shelf for the past 8 years. They are bright.
I have that exact set (orange lens, chrome ring, a little bullet shaped) of lights from a MBZ of the 60s. I am not sure if I am going to use them or not as I may want the clear driving light style. But, I have upgraded my head lights to the H4 kits already.
How much were the H4 kits? Noticeable difference?
H4s have been evaluated on the samba and look great, but mine are still in a box They were about $50/pair with bulbs from Busdepot.
Progress, I guess, really just undoing some PO handiwork. Pass side floorpan was installed with a stick welder, poorly, and gratuitous amounts of seam sealer. Beyond that, it wasn't trimmed properly and was overall just a mess:
The PO also didn't trim the old floorpan out completely so there was this odd overlap where on the top side, the old floorpan met the new, and on the bottom side the new floorpan met the center tunnel with a nice cavity in between. Dropped the new floorpan about 1" lower than it should be on the left side. You can kind of see the gap between the pan flange and the installed pan here (old stuff cut out, also where I trimmed my index finger):
The center support was wasted, the PO made some crap bridge plates to span the rusted section and the weird height difference. I could pop the welds with a chisel and a hammer way too easily:
I drilled out the spotwelds and preped the "new" center support hoping to get it in today, no dice, unfortunately. It is not in the best shape in the world but it will do.
Biggest accomplishment was getting the new floorpan out, getting all the birdshit stick welds off the car without sacrificing too much metal so I can reuse the pan. Lots of time on my back with a grinder, thanks PO:
Here is my new hobby:
It is an 01 Rocky Mountain Element, kind of beat up but I got it for a great deal. Unfortunately my IT Band has been acting up so I haven't been able to hit the trails as much as I would like.
My "ladies":
Beetle is hiding under a cover at the back. Class starts next week, I hope I can keep on working.
-Chris
Nice bike!
I put ~500 miles on my mountain bike over the summer of 2007, while I was training for the 100 mile bike race (that I did not compete in after Erin got pregnant).
This summer I have put about 100 miles on it. I am not riding it at all like I should.
Are you renting the garage seperate from your place in Philly, or is it part of your home?
Zach
We will have to hit the trails at some point. Ever ride in the Wiss here in Philly? Allegedly it is pretty good, I don't have much to compare to though. I have no skill yet, but I do enjoy cruising around in the woods.
Garage is the 1st floor of my place. Even crazier is that there is a full basement below it. Dunno if I will ever be able to leave, although renting does suck. Behind the bus you can actually fit one more car but my landlord keeps his vespa off to the left of the bus so he wants door access. My place actually used to be an ambulance way for a private hospital behind it (where my landlord lives). At some point, my guess in the 30s-40s, the first floor of what used to be a std rowhouse was blown out, the floor was dropped to street level, brick arches were built between the steel ibeams supporting the garage floor (neat to see in the basement), and then it was all concreted over. I actually tossed the tire chains for the ambulances when I moved in.
-Chris
I've spent very little time in Philly. Almost all of my trail riding has been the trials at Eaglesmere Lake (PA) and Patapsco State Park (Avalon, in Baltimore MD). When I am going for miles I usually ride either the MD or PA section of the old North Central Railroad trail. 80 miles if you do the whole thing, but pretty flat as it is an old rail road bed.
Zach
Progress, believe it or not. Worked on the outer bulkhead/firewall, pass side kick panel area, and the front clutch tube mount. A PO did a real crap repair on the clutch tube mount at the firewall:
Lots of seam sealer hiding birdshit stick welds barely connecting the firewall sheet metal to a big ol chunk of metal barely connected to the clutch tube. Of course, they went to the trouble to do this crap repair, but didn't touch the front mount, which was flapping in the breeze. Middle mount, fine by some weird chance. So since my lower firewall was rusted, I just cut it out taking time around the tubes:
I used a crappy air body saw from HF for the long cuts that might be my new favorite tool. Much less mess than a cutoff wheel, way more accurate, doesn't heat up the metal as much, etc. Good stuff. Tacked/welded in firewall chunk:
Much better. Also took the opportunity to weld a washer on the inside of the firewall to support the clutch tube further:
Still need to weld the clutch tube to the firewall, I have some copper tubing to be used as a backup, but once that is done I don't think the clutch tube will be going anywhere anytime soon. No shots of the front repair but I just drilled some holes to get access to the broken mount, then welded it all together.
I'm also still dealing with the PO crap pass floor replacement. The footwell had a decent rustout that the PO ignored when the new floor was "installed":
Thick black paint and seam sealer does not make the rustout disappear. Fabbed/tacked:
Question for everyone, what is the purpose of these two circular holes in the floor under the gas tank:
The one furthest to the right is a drain, but the two circular ones look like they might be from the factory, but might also not be. Any ideas? The PO actually wrapped the replacement floorpan over all of the ports . . . insane.
So yeah, that is what I've been up to. Missed Hershey, which was a bummer, but I figured that if I had the time to head out to it, it might be better spent working on my car so that someday I can go to it in a 914.
Also found a mouse nest in my driver's long last night from who knows when. Nabbed it through the front port in the driver's footwell by the heater tube. Nice and rusty on the bottom, found a spot where I could stick a screwdriver through the long there too. Great.
-Chris
I think all three hoses are for drain tubes. There is one (maybe two?) from the fresh air box, there is one from the fuel filler neck, and there may be one from elsewhere in the area.
--DD
Great, thanks
Pass floorpan is back in:
More welding than I really want up in that footwell but it will do. Someday I'll grind it all, but I am more interested in getting this car on the road at this point. I stitched the floorpan in, there wasn't enough of a flange to do large enough spots so I alternated 1" beads around the periphery on both the top and bottom side. The pan itself wasn't a great replication of the original pan, had to do some "editing" where the pan joined the crossmember at the long:
Much better than the job the PO did with excess from the pan half wrapping up and over these drain holes:
Crossmember in:
I deliberated for a long time about what to do with the rear part of the tunnel. It was pretty weak from rot, but I didn't really want to cut it out. Since I had a decent piece to use for replacement, I sucked it up:
Didn't realize that the firewall was in bad shape underneath where the shift rod passes through when I grafted in the "new" metal. Some tedious welding filled in the rustouts. Not my greatest work, but meh:
New tunnel floor tacked in:
-Chris
Been too long since I updated. Finished my masters degree and working now, got a job at a product design firm, and maybe now I have more time to work on my 914. Maybe. Got the inner bulkhead in:
Finished up the jack stand support:
Patched the hole in the driver's side floor under the parking brake handle (stretching to the engine compartment):
And started to tackle the swiss cheese in the driver's side long due to a mouse nest:
Backing in:
And where I have to go next:
-Chris
Chris keep at it like you are and you'll get it on the road soon enough!
I do admire your patience...
Looking good man!
John
Pretty amazing job so far. Keep up the good work.
Looks great Chris...and congrats on the masters and new job.
Let me know if you need any parts or metal for your 914 as I still have the yellow car but have to get it out of my garage in the next couple months.
Thanks guys. I can kind of see the light at the end of the tunnel, at least as far as the chassis work goes. Hoping to get her on the road this year, probably not as nice on the exterior as I would like, but I gotta drive this thing.
Jerry, I think I am good as far as metal goes, but I definitely still want that front valence if you still have it. What does the driver's side floor, up by the pedals, look like?
-Chris
Great...getting that car sorted out is a real accomplishment. Looking forward to seeing it when it happens.
I still have the valence. It's yours. With another kid and a house remodel in progress, not much has changed in the garage except for a little work on the gemini blue car.
Aside from the longs and sail panel issues I never finished, it still seems pretty solid structurally. I'll check the pan underneath again to be sure but the driver side floor is fine. Trunks and firewalls are mint.
Cool, lemme know. I might just fab the small area that I need . . .
Congrats on the additional kid! Maybe we can meet up at some point this driving season . . .
Second layer in on the long:
Hole in the floor patched:
Nice work!
Absolutely fantastic thread! I just went through the whole thing and am impressed. looking forward to watching the rest of it come together.
peace,
chuck
Got a special present from a PO:
That rust out is in the driver's side wheel well, and was nicely hidden under some bondo. Lovely. It is (was) right behind the bump out in the driver's side foot well:
Now I know why that area needed so much work.
Looks like I didn't snap a pic of the wheel well patch, have to add that later, but got everything sealed up this weekend:
-Chris
Wheel well:
Things I learned today . . . welding under the dash/under the across the car brace is a bitch and you need to make sure you are holding the air nozzle, not the welding gun, before you squeeze the trigger. Finally no longer seeing dots.
-Chris
Chris! Congrats on finishing school and being gainfully employed! Feels good, right?!
I owe you a work weekend. Let me know when you want to do it. :-)
Zach
Hey Chris,
Philly isn't too far, let me know if you need a hand on a weekend. I'd be glad to shoot down and get some work done!
Thanks guys, I will definitely take you up on that. I'm thinking once I move to mechanical assembly I'll have a work gathering. I can fit another two 914s in my garage with my Camper out on the street.
I'm hesitant to say that I am pretty much done with the structural repairs on this car . . . ignoring the front suspension mounts that might be tweaked from an old accident . . .
-Chris
I am curious, what setup are you using for your welding? Standard gas/shielded mig or a flux core setup?
Shielded MIG. Just ran out of gas tonight . . . puts the damper on the rest of this week. Bah, got plenty of fitting and grinding to do.
An update:
Progress has been slow, stripped a freebie 914 from a co-worker over a few weeks a month or two back (another shout out of thanks to Rich for helping me with the trailering):
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?act=ST&f=2&t=116222
Grabbed some good parts off the car, rubber, interior bits, side shift tranny, etc. Fenders weren't as nice as I had hoped, I will probably have to make two good fenders out of the six that I have, but what can you do.
On my 914, I'm almost in a position to start building up the pass fender and putting it back on. I had to rebuild the fender mounting flange since removing the old fender required some "finesse" to beat the braze job a PO did. Regardless, I wanted to finish up engine compartment work first, which includes putting in a new pass side engine shelf. Started cleaning up that area, and found that what I once thought was a good pass side suspension console is actually very much not:
Looks fine, thought I had dodged a bullet, right?
A little wire-wheeling by the brake hose mounting tab reveled some holes:
So I bit the bullet and ordered new metal. Bummed that I have this additional work, but somewhat glad that this happened. It was always going to be a nagging doubt that my console was rusted from the inside out if I didn't dig in. It was interesting to tap with a hammer on the pass vs the drivers console, the pass side definitely sounded much "tinnier".
I tediously cut off the console support overlays (you can see the rust underneath):
The rust seems to mostly be in the lowest part of the console (makes sense), the ear itself "appears" to be rust free. Now I am just waiting for the time to drill out the rest of the spotwelds and get the new unit in:
Those chunks of metal in the above pic are the cut off support overlays.
-Chris
914 snow:
Good thing I cut off the old ear:
Had to cut out some rusty metal on the long:
Patched:
Bolt on suspension ear?
The welding begins:
-Chris
Progress:
Prepped inner and outer consoles for the tie pieces
Tie pieces prepped
Console halves tied back together
After lots of stripper, scraping, wire brushing, scrubbing, etc . . . self etching primer!
And to think that I initially pulled the engine waay back when to just replace the engine shelf . . .
Nice!
Zach
Great work man!
Our cars are in similar condition. I will be referencing your build thread when I tie my inner & outer console together.
Its been a long time since I updated this thread, but my 914 has not been forgotten. This thread is now very inappropriately titled because I have moved again and the car still has not gone to the crusher. My 914 is now sitting comfortably in the middle bay of my 3 car garage just outside Philly in NJ - garage has a second floor too. Yeah, bought the garage, and a house came with it. Got all the ladies comfortably in there (funny that my GFs car sits outside and I ride my bike/train to work):
Well, its a little tight, but it will do. Anyway, moved last November, and since then have been swamped with unpacking, house projects, yard maintenance (ick) and work. Recently I've been able to spend some quality time in the garage, got everything set up, did some rewiring, hung some lighting, and yes, even worked on the 914.
I pulled off the driver's side rear fender because a previous owner did a crap, not completed, repair. I don't even have a pic of it, but it involved two pieces of fender stick welded together so I'm sure you can imagine how bad it was. Underneath the fender I found this:
Crappy lap jointed inner fender bit, hidden with bondo in the truck (honestly, who uses bondo in the trunk) and secured with braze. Ick. Fortunately there was enough of an overlap that I could cut the "patch" out without the brazed edge, trim it, and tack it in:
Definitely still have plenty more to do to finish it off, but progress at least.
-Chris
That looks a million times better already just tacked!
Poor thang.
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