As of the 14th of June, 2006, I no longer have the (usta-be-blue-but-now-it's-red) 914. The paint shop owner who painted the car became too much of a pain in the a$$ to deal with, calling every other day to have me fix something he was told we'd do all at once when the bugs had been worked out. He was pestering me, and he was starting to pester a couple of friends. So, I gave him my 914 and told him we were done, I hope to never hear from him again. I will forever miss that car. I spent 6 years getting it the way I wanted it, and was very close to having it finished. All I can say is that I may regret the decision, but I would do the same thing again. It's only a car, and I can get another. I have the black 71 that was going to the body shop guy, so I still have one, and it has a rebuilt 1.7 and a sideshifter, so it could be built into a nice car. Some rust, but don't they all?



This is the final picture taken of the car while it was mine.

A week after this picture was taken, I got the Mahles back from the paint shop, painted body color, and the painted top and front bumper, also body color. It turned out nice.

Here are a couple more pics from when it was going back together.



When I gave up the car, everything had pretty much been added to the car. Tan upholstery and carpet, pilot driving lights, the 911 flag mirror was installed, but the electrics hadn't been wired. It needed the engine lid painted below the grills, and the rear targa trim was to be painted semi-gloss black. Other than that, all of the new rubber seals had been installed, and the fiberglas rockers just needed to be pop riveted in, rather than useing screws. As I said, it was almost done.

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Wow, it HAS been a while since I added anything. The Blue car went into the body shop in July. They pulled the frame on the right front corner, and it pulled the dents out nicely. It's taken forever, but I don't have the Black car done, so we're even. He's taking the Blue car down to bare metal, replacing the front hood, and painting the trunks, which the PO only primered when he did the last color change. It was Yellow from the factory, was changed to red, then changed to the Dodge Intense Blue that it will be re-painted in. We found some bondo from the factory, and a LOT of bondo since. The drivers' door took a good hit at one time, and had holes drilled to pull it straight again. This is going to be MUCH nicer when it's done. We're also taking a spare top & painting it in the blue, so I can have my choice. I'm adding 911 flag electric mirrors painted in the blue, and electric windows. I have a nice set of 70 painted bumpers, so I'll have them, the fiberglas side valences, the early rear valence (with the hole), and the front valence and Mahles all painted black at the same time. I'm blacking out all the chrome, so I'll have to decide on gloss of semi-gloss for that. I went by today & checked it out. The passenger side is in primer, and the drivers' side door & rear quarter are down to metal.He says he'll have the whole car in primer this wee, and painted next week. WOO HOO! Then I get to start replacing seals, dash top, etc, before putting the windows back in and putting on the newly painted trim. Maybe I'll have the car back together by New Years.

The cars are running really well! We had the 911SC in the shop for a clutch & got it back yesterday. Marcie is happy again! I dropped the Black Car off at the body shop so the owner could drive it around & make sure he wanted it in trade.
Since everything was good on the cars, I spent most of the day updating my webpage. Check it out if you get the chance & tell me what you think.

The Blue car is still running great!! It did, however, not want to start this morning. Turn the key, nothing. Use the ole screwdriver trick & it fired right up. Went to pick up some parts at the wrecking yard, it fired right up. John & I agree it's time to replace the ignition switch. I just happen to have one in my toolbox. I'll try to get to that this afternoon.

John got me a Compufire electronic ignition for the Black car, and it runs the same.
I decided to check the MPS/ECU compatability chart, and guess what? They didn't match. I took another MPS (it has a slow leak, but othewise is OK) and put it on. Eureka!!! It runs!! We're currently letting it warm up good, and then I'll take it out for a drive. WOO HOO!

The car is running so good it's scary! I've never had this car in this good of shape.

Next, it's time to start work on the black car again. The sooner I get it up & running right, the sooner I can get the Blue car's body & paint done.

It took a few minutes, but after moving the unit so that it cleared everything in the distributer, the car fired right up. Set the timing, and it's golden again. Tach even reads right.

Hopped in this morning to bring it to the shop, and it ran great!

Thanks, John!

Good thing, too, it's raining cats & dogs outside.

Cars been running a little ragged the last couple of days, so John, Ben & I put in a Crane Fireball XR700 electronic ignition. It took all 3 of us working on it to get it right, but I drove home last night with the car running well. The only glitch is I'll need to put a resistor in line to the tach to make the tach read right. While I was in there (Dirk Wright rides again!) I decided to replace the loose air filter bracket with one that had the proper wingnut to tighten. Who would have figured a bolt, a nut, and 2 tin bolts could be such a pain in the ass! Seemed to take forever, but I finally got the thing bolted in. Geeze!

Got in the car this morning and it would barely run! Got it to the shop, spitting and sputtering and backfireing the whole way. John thinks we need to secure the mount for the ignition module a little better. Hopefully we'll get it figured out this afternoon.

While I was waiting to be able to get the car in the shop, I decided to put on the Craig Laughlin front turn signal kit I bought at the WCC. He makes a nice, easy to install kit. I replaced his connectors with a little better crimp-on type, but that's because we have the proper kind at the shop. Looks nice, and works well. Thanks, Craig!

I've been quite remiss in entering into my blog, so here goes.
Got the car running pretty well before the WCC.
Met with the crowd from Gilroy on their way thru, and had lunch with them at the Cap'ns in Santa Maria.
Followed them to the WCC. Had a great time, details to follow.
The starter didn't want to work after the track day, so we push started it and made it to Ventura with no problem. Got fuel & had dinner & it started fine. Drove it home and to the shop on tuesday, no problem. Wednesday morning, no start. Got the car to the shop late wednesday, and replaced the starter with a new one. We also checked the dwell/timing, and found them both changed, so we reset the timing. What a difference! Runs great now! Of course! The WCC is over, now it runs great!
My business partner called on wednesday saying the throttle pedal went to the floor. He found & replaced a missing c clamp on the throttle rod to the pedal. I picked up the Bus & took it (actually, rod came loose again, so I had it towed) to the shop. After most of the day working on it, we had replaced the pedal, and pretty much rebuilt the linkage system. Every bushing was shot, so we replaced them. Many of the ball & sockets needed replacing. THe pedal works much better now.

Put new tires on the front this morning, and noticed the front wheel bearings were loose, so when I got to the shop, I had John look it over. Really sloppy, so he re-adjusted them, and as long as we were there, put new brake pads on the front. Now it has new pads at all four corners.
Now all it really needs is a good cleaning, and she's ready for the WCC!

I just got back from a test drive. WOW!! what a difference! Sideshifter feels really nice. When I got to the shop this morning, John had ther car running. Seems he knocked off a ground wire when he was putting on a hose. Plugged it back in and it fired right up. The gen light was on, so we traced an intermittent problem down to the regulater. Replaced it and all is well. I'll need to tinker with the idle again, but the car feels totally different. John put new brake pads on the back, so it stops good, too. I'll get new front tires, and we're ready for the WCC! WoooHooo!