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After reseaching the cost to rebuild the Koni Reds I found it was only about $45 more to buy new Yellows from Performance Products. Memorial Day weekend I started putting things back on instead of removing them. A milestone of sorts. I installed the new torsion bars, Delrin bushings, new ball joints, and the new Koni Yellow struts. The new turbo tie-rods were aleady installed. I still need to connect the sway bar to the a-arms. When I went to install the wheel bearings I found out that the guy I bought the 911 front end from had wrapped the new bearings in paper towels. These had gotten wet and rusted the bearings badly. I should be able to pick some new ones up locally so I can get the front wheels on. Got the trailing arms off a couple of weeks ago and got the Delrin bushings and new axle bearings for the back. Since my ex-wife went to court and managed to suck more money out of me it will take awhile before I can afford the rear shocks. I need to get new springs too. Stay posted.
After being sick for a month and several rainy weekends I finally got back to work. I was going to put the front suspension back together and remove the rear suspension. Upon removing the strut cartridges I found that one had been leaking oil into the housing.  The good news is the struts are Konis. Now I have send them out to be rebuilt. I've heard it's cheaper than buying lesser shocks new. We'll see.On to the back. I discover that you need two spring compressors installed when you remove the top nut and plate. No injuries just a little start when one side of the spring jumped. I used both on the other spring. I have Koni shocks in the rear too. One seems to compress very quickly and other is pretty stiff. I guess I'll have send those out to be rebuilt also.  Hopefully I'll get the trailing arms off next weekend so I can replace the bushings and the bearings.
I got the holes drilled and the front ant-sway bar mounted. Installed the bump-steer kit, and the turbo tie-rod kit and boots. Sanded and painted the a-arms. Removed the rear hubs, rotors, and calipers. I couldn't get the strut inserts out with a hammer and drift and I can't find my good channel-locks either. Edit: I later went out and bought a giant set of channel-locks. That didn't work so I went out and bought an air compressor to run my air chisel. I needed one anyway.
I started off with two sweatshirts on and ended up in a t-shirt. Another beautiful day to continue my deconstruction. I decided to go for the whole enchilada and removed both a-arms and bushings. I couldn't stop and then removed the tie-rods. Still didn't have the tools to tackle the rear end so I pulled all of the light assemblies out for paint. Also removed the mastercylinder, the pedal cluster, and the rest of the old tail-shifter linkage. A good days work. 
Sunny and close to 60 degrees. I can handle that. Removed seats and backpad to see if there is any hidden rust. Luckily there's only some surface rust but lots of dirt, old foam and a mouse nest. The really good news is I found the screw and bracket that hold down the pedal board. I moved to the front suspension to start on the 5-lug upgrade. Took 30 minutes to get the cotter pin out of the tie-rod end nut. Same on both sides. Had to buy a pickle fork to get the strut off of the ball joint. Decided I need to do a turbo tie-rod upgrade and I might as well replace the ball joints, a-arm bushings and go to a stiffer torsion bar. I don't like where this is heading. (foreboding music plays in background)
What is it about 914s that triggers the hourding instinct? Well for me it's because I don't have a garage and the weather has been bad on the weekends. We've had sunny days in the 70s but the weekend rolls around and it's 40 degrees and raining. Anyway, here's the list of things I've aquired for those warmer days ahead.
11/22/2007 It was supposed to rain but the weather was great. The sun was shining and it was in the 70's. Time to pull the engine out so I can get started on the hell-hole repairs. Those damn CV bolts were a pain. Some were hex head and some were the star pattern. After finally getting everything loose I went to lower the engine and it was hanging on something. I've done this before on other 914s so didn't know what the problem was. The fuel rails going into the injectors were sticking out past the engine shelf. I took those loose and lowered away. Everything was fine except that I forgot to unhook the heater cables. Oops. While I was under the car I noticed the passenger side push rod tubes were leaking. After dragging the engine out from under the car by myself I also noticed that the clutch tube had broken loose at the firewall. The list grows. It was right about this time that I got rust or dirt in my eye. At least I was done with the engine pull. After 4 days now it's still in there. The doctor couldn't get it out but it doesn't hurt as much  .Edit: After two weeks it still hurts. I go to an opthamologist and she flicks out the speck in about 20 seconds.  Note to self: Don't wait if it happens again.
10/11/2007 I'd like to meet the idiot that decided to use flat head screws to hold on the side rocker covers. After using several screw drivers, lots of WD-40, an impact driver, and finally a hammer and chisel I got the covers off. Two out of six screws broke off completely. The good news is there is no rust on the rockers. A lot of the corners were filled with huge chunks of hardened asphalt. The asphalt was in the shape of the cavity so it had to get in there when it was hot. The gas tank saga. I put my engine hoist chain inside and shook the tank vigorously. It did pretty a pretty good job of cleaning the surface rust out. Then I washed the tank with POR15 Marine Wash as per the instructions. Next I used the Metal Ready. After drying the tank thoroughly it still looks dirty inside. It looks like there is still residue from the old rotten gas. I definitely don't want to use the sealer over that stuff.
10/28/2007 No rust under the gas tank. Good news for a change but found rust at the front corner of the cowl on the passenger side. Had to remove weatherstrip to see it. Discovered build date of 05/70 making it a 1970 model. Went and looked at title to verify. Yep, 1970. E-bay auction had it listed as a 71.
10/27/2007 It finally stopped raining. Got the gas tank pulled, car up on stands and all wheels/tires off. Only broke one wheel bolt getting them off. I got a good look at the Hell Hole for the first time. Lots of daylight. Not good. |
May 27 2008, 12:42 PM