Wilhelm's build - Yet Another Machine (YAM), A build starting summer 2008, So how longs this gonna take? Options

[Wilhelm]

So its time to quit making parts and start building my car. My true goal despite a bunch of design ideas is to have something I can drive, enjoy, use, and convince the wife to ride in, making it worth the all effort I'm putting into this. I've started with a 74 yellow CA car with fairly mild hell hole rust. The first step was to strip the car of everything, steal all the one-quart freezer bags from the kitchen and label and bag everything I could think of. I threw together a rotisserie out of a bunch of rusty scrap pipe I found in a field. I had the wheels kicking around for years from Harbor Freight. I built this so I could have an off road rotisserie and get the car outside to sandblast it. When all is said and done the sandblasting took about 10 hours with about half that time devoted to heating up the seam sealer with a mapp torch and scrapping it out with chisels and picks. I probably spent and equal time sandblasting remnants of seams sealer to the the time spent on the entire remainder of the car.  One thing that really sped up the sandblasting was to pre-prep large areas with paint stripper; the paint would come off very easily. None of the stripping is fun. Sandblasting requires a respirator, hearing protection (horrifically loud) and eye protection. I initially was wearing a tyvek suit and still got dirty. It also was about 100 degrees out and it got pretty ripe in there. I spent the remainder of the time dressed like in these pictures and all was well and good till the air hose separated from the nozzle and blasted the back of my upper arm. Really friggin hurt and looked like road rash. For eye protection I used the hood shown, then tried a full face shield. What worked best however was using an old welding helmet with a clear lens. The clear lenses would last about 1-2 hours and only cost $.49 to replace compared to a few bucks for the hood and 15 bucks for a shield neither of which had a longer life than the $.49 lens for the welding helmet.




Design goals:

Sheridan front, end narrow body
959 style rear fenders
916 rear bumper
Carbon fiber look top
Monowiper (yeah like rice-a-roni)
Though the hood radiator vent (wbergtho-style)
Front hinged hood
Turbo twist style wheels (8" front, 10" rear)
911 front end 5 lug
928 rear hubs (see my build - 928 Hybrid trailing arm )
Tilt wheel, smaller diameter, thinking from a jetta
Power steering
Move the stereo to where the heater controls are
Air Conditioning with simplified HVAC controls
Coffee cup holders
930 transmission (already have)
Engine- either 327 (already have the 327) versus an LS2

[FourBlades]

Great looking project, should be an awesome car when you are done.

That looks like a very rust free 914 you are starting with which will make things
easier.

I started with a very rusty car and am hoping to be done in about 12-15 months. I knew nothing about 914s or restoration when I started so it may not take you as long.

Good luck....John