My rustastic build thread, restoration of my 73 1.7lt Options

[kphimself]

I decided to start a build thread like so many others in the hopes of motivation and some usefull advice. I bought the car back in febuary and tinkered with it since then but due to health problems and work i was unable to do much. I now have some time to put toward it and im excited to get to work. Last week i pulled the rocker covers off to check out the rust. It turned out not to be as bad as i had thought. The longs are rusted out near the jack post, worse on the drivers side, the battery tray is mostly gone. Friday i pulled out the interior and spend the weekend making new upholstery. This is the first time i've ever attempented to do this. It didnt come out perfect but its better then what was in there and it only cost around 120 bucks which is much cheaper then what local shops whated to do it. So far i have the area around the seats done and the material cut out for the seats but i needed to take a break from it and watch some football (drinking beer and doing upholstery dont mix, welding on the other hand).

[arkitect]

I like your Becks present to the german lineage car. Bought a 12 pack last weekend, good beer. Love seeing the progress.

Dave

[kphimself]

16 days (without shaving), 32 beers, 20 plus pounds of rust removed, got a new roof on the house, the longs are complete, and i now have a beard Grizzly Adams would be proud of. One last major repair (the floor pan) and then i only have body work to do, wait, crap i hate body work!
At this point i think its safe to say i will never sell this car nor will i ever restore another 914 well perhaps not one with this much rust, maybe.
Well I'm off to the pub to have a victory beer.

[kphimself]

Today was great, I found more rust, much like most day but i got the old floor pan out (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sawzall-smiley.gif) and test fitted the new one. There isn't much you can say about spending a day on your back eating rust and catching dirt in the eyes, i'm going to start wearing my SCBA goggles when i got to work on my back like this. That is the best idea I've had in a long time. Wish i would of thought about that this morning. I had a good talk with my father about back in his day when he restored a 37 Buick using only a set of wrenches, a 10 gallon sears air compressor and a Vise grip (this was the late 60's early 70's). I guess were lucky to have all these cool new tools. Maybe they were out but you just couldn't get them in BFE Pennsylvania at the time. It must of been a real challenge to restore a car back before the internet, he told me if you needed parts you just went to Hersey and walked around with a cardboard sign (looking for _____ ) that was only once a year back then. For perhaps the last 10 years every payday i buy a new tool so over the years its grown to a rather large collection but it always seems like there is always something i need (or want as my girlfriend puts it). Well i'm tired and going on and on about nothing so i'm going on and on, maybe the rust got to my brain, but i need to jump in the shower.

[kphimself]

Today is a total loss. Last night while taking a shower i got something grit in my eye and on top of that i feel like crap today so i'm going to take it easy and watch my first Steelers game since i've been on vacation. On a side note i gave up the whole not shaving till i get the car done thing, i couldn't take it anymore.

[kphimself]

Got back from the ER. That was a waist of time. Doctor asks whats wrong? i said " i got a piece of metal in my eye" doc says "no thats an eye cold" i said "are you going to look at least?" doc says "i can see from here, thats an eye cold" i said "I saw and felt the piece of metal go in my eye" Doc said "here is some drops for your eye cold" (IMG:style_emoticons/default/WTF.gif)

[arkitect]

Jason,
Sorry to hear about it, glad there wasn't metal in them. Be carefull and use eye protection, you only have one set of them.

Dave

[watsonrx13]

Got back from the ER. That was a waist of time. Doctor asks whats wrong? i said " i got a piece of metal in my eye" doc says "no thats an eye cold" i said "are you going to look at least?" doc says "i can see from here, thats an eye cold" i said "I saw and felt the piece of metal go in my eye" Doc said "here is some drops for your eye cold" (IMG:style_emoticons/default/WTF.gif)

I too got some metal in my eye once and waited (3) days. When I couldn't take the pain any longer I went to the doctor. They said the metal had started to rust and it was very difficult to hold my eye open while they used a small drill to take all of the rusted metal out of my eye. If I would have waited any longer, they would have admitted me to the hospital for eye surgery.

Jason go to an Optometrist and get that eye looked at immediately.

--Rob

[strawman]

Got back from the ER. That was a waist of time. Doctor asks whats wrong? i said " i got a piece of metal in my eye" doc says "no thats an eye cold" i said "are you going to look at least?" doc says "i can see from here, thats an eye cold" i said "I saw and felt the piece of metal go in my eye" Doc said "here is some drops for your eye cold" (IMG:style_emoticons/default/WTF.gif)

I too got some metal in my eye once and waited (3) days. When I couldn't take the pain any longer I went to the doctor. They said the metal had started to rust and it was very difficult to hold my eye open while they used a small drill to take all of the rusted metal out of my eye. If I would have waited any longer, they would have admitted me to the hospital for eye surgery.

Jason go to an Optometrist and get that eye looked at immediately.

--Rob

BTDT, go ASAP to take care of this...

Geoff

[nathansnathan]

I had a bunch of stuff come off the angle grinder and into my eye. The thing was it was all so small, it was hard to get out. after three days, I did this thing, took a paper towel and rolled it into a pointy nub. I then kind of twisted it against my eye which sort of lifted my eye lids out of the way, to actually rest it against my eye. Then by sort of wiggling my eye, in combination with the capillary action of the eye fluids drawn into the absorbent towel, I got out all these small black specs.

I'm glad I didn't go to the doctor, as, since they can't feel the thing, and since their means are barbaric, involving scraping and drilling your eye... no fun

I hope your eye works it out. I'm doing much of what you've been doing, on my 72.

[Bleyseng]

Yes, go to the ER of a different hospital. I had some fireproofing fall in my eye and wow impossible to clean out myself. Went to the ER and they clamped my face and eyeball in a jig so they could flush it out. Very weird experience but what a relief when it was all done. About a 1/4t of stuff had gotten behind the eyeball....no wonder it hurt like hell.

[kphimself]

Thanks everyone,
The eye is getting better but still hurts in the light a bit, however my vacation ends tomorrow and i'm sorry to say the car defeated me. I go in for shoulder reconstruction in a couple weeks and will be on leave for another month but will not be able to much of anything on the car. On a good note i told my girlfriend that i was bummed not being able to finish the car and she wants to help when she gets back next month. I forgot that a year or so ago i showed her how to weld and she did some patch panels in my Studebaker and did a pretty good job. She also has an bachelors in art with a background in metal sculpturing, jewelry and she speaks German so the car will understand her when she curses at it. I have to say i am afraid to let someone work on my car and I'm even more afraid that she is going to one day wanna drive it. I'm not going to lie I was getting burnt out working on the car day and night and i never thought that would ever happen however this is by far the biggest car project i have ever done and i really didn't think i was gong to even get this much done. Now this doesn't mean i'm giving up. I will finish this car, its just going to take a lot longer then what i thought then again i thought a quick paint job and some engine work and i would turn this thing around and sell it. If i could go back to the day i got it i would still buy it. I can't get over how much i've learned. I grew up in a family that loved muscle cars and American antique cars. I was brought up to hate foreign cars. This car has not only changed my mind about German cars but also my fathers. He is always asking me about them now. Well someone once told me that the car always finds you and i feel that is very true. I really do love all my cars except my mustang, i never really bought that car i loaned my brother the money for it when he was 16 and he never paid me for it so i took the car and gave it to my dad to use. I'm getting off topic. I'm not going to give up on this i'm just going to be doing little things in the mean time.

[kphimself]

It has been 5 long cold months since i last worked on the car. Since then i have bought a new garage with a house. I have decided to take next week off and weld up my floor so i can finally give my jack stands a rest and move the car to its new home. Its been so long since i have even looked at the car i think i may have forgot how to put it back together, it may end up with the engine in the front. I guess i'll just have lots of extra parts, perhaps i'll just play it off as weight reduction. I am so excited to bring the car back to virgina so i can start working on it when the weather gets better. I refuse to work on it when its cold. I hope getting back on here will help keep me motivated so i can get this thing on the road this summer. I should start reading eveyone's posts in the forum so my memory will come back to me, if only it was like riding a bike.

[trojanhorsepower]

Hi Jason,

Glad to hear you are back and thinking about the car! I was wondering what had happened to you.

I have had to take an extended break from mine as well (what's 5 or 6 years hear or there). I can't wait to get a shop and get back to work.

Good luck and keep us posted.

-Pete

[netbanshee]

Jason,

You took on a (helluva, but good) project. Looking forward to your progress. You've certainly dealt with the hard parts, so far.

Once you get to sit down in her and turn the motor over, you'll know why you got into it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Sean

[PanelBilly]

When you putting it back togeather be sure to ask lots of dumb questions. That way I can get some of the serials I need for assembling my car without it looking like I need help every step of the way

[kphimself]

So i made it to my dads where the car is currently resting on its jack stands but i ran into one small problem, 5 months of it just sitting there has turned it into storage for my dad and my brother, i cant even see the car. I guess before i can even start working on the car i'm going to have to clean house. Since i'm alittle under the weather i'll use tomarrow to tow my mustang to my house, with that out of the way and its extra parts gone that should give me some room to work. I really can't wait to start painting the car, i know i'm far from that but i'm excited to see it all come together. I might be just a little ADD. Well i should get some rest since i have about 4 hours of towing more then my truck should ahead of me. Before anyone gives me crap about safety my truck is rated to tow more then what i intend on and i'm very careful. Its just an old POS but yet that by some act of god still runs.

[arkitect]

Jason,
Glad to see your back attempting to work on your car. These little cars are an adiction and get under your skin. Can't wait to see new picts of the progress. Good luck. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/piratenanner.gif)

Dave

[kphimself]

My plans got fouled. My really awsome boss decided to not make a decision on me takeing vacation this week so i had to drive back to VA and put the car on hold for what will more then likely be a few more months (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mad.gif) I was looking forward to making some headway on it this week, i hate not being able to finish project and i need the jackstands so i can put a lift kit on my girlfriends jeep. On a good note i was able to dig the car out from the random things everyone stacked on it. I took some measurements and everything is where should be and the doors line up good. Its was still a productive weekend i guess, i was able to tow my mustang up to VA and i guess i can work on it this week since its going to be nice out. The more i look at that car the more i see i could of done some things alot better. If anything i have learned more about metal work then i ever would of thought. One of these days i may get good at working on old cars, or die from rust overdose.

[kphimself]

Well its been a very long time coming but my jack stands are free, just in time to get the girlfriends jeep lifted and its rusted out frame repaired. I seriously feel I am cursed to be surrounded by rusted out vehicals. I guess I have plenty of practice with rust repair now. I got my floor pan and the section of quarter panel welded in this weekend. Now i just need to get the body work done and i can bring the car back home for paint and interior.
Oh I also saw my first real live 914 driving down the road last week. I thought about stalking it but traffic was bad and I was running late for an appointment.

[FourBlades]

Great progress man!

Getting it off jackstands is the first big step, then paint, then engine, then its back to jack stands again. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Glad to see you are working on it again.

John