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

[porsche_dreamer]

Its lookin good. Was the plan for the original color?

[kphimself]

Its lookin good. Was the plan for the original color?

Im not sure at the moment, i've been recently thinking about doing a candy apple red with a ghost racing stripe if not that then silver.

[kphimself]

I have not forgot about my car. I will soon be moving it back to Va to finish the bodywork and paint it. I had to put the project on hold for awhile due to work and another time sensitive project.

[kphimself]

I decided on a color yesterday and got my primer and paint. I doubt I will be painting until september, I have to paint my GF's jeep before she gets back from deployment. It feels good to be getting back to work on the car, I've been missing it.

[kphimself]

I finally got my car home the other night. Its been almost 2 years since I've gotten anything done. It seems like I have about a million things left to do so I figured i should pick somewhere to start. The engine bay seemed like a good place. I made up a new shelf to replace the one that rotted away and mounted the new battery tray support. Once I finished that up I soaked everything down with purple power and pressure washed it. I've decided to just paint the engine bay high gloss black so it will be easy to keep clean and will go with whatever color I decide to paint the car.

[kphimself]

Engine compartment complete. I would love to get the body work done this weekend but I used up all my sand paper on another project and forgot to resupply so i'm kinda limited as to what I can do. I still have a few rust spots to patch on the body and a bent trunk lid to repair so that should keep me busy.
I somehow forgot how much I like working on this car.

[kphimself]

I finished welding in the seat supports and kinda ran out of stuff to do Saturday so drove down to my dads and got the engine and some more parts. I was able to get the engine installed this morning however I'm missing a few things such as the bolts for the CV shafts. Thats what I get for being in a rush to get back on the road before a storm hit. With any luck my sand paper should come in tomorrow and I can start on the body work. I would like to have the car ready for paint by this weekend but I know I'm going to realize i'm missing stuff so most likely I'll end up having to drive back to his house which could delay me painting it.

[rick 918-S]

Keep going this time (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smash.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/welder.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smash.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sawzall-smiley.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/popcorn[1].gif)

[kphimself]

I was able to finish up the floor this week and get some paint on it. I think as some point i'll end up bed lining it as well as the fire wall. The other night my sand paper arrived, only a week late. I was able to start the body work yesterday but couldn't get much done with all the heat.

[kphimself]

I wasn't near as productive as I would of liked to have been but it was way to hot outside. I was able to get most of the drivers side done. The drivers door took up most my time. It had a ton of bondo on it and about 2 dozen dents. I think someone got angry and beat it with a sledge hammer, perhaps a PO's ex or something. I was able to get most of them pounded out and used a shrinking hammer to get the metal back into shape. I did need to give it a skim coat of filler just to smooth everything out. I'll need to wet sand it in the morning and remove the scratches from the sand paper. With any luck I'll be able to wrap up the drivers side tomorrow and start working on the trunk lid that seems to be the second work body panel on the car.

[kphimself]

The heat sucked again. I put the drivers door back on and I was happy with how it came out. The lines seem pretty even and the door skin matches the curves of the fender and quarter panel. I took the trunk lids off and when it cools down this evening i'll finish taking the paint off them and give them a skim coat of filler and make them all pretty.

[kphimself]

I'm having such a hard time picking out a color for the car. I was going to paint it silver and I even got the paint but lately I've been getting sick of seeing silver cars. My girlfriend thinks cream and black would look good but I've been on an orange kick lately. I really need to make up my mind soon since the car may be ready for paint next weekend and if that's the case i'll need to get the paint by Friday. Perhaps I should just go visit some car dealerships for ideas or maybe just leave it primer and just put some big chrome rims on it.

[kphimself]

I haven't updated much lately but I finally painted the car this weekend. I went with silver with a ton of metal flake in it. I still have to paint the bumpers, top, rocker panels and wheels. Now that its silver I think the tan interior will not look good in it so i'm trying to get a black interior for it.

[jersey914]

I haven't updated much lately but I finally painted the car this weekend. I went with silver with a ton of metal flake in it. I still have to paint the bumpers, top, rocker panels and wheels. Now that its silver I think the tan interior will not look good in it so i'm trying to get a black interior for it.

Looks great jason, very similar color to mine. Keep it going to the end this time!

[steuspeed]

Silver with black is a good choice. Keep going, it's starting to look good!

[kphimself]

Thanks. I figured its hard to go wrong with silver and black. I didn't realize how silver it was until I put it up against my mustang. It made its silver look gray. I got my wheels finished and new tires mounted. My rocker panels and a few other parts are on there way up from my Dads so i'll be getting all the black parts painted tonight. I have a few parts left on order that should be here early next week. I expect it to be completed by next weekend. I didn't get to sanding it and buffing it out so now the paints gonna be really hard and a major PIA. I thought I had the right paper at the house turns out I didn't so I had to order some.

[FourBlades]

Looks good!

That is a great looking color combination on a 914.

John

[webrocket]

Centric brake parts offer a complete caliper seal kit including adjuster seals and e brake

[kphimself]

Thanks for the brake advice. I finally got around to wet sanding and polishing the car today. It always impresses me how much better the car looks after its been polished up. I took a break from sanding to plug the air injection ports on the heads. Once I got those plugged I started it back up to see if it sounded better and it still didn't sound right. Now i'm no expert on VW engines but I know something was off. I happened to notice my exhaust pipe from the number 4 cylinder was cold. Im hoping its something simple like a bad spark plug or wire. I had to pick my son up from school so I didn't have time to trouble shoot it any further. I hope to finish sanding and buffing tomorrow and with any luck i'll have time to tend to the engine. I have a new set of plugs and wires here for it so i'll just put them in and check the valve clearance, maybe that will solve my problem, if anything it won't hurt to give it a proper tune up. I enclosed a picture of the fender sanded and polished next to the hood which hasn't been. It was overcast today but you can still see the difference.

[kphimself]

Made good progress the last couple days. Paint is polished, started putting the weather striping on and installed the lights. I was able to score a new set of calipers, well an old set thats in much better shape then my old ones. I got it running on all four cylinders again and it sounds real nice. I guess I'll be finishing up the interior this weekend and that should it. I thought it was gonna be done a long time ago, life seemed to have other plans. Its going to be so nice to get the garage cleaned up and move on to another project.