Optimusglen's build - 91faux6 safari, bodywork and suspension started Options

[Optimusglen]

When I finished with my carbs a friend of mine was actually starting up a side business of carb rebuilds, he had just finished running through another friend's PMO's so I sent the Zeniths to him.

He tore them down and ultrasonic cleaned everything, then replaced all the throttle bushings and reamed to fit the shafts. There were a couple of small parts that I hadn't re-plated that he did too. Then set them up to factory specs and sent me a form on setting them up in the car.

He is CheneyDave on Instagram, he's probably on here too because he has a 914 that he swapped a 6 into and did the GT flares etc.


Elsewhere on the build, McMaster came through with a clean solution for plugging the heater holes in the engine tin.

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Part# 9750K35 and it's $13 for a pack of 50 hahaha so, if anyone is local and wants a pair, let me know. I might list some in pairs but I'm not really a fan of a bunch of $2 or $3 transactions and trips to the post office.


Last night I started locating the engine mount. Was kind of alarmed at how much of a zig-zag the harness/snorkel has to do to get through the channel. Going to have to do something with that before I weld the mount in. Talked with Eric at PMB and he ghave some very good advice on how they do it.


OH, and I test fit the oil tank and all looks good there. I had all the openings taped up so it was a little hard to see the two threaded holes through the drilled holes, but the big stuff all lined up great.

[Maltese Falcon]

Nicely done. Definitely test fit the tank, but it should slip right in. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

Yes, can sometimes be a bear to install (six oil tank). It's tight in there.
Make sure you tighten up the oil line that comes out of the bottom of the tank before you install the tank.
Next to impossible to tighten it up when the tank is already in the chassis.

I had a small bit of oil sweating from that lower Impossible-to-tighten fitting.
I found this odd wrench over at Earl's Supply , back when they had actual aircraft surplus in their store...then modified it in the bandsaw to fit the metric nut. I can get a slight bit of torque on the fitting , with the rocker just loosened and hanging in place.

[Optimusglen]

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Next week the motor goes in I think!

[Optimusglen]

I've been waiting for parts so I can continue forward. I had to order a new crank pulley to match my fan pulley, and new longer belts. I could have picked up a non-standard belt a little shorter than the 710, but then it would be under-driving the alternator. The new crank pulley is due tomorrow, I got the "935-style" billet piece.

I cut out the -4 engine mounts. etch primes the bare metal and then rattle-canned over that.

I've also installed the rear coilover sleeves and new springs. Then installed the new rear brake pads. Left the adjustments loose because I don't have the new axels in and torqued yet (waiting for the engine to be in for that)

I've also started thinking about the wiring, historically it's been my biggest challenge for non-factory builds. heck, even with stock stuff I have been confused numerous times. With some help from Perry (a.k.a. @IronHillRestorations ) and a few other sources, I've managed to map it out I think.

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Huge size here
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I had wired in short harnesses on the back of the alternator out to the outside of the air shroud. The schematic I was following for that had a lot more wires than I actually need, specifically the 4 wires on the left (shown black, but should be brown) and the single thinner red wire on the right. I'm considering pulling the carbs and air shroud off again and revising this... but maybe it'll be future proofing... if I wanted to change things later maybe I'd want them?

The only thing remaining is my tach. I still have the 4-cyl tach in there currently. I do have a tach adapter, but the wires on the unit don't match any of the samples I have from Perry or the other gentlemen who have sent their wiring schematics to me.

I also have an aftermarket tach that I was going to swap the guts into a dead 911 tach I have. Started collecting those parts years ago, so I'm not sure if I want to go that route again.

Or I could try to buy a 911 tach, but that's the most expensive option and one I'm not entirely fond of for that reason.

[Optimusglen]

Just finished re-installing the fan/housing. I removed the short harness that's not needed and added a beefy ground from the alternator to the case. I had one cable before, but it was a 12g wire. The new one is a proper battery cable ground.

Next I need to dig out an old harness I have to pull the 12pin plug from. Or maybe I'll buy a new one...

[mb911]

Well I do have a 911 tach if you need one for a reasonable decent price.

[Optimusglen]

Going to try to avoid throwing money at the problem for now.


Yesterday was a BIG DAY!

The new crank pulley came in, and a pair of belts from elsewhere, so I was able to wrap up the front of the engine.

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Fit great and tensioned well with 3 shims in and 3 out.

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At which point there wasn't much holding me back from getting the motor and trans set up to go in.

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At this point, I was regretting not spending some time cleaning the gearbox...

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The Renegade Hybrid axles in first, then I couldn't help myself and installed the MSDS headers.

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First I installed my muffler from Ben (914-6werkshop) but I mistakenly had the headers snugged down already. This required me to ratchet strap them together a bit to mate with the muffler flanges. Then I had trouble fitting the muffler straps, interfering with the exit pipes, so I pulled it off and slapped on this other muffler I had. It lined up well and works with Bens muffler bracket.

I emailed Ben and found out that I errored in tightening the headers first, and he also gave me some tips on making the muffler bracket work. I'll check that out at some point because his muffler is substantially lighter than this home-brew sport muffler. And it looks a bit meaner too.

For now though, this isn't a bad sight.

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[Cairo94507]

Giant step forward. Yeah, definitely swapping to Ben's muffler will lighten the load and look perfect too. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[Optimusglen]

Work continues,

Patrick Motorsport shift rod is in. I had to space the mounts on the MadDog bulkhead mount up about .35 inch in order to clear the shift bar.

The axle bolts are torqued to 150 (spec is 250, but I'll need to wait until it's on the ground and I have a bigger torque wrench for that)

The rear pads are adjusted. Erics guide said to ensure axle nuts are torqued, hopefully 150 is enough for that.

Started removing the forward remnants of the old throttle and clutch cable, found that the clevis pin on the clutch cable was seized. In fact, the pin had worn through an old brass (bronze?) aftermarket bushing at the pedal cluster. What a cluster-f getting that out. So the whole cluster is out now waiting on The Bird to deliver some new parts.

I did install the rear portion of the Patrick Motorsports throttle cable. I chose this route over the factory-style linkage for ease of install/setup and I believe it was cheaper too. The forward end of course will need to wait for the pedal cluster to go back in.


I started in on the wiring, MSD is mostly wired in. Weatherpak connectors with pins crimped and soldered. I still need to test all the connections.

I mounted the MSD on the passenger side of the firewall inside the engine compartment. (my battery is already relocated to the rear trunk, fuel pump is in the front)


So, working towards the left I decided I should have probably fished around for the Oil Temperature wire before I installed the engine. A little research showed that on my '71 I wouldn't have the oil temp wire on the forward engine shelf as I was lead to believe. This brought me further down the rabbit hole of wiring and now I have revised my wiring diagram.

As many of you know, but some of you probably don't, the relay boards and their wiring are not identical for all 914's. For the 70/71 I am able to run the oil pressure and oil temp through the 12pin connector.

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Huge size here
wiring diagram

And because pictures are the lifeblood of any build thread, here are a few other small additions.

Copper plated exhaust nuts came in and installed.
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As you can see some of the studs reach all the way to the outside surface of the bolts, while others are inset a bit. Anyone with experience here? Do I need to pull those studs or back them out?


And I replaced the drain plug. The old one was fine but just looked out of place with the brand new sump cover, totally refreshed case, and new hardware elsewhere.

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[mb911]

Those studs will be just fine.. looks good.

[Cairo94507]

That engine really looks nice. Are going to clean up the transaxle a bit when you get a chance? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[Optimusglen]

That engine really looks nice. Are going to clean up the transaxle a bit when you get a chance? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

Yeah, not likely before the install and the big road trip in September, but maybe over the winter, or if I can find someplace local that does the dry ice blasting. The under-side of the rear trunk area (above the trans) is pretty filthy too, so it might work best to have the whole area blasted at once.

[nditiz1]

Glen I'm a little bit behind you and making a big push right now to get where you are. Sent you a PM with contact info if you wouldn't mind giving me a call. Thanks and great progress.

[Retroracer]

Glen - exciting times!! Engine looks great; am eager to see how the Streetfire / 123 combination works out. I run a Streetfire on my 2.2, but with a stock disty. I looked in to 123 a while ago, but at the time the documentation gave the impression that it would not play nice with a CDI box (seemed to want to drive coils directly?). Things change of course, so am keen to see how your installation performs - that ease of setting advance is attractive on the 123

BTW: Post start up video or I'll just assume its all CGI....! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

- Tony

[Optimusglen]

More progress today. My box from Pelican arrived early so I was able to get the pedal cluster back together and hook up the throttle and clutch cables.

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I went with the Patrick Motorsports cable, heard nothing but good thoughts on it. Installation went well but it's just too long. Both ends are adjusted to be as short as possible, likewise with the sheath end that's bolted to the bellhousing. I couldn't figure anything out so I just tied a knot near the end to take up some length.

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Oil tank is in now that one of my new hoses came in. Really nice piece but a bit too long. I think it'll be fine as I have a decent mounting concept.

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I also finished the dash wiring. I'm using a 911 oil pressure/temp combo gauge. Thankful I have a '71 and already had the green/black wire for the pressure sender. It was just bundled into the harness behind the left gauge. The green/brown (or green/ reddish) that used to trigger the oil pressure panic light will now feed the oil temp. Both wires will be fed through the new 12 pin connector

I extended the wires for the fuel gauge down to a new 2" gauge. And while I was in there I finally wired in my 2" clock.

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[raynekat]

Oooh that steering wheel. Need a better pic from the side to really get the whole effect. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Optimusglen]

Yeah I need some new pictures in the car!

Another productive day, a bunch of supplies from Jegs arrived. Originally I was going to measure and have Dyme make my other 2 hoses, but I've always wanted to try out making AN hoses, and it was much cheaper as a DIY.

For the hose coming off the case, I took the advice of Ben and did a 90 going back, then looping up and over the bell-housing. I like this method because dangling oil hoses looks bad, and also I'd be terrified of some piece of road debris really ruining my day.

I have one rubber coated bracket off the top starter bolt that keeps the hose in place. The pictures make it look close to the axel but it's got plenty of clearance. I'll probably put something else at the corner by the oil cooler to keep it off the engine tin edges though.

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I also found a clean way to cap the heater tubes in the engine bay. Another product from McMaster

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Flexible cap stretches over the tube. Could probably add a tie or two for extra hold, but I think it feels pretty good. Better than zip-tied spray paint caps anyway.

https://www.mcmaster.com/catalog/40005K57

[mb911]

Glen what are using for a throttle cable?

[Optimusglen]

Glen what are using for a throttle cable?

The Patrick Motorsports one

[mb911]

Cool.. I may try one of those in the future. I have the factory setup and it works but not as free as I would like.