Derek’s Willow Green, ‘72 914, Restoration Thread Options

[dereknlee]

Installed new control arm bushings. The last one was the most difficult. I smudged the paint trying to remove after it went wonky. Quick shot of paint and then this evening it came around to my way of thinking.



The old bushings were pretty shot, not that re-using was in the cards. But this explains the torsion bar wear spots.



Spent some time with the blast cabinet. Dozen or so parts ready for paint or plating. Strut housing cleaned up real nice and got a couple coats of paint on it, noticed a run right as I thought I was applying the final coat - every dang time!



Meanwhile, it's been like Christmas around here with all the packages arriving.



-Derek

[kroelofsen]

Nice work, did it myself a few weeks ago. Now ready to get installed.

[dereknlee]

Got the rear bearings installed, and then spent some time trying to replicate the white paint numbers from photographs taken before they were sand blasted. Had to call in my wife as my penmanship terrible and apparently even worse holding a paint brush. One of the more silly aspects of this project, but fun:



I'd say she did a good job:





I wonder what the factory worker who slapped on these numbers would think if they saw how much effort went in to trying to duplicate what they did. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/screwy.gif)

-Derek

[bbrock]

I wonder what the factory worker who slapped on these numbers would think if they saw how much effort went in to trying to duplicate what they did. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/screwy.gif)

-Derek

Love it! From a fellow (IMG:style_emoticons/default/screwy.gif)

[dereknlee]

Looks good Brent! I assume these were some sort of QA stamp or other assembly process indicator?

Steering rack feels pretty good, but the tie rod ends were tired. Made up a a wrench to remove the big threaded washers to get to this point.



And then learned I need to make another wrench to install the tie rods. Great. Got it done though.



Turbo tie rod ends were a concession on originality, but I figured I might as well - cost differential was small and it's a bolt on improvement.

Not pictured was more adventures in plating. The front sway bar bushings mounts are proving to be a real bear because they are pitted and have a bunch of tight corners. Ended up taking a pencil anode and moving it around by hand in 1/2" of electrolyte bath to 'paint' the corners. Worked better than anything else I tried, but the results are still not that great to look at.

-Derek

[JamesM]

Love it! From a fellow (IMG:style_emoticons/default/screwy.gif)

Here is one for you then...

[bbrock]

Love it! From a fellow (IMG:style_emoticons/default/screwy.gif)

Here is one for you then...

Love it! I'm a little jealous of the personal touch yours got beyond the usual "K" stamps.

[dereknlee]

Whoever wielded the K stamp worked on a lot of cars! It would be interesting to have the meaning of these inscrutable marks explained.

Not a lot of progress to report today. Sway bar bushing mounts took way too long to finish, sway bar arms aren't going to be any easier. While I am questioning a bit why I didn't just pay to have all this done, loving how easy it is to turn bright zinc gold.



-Derek

[flat4guy]

Love reading your thread - makes me feel lazy with my car. Great job so far.

[dereknlee]

Love reading your thread - makes me feel lazy with my car. Great job so far.

Glad you're enjoying the updates, I'm having fun with it. Don't mistake the last months progress for any sort of industriousness on my part. The car hasn't driven since 2008, so time averaged I have been super lazy on this project.

-Derek

[dereknlee]

Been a busy few years, but sadly not on the 914. It's once again covered in dust. This fall I picked up a Honda C70 passport that was in pretty rough shape and got it back running and looking good again.



I had so much fun working evenings and weekends on that bike. It was a good mix of mechanical tasks and cosmetic work. But I knew that I'd enjoy working on the 914 just as much. It's easier for me to lose momentum on the 914 because of the scale, and also because I care so much more about getting it just right. But there is only one way to eat an elephant, so I'm back at it.

Its strange reading some of the earlier posts or digging through the boxes of parts, because I have almost no memory of some of it. But all this time what has been front of mind are two leftover washers from the wiper mechanism install. They aren't called out in the PET, but I remember figuring out a few years back where they went and making a mental note to install them. Fortunately, the airbox wasn't fully installed and the posts can be maneuvered out of the hood without removing the dash bolt. So today, the washers are in and my brain can rest easy.



I also rekeyed the ignition, front and rear hood keys using a set of wafers that must have arrived from keys4classics about the time I stopped working on the project. I have no record of the original key code for my car, and know it was re-keyed at some point. So I bought a set of oem keys on ebay, then ordered wafers to fit that code - so that all the locks match a known baseline. I vaguely remembered that there was something wrong with my ignition lock mechanism, and found that I had sourced a donor (another "problem" as this project stretches on - I don't know what parts I already have lying around). So now, after 3 years, the ignition cylinder is back in the car. Also got the rear trunk mechanism re-assembled and installed.



With the rekeyed release handle, I installed a new cable for the front hood release. On my first attempt a few years ago, with 914rubber supplied wire and housing, I had introduced some bends in the line that I then blamed for the very high pull force required to release the latch. So this time I was very careful, and used a new oem cable assembly. But even with a cable that I am sure has no deformation, it still requires very high cable force to release.

A final item on my mind has been a mistake I made removing a stuck bearing from one of the wheel hubs. Circumstances are hazy, but I know i had to cut it off, and clumsily ended up cutting into the machined surface. I blended it with a file and at the time thought it wasn't too bad - and looking at it today it isn't as deep as I recall. But still, wondering if it is worth finding a replacement - or would it be fine running as is?



-Derek