Finished my 24 hour 916/GT engine lid . . . Options

[914-8]

Finished my GT (or, on my car, 916!) engine cover.

Came out nice.

Here"s the starting point yesterday:

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=53090

This morning I finished the final fitting and painted it up. Used satin for the frame, and gloss for the grille.

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v520/bak535/Picture143.jpg)

And installed it:

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v520/bak535/Picture140.jpg)

As some of you know, with a V8, you have to cut off the crossmember under the decklid to clear the air cleaner. (Unless your SBC sits a lot lower in the car than mine, or you have some kind of ultra low air cleaner maybe).

Plus, the crossmember is ugly and I don't think the GT/916 lid used it.

Some of you asked about getting the lid to sit straight. I looked at the pics of the bottom of the GT lid in Brett Johnson's book, and it doesn't have the crossmember, and it uses the torsion spring setup. They may have reinforced the lid in some way that isn't visible? But even so, the stock springs bend it unevenly. I think because the latch is not in the center of the lid.

I assume the factory used lighter tension springs to solve the problem, because the springs for the heavy factory setup (the extra metal and the rain guard are surprisingly heavy!) are way too hard.

So I retensioned the springs using heat and some twisting. I got it to a point where the springs provide maximum lift without tweaking the lid. It's not a perfect solution, because the springs don't hold the lid all the way up, but it's ok. No one ever said being cool would be easy!

Lid at half mast:

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v520/bak535/Picture141.jpg)

I think if one really spent some time, you could tweak the springs to get a bit more lift. You'd have to make one side stiffer than the other, to compensate for the offset latch. (Make the driver's side stiffer than the passenger's side). That would be pretty trick. Would take a lot of experimenting, though. I'll try it out later.

[Nor.Cal.914]

Wow dude let me tell you, straight up, your car is one of the sickest 914's I've ever seen. F**king beautiful man (IMG:style_emoticons/default/pray.gif) Oh and good work on that engine grill (IMG:style_emoticons/default/thumb3d.gif) Looks sick! Thanks
-Chris

[djm914-6]

Nice job!

I'd like to make another attempt at doing a GT lid. My last one was ok to the point where I left it I guess. I wonder who bought it and if they finished it?

[914-8]

After studying the torsion system more, the placement of the latch, etc. to figure out how to make the lid sit straight AND get full lift, I figured it out.

An easy, elegant solution, that makes your car faster, too!

Simply delete the passenger's side torsion spring. The driver's side alone is strong enough to fully lift the lightened lid, and given the placement of the latch and the placement of that torsion spring, it allows you to adjust the latch and rubber stops to get a flat, even fit.

And, the car is a few ounces lighter, too!

Liftoff!

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v520/bak535/Picture147.jpg)
(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v520/bak535/Picture148.jpg)

[Aaron Cox]

Killer!

any chance you would finish the one i started? LOL

[Rand]

Simply delete the passenger's side torsion spring.

Briliant! (ting!)

Nice work. Nice car. Very damn nice car. Wish I could fast-forward mine to where yours is.

[RON S.]

After studying the torsion system more, the placement of the latch, etc. to figure out how to make the lid sit straight AND get full lift, I figured it out.

An easy, elegant solution, that makes your car faster, too!

Simply delete the passenger's side torsion spring. The driver's side alone is strong enough to fully lift the lightened lid, and given the placement of the latch and the placement of that torsion spring, it allows you to adjust the latch and rubber stops to get a flat, even fit.

And, the car is a few ounces lighter, too!

Liftoff!

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v520/bak535/Picture147.jpg)
(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v520/bak535/Picture148.jpg)

Great job, (IMG:style_emoticons/default/clap56.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/clap56.gif)

I did mine a couple years ago,and yeah I made the mistake of pulling the lid release w/o thinking.
I left my springs alone,I just mentally remind myself to hold my hand on the lid when I pull the release. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Ron