3D914s 914-6 SHO 3.2L v6, Build Thread - Project for sale. See classifieds Options

[KELTY360]

I'm having a hard time deciding since I'd really like to use the SHO, so I decided to wait and collect more data on my top engine choices before I commit to one. It may just be a process of elimination.

Here is my current list of potential swaps. The blue rows are top choices based on the data I've found so far.



I did get the remaining front flare sanded this weekend. So now I have a better scope of the repair work.

For the fronts I'm just going to remove the remaining filler; leave the existing bonded flare in place; leave the existing clothe and resin blend, and put added clothe and resin on the back side as extra precaution.

For the backs, I'm going to visit the body shop and see if they can give me some idea what the bonding material in the back is. If its acceptable, I'll leave the flares attached, but go through redoing all the blending and sealing of the front and back sides as it should have been done. If the bonding material isn't acceptable - they'll have to come off.

I found a notation on the SVX/Vanagon site that the eg33 weighs 387# according to KEP. That is minus flywheel and clutch. The case and heads are aluminum alloy.

[3d914]

Thanks Kelty,

I'll add that to my database info.

[3d914]

Didn't do much this weekend. My son was home from college for just a few days to get everything ready for his summer internship. This included lots of little prep items for the 924S he taking over to CA to use during the summer. Biggest job was replacing the drive and balance belts & one tension roller. Went real smooth though.

I did take an extra couple days off though. So I was able to work on the front end a little. Started off by removing all the adhesive from the trunk firewall. Used the Aircraft Decal & Adhesive Remover. Works OK.

I also removed the head lights, motors, assemblies, and all the associated wiring.



And removed the trunk lid.



You may not be able to notice in the pic, but the spliced every single wire in the front and only crimped the connections. I'll have to go through all this and solder connections, and add appropriate heat-shrink. Don't need any flaky electrical problems. I'll be deleting some of the wiring in the process - like the side marker lights.

[3d914]

I also spent some time taking measurements on the engine in my wife's Windstar Ltd. Its the Ford HO 3.8L (200hp) motor. I've always thought this would be a good motor for the 914 because of its decent torque. Since its on my list I wanted to see how it would stack up to the other sixes since its a 90deg.

Here's the fit results:



As you can see, even though its 90deg, with the FI intake its just as high as the other 60deg V6's. It is much shorter, though they waste nearly 6 inches for all the accessaries in the front.

So far the Subi EG33 is looking the most promising. Its under 400lbs, and the fit is good. It should only require minimal adjustments to make everything work. Now I'm going to get a hold of a local supplier to get more info.

So which will it be:

___SHO_____^______EG33__


(IMG:style_emoticons/default/idea.gif)

[Eric_Shea]

(SHO)

[3d914]

Well, I got quite a bit done today. I found an awesome paint supply store over in Mesa, AZ. They have everything you need from start to finish. It was mind numbing. They also sell the POR products I was looking for.

I'm using the following: POR-Strip for paint-stripping trunk and areas difficult to sand.
POR-Marine-Clean to clean all bare-metal after sanding, prior to treating with POR Metal-Ready.

I also picked up the fiberglass clothe and resin/hardener I need to redo the rear flares. First I needed to remove any of the body filler still adjacent to the flares. I haven't found anything to do this cleanly without possibly damaging the flares, so I just used a hand-help chisel and dug out the filler. It worked quite well and was actually faster than trying to use a small diameter wire wheel.



You'll notice there is black paint adjacent to the flares. This was under the body filler. They didn't even sand it down to bare metal before adding the flares.



I still have some hand sanding to remove the black paint. I ran out of 60-grit paper and need to pick up some more. I was able to get the drivers side done though.



More fun ahead . . .

[3d914]

Since that final prep before applying the fiberglass took me nearly six hours, minus a short break for the root-beer float my wife brought me, I won't have time today to get to the fiberglass part.

That's a good thing though. What I realized in the process was that there is still a fit problem that I have to address along with sealing up the underside of the flares as well. To get to the underside I'm going to need to build my rotisserie first. I guess I'll work on that during the week.

However, I still have a bit of a fitting problem at the bottom of the flares. Here's a couple of pics.

Front of flare:


Back of flare:


The normal line of the body panels should continue through the flare (marked in red), but doesn't. It's almost like they didn't bring the flare up high enough on the top of the fender. But when I look across the fender and the flare from the back, the flare seems to be high enough - and continues the gentle arc.

So my thoughts are to cut the flare (front & back) to match the line of the body panels, then buildup a new bottom edge at the same angle as the body panels. I would think this is whats needed so that the valance and outer rocker panel blend correctly as shown in this example (from someone's else's progress thread - I forgot who):



I have the FG outer rocker panels - though they are not very good ones. It looks like I'll need to locate the appropriate original style front & rear valances with the flared option to check fit before I do any major FG cutting & repair.

In the meantime I can continue getting the two trunks stripped of paint.

On with the show . . .

[bryanc]

Space Age is an awesome store isn't it?

[jasons]

Space Age is an awesome store isn't it?

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif) they've been around forever...

Do they still have that goofy blimp car in the showroom?


EDIT: Obviously they do.....



http://www.spaceagepaint.com/custom.aspx?id=15

[3d914]

Yes it is. I didn't see that car, but I did see this one . . .
(IMG:http://www.viperalley.com/gallery/data/501/medium/BW_Ford_GT.jpg)

Progress today was minimal. I've started the paint stripping in the rear trunk while doing interim sanding while I wait for the stripper to work. It seems to work really fast on the enamel that was sprayed on top of the factory color, but the factory paint - probably a lacquer - takes several iterations of spray and wait to loosen it up.



Its going to take some time to get the whole trunk done. Just have to chase it a couple hours at a time during the week. I'd like to shoot it with primer next weekend.

Now my question is what to do with the factory rubberized seam sealer they used throughout the trunks. If I clean all this out - can it be replaced & with what?



I think I'll post a separate question on this to get some more feedback.

[3d914]

Well, I found out that Wurth's makes a flexible seam sealer that can be brushed or sprayed on to replace the old stuff here. Guess I'll visit the Bird site for some prices.

Back to work . . .

[3d914]

Progressing slowly.

Earlier this week I picked up all the pieces I needed for my rotisserie. I'm using the two engine stands method, with a support beam connected between them. I'll post assembly and parts pics after I finish cutting all the various sizes.

With my sons help, I pulled the gas tank out. Fortunately there was enough lose rubber fuel line to reach down and cut it without having to jack up the car and cut it from underneath. The partial metal/plastic fuel lines running through the car will get replaced with all metal fuel lines. I'll save this for when the car is on the rotisserie.



From there we removed the fresh air vents, motor and housing. There are some metal spring clips where the wire cables connect to the various vents (in red below). Care is needed to remove these without deforming or breaking them. On the left side, cables attached with small 8mm nuts, but on the right side the cable had a Z shaped bend that requires the spring clips, mentioned earlier, to be removed first.

[3d914]

During the process of removing all the venting in the front, it was necessary to remove the two small 90deg elbows located up underneath the cowl & behind the hood hinges. What was even more surprising is that I saw a round obstruction in each one. At first it looked like the back of a gauge of some kind. What kind of gauge would someone put in there?

With a little effort I was able to turn it around to look at the front, and to my surprise I see a tiny little speaker. Someone put a speaker (probably a tweeter) in each of the fresh air vent tubes. At first all I could do was laugh - (IMG:style_emoticons/default/av-943.gif)



Then as I thought about it - it was actually quite creative. I'm not sure how well it would work, but it was certainly an unconventional idea.

After we had our good laugh, we continued to remove the windshield wiper assembly. All that was needed was to remove the two 22mm nuts at the wiper blade studs, and cut the rubber standoff plug that holds the center bracket to the firewall. It may be possible to remove the rubber standoff and keep it in tact, but with the dash in place it was difficult to see how it attached to the other side of the firewall. Since the nut was rusted on ours, we chose to cut the rubber and replace the whole piece.

[3d914]

Its seems like there has been little progress and things are moving more slowly than I would like.

I started on my rotisserie, then ran into problems with my air compressor. My suggestion for others taking on this kind of work - keep it simple and go with electric tools unless you already have a 4HP+ air compressor. Anything less will be marginal for this kind of work.

I was able to borrow a compressor from a friend - thanks Tim - and got all the pieces cut for the rotisserie. I was continually hampered by small things. First the compressor, then running out of cutting disks, yada yada . . .

I just have to accept that any custom project like this is going to require constant trips to the hardware, auto parts, paint & body stores - there is just no way around it.

Anyway, I did manage to start the welding on the rotisserie. I really enjoyed this. I've been reading about it, viewed a few videos, then just decided to go try it. I was amazed at how easy it was, and how much I enjoyed melting metal together. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/welder.gif)

Here's a picture of the first section I completed today. I just held it in place, but I'll be drilling holes so that it mounts through the bumper holes in the frame.

Right side


Left side


Its been a very satisfying day . . . (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer3.gif)

[davep]

Might I suggest that when you encounter a rubber isolation mount, that you check price and availability first before cutting. Three that spring to mind are the wiper rack mount, the fuel pump mounts and the late engine mounts. In all cases they have simple nuts on the studs on each end.

[3d914]

Good tip - thanks Dave.

[3d914]

Even though I got a little zealous with the the welding and mis-welded a couple of pieces - I was able to cut them to the correct size. I feel like I have opened a whole new world of possibilities now that welding is available to me.

So here are some of my NEWBIE WELDING INSIGHTS . . .

1. Spend $50+ and get an adjusting auto-tint welding helmet. You can see your work before, during and after. Makes a HUGE difference.
2. If there is light between the parallel metal pieces - its a pretty good change you'll blow through, even with lower settings. I ended up just doing spot welds up & down across the seam in a few spots. Worked much better.
3. Relax and take a deep breath. Take your time. I get excited doing this and I have to keep forcing myself to slow down. This is just too cool.

Here's the rear mounting ass'y for the rotisserie.



I wanted to post some close-ups of the welds in stages of improvement, but this digital camera is not cooperating. With the auto-tint helmet I went from crooked welds to straight and can actually see before I get to the end of the piece.

Enough for the hot garage. Time to sit down and enjoy the rest of Father's Day.

[3d914]

Well I've got my new bumpers on. I always thought the 914 would make a great car for the Demolition Derby . . .

Front


Rear


I was planning to weld the support pieces onto the cross-piece but decided to use 1/2in bolts instead since this allows a little more flexibility. Just need to pick up the hardware later this evening when I go out get an electric grinder/cutter.

Waiting for my daughters to finish making their home-made pizza (IMG:style_emoticons/default/chowtime.gif)

then off to the hardware store.

[3d914]

I spent a couple of evenings this week getting the engine stands ready. I had the pieces already cut, but each one needed grinding to get rid of any variation in the mating edges. The stands are the 1000# variety from Harbor Freight. One is an older style and was taller, so I ended up with two different sized insert pieces.



The inserts do two things. THey raise the housing for the rotating flange to just over 36". Since the base is raised and the front wheels are mounted under the tubing this won't allow full 360deg rotation of the car body. That was intentional on my part. I wanted to keep the body as low as possible. To allow for full rotation, one would need to raise it another 3-4 inches. That would put the center axis at about 40 inches, and the portion of the car aobve the axis would be another 34 inches; giving a total of 74 inches of vertical clearance needed.

The second thing the inserts do is negate the 7.33deg angle designed into the vertical 3"x1.5" tubing. I cut the stand tubing 90 degs across its width, then cut the insert piece so that one side has the 7.33 deg cut, and the other is a 90 deg cut. When welded together, this will make the cylindrical housing axis horizontal.

Here are the two stands. I'm not going to bother with painting - just keep them functional.

[3d914]

I guess I forgot to add the info on the rest of the parts for the rotisserie. I spent $50 for the one stand, and $30 for the older one IIRC. All the steel totaled to around $65, so my total for materials was under $150.

• Two 1000# engine stands
• 3x1-1/2 x 8" x .12 steel tubing for engine stand inserts
• 1-3/4 x 1-3/4 x 144" x .09 steel tubing for all other pieces
• 2 x 2 x 12" x .09 steel tubing for 4-3" sleeves
• 2 x 2 x 12" x .09 steel angle for 2-6" flanges on cross pieces connecting both stands
• 1-1/2 x 1-1/2 x 102" x .08 steel tubing for cross pieces connecting both stands