The Project Anklebiter Build Thread., 8/29 Lid latches and glamor shots... Options

[Ferg]

Where is the body now?

[plymouth37]

Where is the body now?

At my in-laws in Cheyenne WY
Both lids and intact front and rear, at least it is nice and dry there (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)
I could probably split the nose and tail into 2 halves to help with shipping but don't really want to...

[plymouth37]

So the car is crazy loud, I thought the turbo would nock the noise down a bit but I really can't drive it with the level of exhaust note insanity that is coming out of this thing. I mocked up the diffuser, and yes, I am doing big double tips that center dump through the hole in the diffuser.


It is impossible to find the type of muffler I need with anything larger than a 3" inlet so I am making a funnel that necks it down while simultaneously bending around the cage and lining up a straight shot to the diffuser hole.


And here it is, my adapter bend from 4.5' oval to 3' circle, ohh shiny!

[plymouth37]

So space is pretty limited, and I felt like an integrated tip would help with packaging, I also figured out that my muffler would sit at about a 45 degree downward slope.


The DTM style mufflers have a 45 degree kick up of their tips when mounted "correctly" so when mounted at a 45 degree angle the tips are dead straight, perfect!


Got everything welded up and mounted, even used the stock muffler mounts on the tranny, muffler is stainless but way too much bling for my tastes, painted everything except the end cap and tips matt black. Fired it up to bake the paint and test out the sound, hard to tell without driving it but i think it sounds pretty good.


Nice stinger!


Here you can see the tip placement, pretty pleased with this. I also cut out the license plate holder from my temporary light bar and remounted it, plate is getting the zip tie treatment somewhere else for now.


It is still going to be a while before i mount the diffuser for real, might rework the rear opening a bit with fiberglass or do a trim piece but I think this is in the ball park as far as how I want it to look


Nothing like mounting dirty Ferrari parts with 2x2s and old wire, keeping it classy! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)
Should be nice and dry this weekend, looking forward to taking it out for a spin to see how it sounds at speed!

[914 Ranch]

Hey Dana, did I see a '37 Plymouth in the back ground in the barn?

[plymouth37]

Hey Dana, did I see a '37 Plymouth in the back ground in the barn?

Yup, that's my first car, next in line after the 914! I built that car when I was 15, needs a full going through but all of the original hard to find bits are there. Pretty rust free too. Was lucky enough to buy it before anything with 2 doors disappeared and found all the parts before eBay showed up and ate them all...

[horizontally-opposed]

One of the things I really love—and appreciate—about this build is the lack of visual bling and colored/polished/etc stuff. Everything looks purposeful, and that has a cumulative effect that is very, very cool. I even liked the body in naked steel when you had it on the car, and the way you've respected so many elements of the 914 when you could very easily just throw them away. I am very curious to see which way you will go with exterior color...

Re: headlights and putting them where the turn signals usually reside, I am likewise curious to see what you will do there. The treatment has been done in the past, but I have set to see a result that looks right on the 914. As an addition or alternative (or focal point?), have you considered mounting one headlight in each bumper opening, cutting the top and bottom of the lights off with the upper and lower edges of the rectangle? Might be a nice look with the rest of your build, but it's a thought offered respectfully. This is one of the cooler builds going on a 914, and it's been fun to watch it go along.

[plymouth37]

One of the things I really love—and appreciate—about this build is the lack of visual bling and colored/polished/etc stuff. Everything looks purposeful, and that has a cumulative effect that is very, very cool. I even liked the body in naked steel when you had it on the car, and the way you've respected so many elements of the 914 when you could very easily just throw them away. I am very curious to see which way you will go with exterior color...

Re: headlights and putting them where the turn signals usually reside, I am likewise curious to see what you will do there. The treatment has been done in the past, but I have set to see a result that looks right on the 914. As an addition or alternative (or focal point?), have you considered mounting one headlight in each bumper opening, cutting the top and bottom of the lights off with the upper and lower edges of the rectangle? Might be a nice look with the rest of your build, but it's a thought offered respectfully. This is one of the cooler builds going on a 914, and it's been fun to watch it go along.

Yeah, I don't know about the color, won't even pretend to know, the original phoenix red is a great color, so is viper green, and slate grey metallic, and classic Porsche silver, dark blue too. Once I buy paint we will know what it will be (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)


In the last iteration of this car it had shaved popups and the KC hi-lights I am running now mounted in the fog light holes. That is always an option, not legal though (not that I care). I saw Neo-914s attempt and others, hopefully I can tread that fine line between new and old. worth a shot, although now that you made me find this photo it does look pretty good!

[PanelBilly]

When do we get to hear it in person?

[horizontally-opposed]

Yeah, I don't know about the color, won't even pretend to know, the original phoenix red is a great color, so is viper green, and slate grey metallic, and classic Porsche silver, dark blue too. Once I buy paint we will know what it will be (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)


In the last iteration of this car it had shaved popups and the KC hi-lights I am running now mounted in the fog light holes. That is always an option, not legal though (not that I care). I saw Neo-914s attempt and others, hopefully I can tread that fine line between new and old. worth a shot, although now that you made me find this photo it does look pretty good!

GOOD group of colors. Of those, Phoenix Red (which is orange to these eyes, and a shade you just about never see...) or a non-metallic dark blue (Meerblau from Zwart's 911R, which is an early Cayenne color?) stand out as particularly cool (and rarely chosen) colors. Hard to go wrong with Slate Gray Metallic or silver—though these will make the car blend in a sea of white/gray/black cars, which cuts two ways.

Excited to see what paint you buy, when that time comes. Whatever color you choose, this car is gonna be a stunner.

Glad you dug that photo out....thinking about this from another angle, those turn signals are a signature element of the 914, and one of the better ones as time goes on. Dark blue will make Euro or US lenses really pop, while Phoenix Red would make clears pop, or US units blend in. Hmm again. You've got a lot of great options ahead of you...

[rhodyguy]

The problem with the HLs in the FL location in Washington is minimum light height. Sure fire pull over mounted low driving at night. I got stopped driving at night just for having euro rear lenses.

[PanelBilly]

The problem with the HLs in the FL location in Washington is minimum light height. Sure fire pull over mounted low driving at night. I got stopped driving at night just for having euro rear lenses.

Or were you stoped for driving too slow?

[rhodyguy]

No billy. The trooper felt the Amber portion of the lense would confuse driver's behind me. So he said. Bottom line is US spec vs illegal/nonDOT euro. I played the ignorance card and 'they were on the car when I bought it'. In all fairness, it was 11:30pm and I had been to see the Blasters play in Seattle. No alcohol involved. That was question 3 or 4. Told me to get the correct lenses and sent me on my way.

[Spoke]

No billy. The trooper felt the Amber portion of the lense would confuse driver's behind me. So he said. Bottom line is US spec vs illegal/nonDOT euro. I played the ignorance card and 'they were on the car when I bought it'. In all fairness, it was 11:30pm and I had been to see the Blasters play in Seattle. No alcohol involved. That was question 3 or 4. Told me to get the correct lenses and sent me on my way.

Not sure I followed what the US spec vs illegal/nonDOT euro issue is. I see many cars with amber rear turnsignals. Do your amber turnsignals light up at night when not flashing?

[horizontally-opposed]

No billy. The trooper felt the Amber portion of the lense would confuse driver's behind me. So he said. Bottom line is US spec vs illegal/nonDOT euro. I played the ignorance card and 'they were on the car when I bought it'. In all fairness, it was 11:30pm and I had been to see the Blasters play in Seattle. No alcohol involved. That was question 3 or 4. Told me to get the correct lenses and sent me on my way.

Not sure I followed what the US spec vs illegal/nonDOT euro issue is. I see many cars with amber rear turnsignals. Do your amber turnsignals light up at night when not flashing?

^ Guessing this is what the officer was focused on? If so, that's one sharp cop, and/or one with too much time on his hands or looking for a reason to pull you over.

Turn signals can light up amber on U.S. cars, but I don't think their rear marker lights can? Really surprised rhodyguy got pulled over, even by a sharp-eyed officer. U.S. 914 taillight housings illuminate their outer section as a result of corner marker bulbs, which of course end up glowing orange with Euro lenses. After running that way for years, I replaced the U.S. housings with Euro housings (would have been just as easy to simply delete the side marker bulbs in U.S. housings, but mine were no longer very bright and U.S. replacements were either NLA or a lot more $$, can't remember which). I suppose I could be cited for no side markers, but my 914 is rarely driven at night anymore. As for headlights in the front bumper, there's a minimum headlight height in CA and many lowered cars are probably in violation of the same law that would prevent one from mounting headlights in the front bumper. Would be curious to know if WA's laws are the same, and if a magnetic (or?) setup could be fabbed up to work at night and/or satisfy a fix-it ticket. They might have to be mounted on the cowl of Project Anklebiter... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[rhodyguy]

He was a younger trooper with supervisor. It was prob part of a 'emphasis program' combating impaired drivers as they were setup on the shoulder and bars would have been starting to empty. I saw the cruiser long before I got to it and made sure I was doing 60. The 6 pack came on right after I passed them. A lawful excuse for a stop. "Have you been drinking tonight sir?", "I don't consume alcohol".

Sorry for the highjack.

[plymouth37]

Not a hijack at all, I have been studying the Washington laws a ton trying to actually make this thing legal in it's current form. Washington requires a minimum height of 24" measured to the center of the headlight, and 15" on the tail lights.

As for the euro tail light issue the wording of the law is actually pretty strange:

RCW 46.37.200
"Any vehicle may be equipped and when required under this chapter shall be equipped with a stop lamp or lamps on the rear of the vehicle which shall display a red or amber light, or any shade of color between red and amber, visible from a distance of not less than one hundred feet."

Sooo, like orange is okay? Whole law is here: RCW 46.37.200

Took the car out for a long drive yesterday, made it about 20 minutes before getting pulled over, the guy was pretty nice, mostly just curious. We were having a fairly pleasant conversation but the whole time he was looking over the car hard, best he could come up with was that I was missing the license plate light. Not bad, $12 on Amazon will have that sorted. He didn't give me a ticket but made sure to tell me his co-workers would definitely be looking for me. Which made me even more invested in making this thing perfectly legal, mostly out of spite. I am making a book of relevant laws to carry in the car, lots of obscure exemptions in the laws for collector cars, like a beautiful one that makes fenders, hoods, and bumpers optional, lol. My headlights are about 4" low, will move those, add a lighted plate frame and see what other "conversations" I have with our friends in blue. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[mepstein]

Find a second hood. Add headlights to it. Reinstall the first hood for pictures and shows.

[horizontally-opposed]

Not a hijack at all, I have been studying the Washington laws a ton trying to actually make this thing legal in it's current form. Washington requires a minimum height of 24" measured to the center of the headlight, and 15" on the tail lights.

As for the euro tail light issue the wording of the law is actually pretty strange:

RCW 46.37.200
"Any vehicle may be equipped and when required under this chapter shall be equipped with a stop lamp or lamps on the rear of the vehicle which shall display a red or amber light, or any shade of color between red and amber, visible from a distance of not less than one hundred feet."

Sooo, like orange is okay? Whole law is here: RCW 46.37.200

Took the car out for a long drive yesterday, made it about 20 minutes before getting pulled over, the guy was pretty nice, mostly just curious. We were having a fairly present conversation but the whole time he was looking over the car hard, best he could come up with was that I was missing the license plate light. Not bad, $12 on Amazon will have that sorted. He didn't give me a ticket but made sure to tell me his co-workers would definitely be looking for me. Which made me even more invested in making this thing perfectly legal, mostly out of spite. I am making a book of relevant laws to carry in the car, lots of obscure exemptions in the laws for collector cars, like a beautiful one that makes fenders, hoods, and bumpers optional, lol. My headlights are about 4" low, will move those, add a lighted plate frame and see what other "conversations" I have with our friends in blue. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

LOL. Sounds like orange brake lights are okay, but orange rear taillights are not. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wacko.gif)

Forget a second hood. Liking magnetic headlights for when you need them. Was looking at another thread here today, and it looks like Garland's 914 nails the bumper lighting treatment on a GT-flared 914 I saw in a single photo in Excellence many years ago, a photo that burned itself into my mind. Interestingly, Garland's car has your hood setup, and also looks like it adds "headlights" up higher. I'd do the bumper lighting (while keeping the stock headlights) on my car if I thought a narrow 914 was aggressive enough to get away with it. I've never loved the foglight grills in the 914...but have never found anything I like better, either. Except this. Something very Miura/Mangusta—or is that Le Mans/Spa?—about it.

[sixnotfour]

Where is the body now?

At my in-laws in Cheyenne WY
Both lids and intact front and rear, at least it is nice and dry there (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)
I could probably split the nose and tail into 2 halves to help with shipping but don't really want to...

if some how they can get to slc Utah I can bring em to WA.